Anybody know what this is?
- Thread starter Drewpd7
- Start date
I don’t know what the situation is, but 99% of people I know stow their rifles on the buttpad. That would be my guess unless there’s a reason to think otherwise.
Rubber and plastic break down over time and at rates that depend on tons of factors. If the rifle is new as in unused, but is on the older side, it could just be aging of the polymers. Call the mfg, send them a pic, and see if they’ll replace the buttpad, it’s like a $5 part tops for them.
A gun that was sold as new shouldn't have a buttpad that looks like it's had quite a bit of use.
It wipes off with some elbow grease. And the raised stuff is just rubber burrs basically around the AI stamped logos. Even if I clean it off it still doesn’t have that new black rubber look. It’s all faded. I was more concerned if it was molding or like knownothing said the materials are breaking down. A old timer I know said to put wd40 on it but I know rubber and polymers can react with certain chemicals so before taking that advice I figured I’d reach out here and see if anyone was hip to what’s happening and had advice on what to treat it with.
thanks in advance everybody.
I had a limbsaver recoil pad get eaten up in my safe. It seemed to breakdown from the carpet and maybe a build up of fumes (oil and solvent) in the safe. I think KnowNothing may be right about this.
Don’t do WD-40, if you get a result you don’t like it’ll be hard to explain to the manufacturer. Odds are decent it’ll just degrade it further in unpredictable ways.
I knew that chemical engineering degree would be useful one day...
I knew that chemical engineering degree would be useful one day...
Lol
Yeah I’ll just shoot AI a message and see what shakes out. Thanks again.
Yeah but that “use” could be moving on and off storage rack to storage rack with nightly inventories. That doesn’t mean that the rifle is “used.”
Bullshit, that buttpad didn't get that appearance from being moved around from storage rack to storage rack.
Go to oreillys auto parts. Meguires makes a car product called back to black. Its just for plastic and rubber thats faded. It can help i think.
Looks like mold release agent that wasn't properly cleaned off. As someone else mentioned, contact the gun mfg to see if they'll replace it. It may not have looked that bad when installed, and the coating oxidized over time.
I've used WD-40 on racing tires that have heat cycled out and hardened. WD-40 let's me get a few more practice sessions before I toss them out for good. It will definitely bring the durometer reading of the rubber back down if it has hardened but it is basically a surface or near surface level treatment.
That flash tells me this pad hasn't spent much time on anyone's shoulder.
That flash tells me this pad hasn't spent much time on anyone's shoulder.
Nailed it. It’s flux used by the manufacturer to facilitate removal from the mold.
AI has yet to respond but the seller said it was “some kind of powder they put on in England that has impacted into the surface”?
If that is the case some good ol’ fashioned customer service with a wipe down would’ve been nice. These babies ain’t cheap. Pay all that dough to have it show up like that was a major bummer.
It's probably not a big deal lol. It comes off if I rub it hard enough with my finger.
I'll try putting some oil in it like anotber poster said. Are all petroleum oils bad for rubber? Can we use an organic oil like olive oil or camelia oil?
I use one of the old school pink erasers to clean that gunk off. If need be, I have a spare AI buttpad you can have.
