Article Published Date: 03/01/2008

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It’s interesting to me that short, or carbine length Mil-Surp rifles, chambered for a cartridge that originally came in a full-length arm, always seem to fetch a higher price then their longer barreled brethren.    Is it the handiness of the abbreviated arm?  Or, perhaps, some sense that the shorter rifle is more business like?  No, wait, I’ve got it! 

Mil-Surp shooters must simply enjoy the heavy recoil.  Yes, setting kicked in the shoulder by a steel buttplate; with the subtlety of a antisocial mule, is surely the measure of a man.  Why, the roaring of a fierce muzzle blast is music to their ears!   Yeah, that’s just gotta be it!

Both the above stated effects are part and parcel of the short-barreled rifle.  I know fellows who own both long and short barreled Russian & British arms.  Seems they shoot the long barreled versions a lot more then the short ones.  “Recoil & muzzle blast” is the most often cited reason for leaving the carbine in the gun locker. 

Headphones or earplugs protect the hearing from muzzle blast.  The only way to truly reduce recoil though is to shoot a lighter load.  A lighter load simply has less kinetic energy.  A lighter bullet, less powder, or, less of both will do the trick.  However, while shooting the service load there is a way to at least reduce the effects of recoil. 

Of course everyone is thinking: a rubber butt pad.  True enough.  A slip-on rubber butt pad is the easiest to install, and does not modify the rifle.  Also, a slip-on rubber butt pad does add length-of-pull to the Mil-Surp rifle.  Most Mil-Surp rifle’s could benefit from an added length-of-pull.  Most Mil-Surp’s were originally made for smaller persons.  But, all slip-on rubber butt pads are not created alike.   Pachmayer® is a name well known in the gun industry.  Over 20 years ago Pachmayer®, a division of Lyman Products, www.lymanproducts.com developed a synthetic material they dubbed “Decelerator®”

The Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on recoil pad is simply an amazing product!  Its ability to absorb recoil is far beyond that of simple rubber or pliable plastic materials.  Pachmayer® began making Decelerator® pads in the 1980’s to their standard configurations.  That is, one bought a pad slightly larger then needed, and attached it to the butt stock of their rifle.  Lastly, the excess material was ground off so it to fit the shape of the butt stock.

Recently, Pachmayer® has introduced a slip-on pad made of Decelerator®.  Not only is it made of Decelerator®, but, has a compartmented interior for maximum recoil absorption.   

I decided to try out a Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on pad, and see just how much of a difference it made.  The only question was:  which Mil-Surp in the gun safe would give it the best test?  I passed on the “long-tom” Turks with their 29 inch barrels, and even decided a U.S. 03/A3 had much to long of a barrel, even with its 30/06 cartridge, for a real test of the Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on pad.

Wait!  30/06, 30/06, yes, that will do!  I happen to have a 30/06 Mil-Surp rifle that makes the hearts of even the stoutest men hesitant.  A bolt gun in 30/06 caliber with a barrel less then 18 inches should do to give the Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on pad a proper test.

After WWII, Fabrique Nationale (FN) in Belgium, was still producing weapons of model 98-type (licensed by Mauser), and actually had been doing so for decades.  They sold these contract weapons to countries on virtually every continent.  After the war, Belgium adopted the FN 49 semi-auto rifle in 30/06 as their main battle rifle.  Belgium knew it would be quite awhile until all their troops could be supplied with the complicated Model 49 rifle.

So, Belgium adopted a model 98-type rifle in caliber 30/06 (with a 23.5 inch barrel) as substitute standard for units not yet outfitted with the semi-auto Model 49.   The new 30/06-caliber bolt rifle was given the model designation 1950. 

Morocco ordered a small quantity of Model 1950 rifles in caliber 30/06 from FN.   However, the Moroccan version was a carbine.  My Moroccan Model 1950 carbine is a true carbine, with a 17.38 inch barrel.   Now, that arm should make a excellent test deck for the Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on pad!

I have some Korean 30/06 Mil-Surp ammo.  That ammo, and the Model 1950’s corrugated steel butt plate will  “condition” (beat the tar out of) my shoulder so I can compare and contrast how it feels once the Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on pad is installed.

Off the bench; the Korean 30/06 Mil-Surp ammo was down right ugly to shoot with the abbreviated Moroccan Mauser.  In the off-hand position, it wasn’t quite as bad, but was still somewhat uncomfortable.  

From the off hand position, the Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on pad made the shooting downright pleasant!  I could have shot all day like that.  With the steel buttplate, fatigue would have set in very fast after very many rounds. 

I found the Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on pad a very useful item.  It absolutely took the ‘bite’ out of shooting the short, 30/06 caliber Moroccan Mauser.                                 

It also added length to the stock.  For the man with rather long arms, that would be an additional plus.

Pachmayer® Decelerator® slip-on pads come in 3 sizes, small, medium and large.  I used a medium pad on the Moroccan Mauser. 

Midway Product #: 546531 (size medium)

http://www.midwayusa.com

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