Kimber Classic 22 Rifles

I have the same problem with my Yonkers Kimber Hunter 22. I called Kimber but since this model is no longer in production they did not offer any help. For resale value I would like keep a Kimber replacement pad on it. I would like to hear how everything turns out for you before I start on mine.

 

You have my sympathy. I would find something other than the carpet to set everything in that safe on as it may be that the carpet is breaking down and could damage other things as well.

As far as repair, it looks as if a patient application of an exacto knife to remove the deformity around the edge would solve a good deal of the issue, though not to perfection. Those pads are glued on and can be cut off and a new one glued back on. Getting an exact replacement may be available but I doubt it as Kimber has changed hands and locations so many times. Ask over in the stock making area of this forum and one or more of the stock professionals over there will be able to steer you in the best direction available.

 

As I recall, GunParts was selling NOS K-22 stocks for $100. I know, because I bought one, just because. A Want-to-Buy ad here might produce two, since I know many here bought them.
Just a thought
TBR

 

butt pad

I mourn for you and your Kimber. I recently purchased a NEW YORK Kimber and mine looks just like yours. I asked when purchasing it about condition of the butt pad and was told about the condition. I met the seller and still purchased it because it had a very nice piece of wood on it for a Hunter series rifle. What I did is I have my Kimber rifles hanging horizontal on pegs on my wall. If I really get picky I could put one of them Numrich replacement stocks on it as I have one but it is not near as nice as the original stock. I will just probably live with as is as I do not want to cut any of the stock off. The original stock has many light handling marks on it from use and just live with and enjoy for what it is. I have a Oregon C action Kimber with the same problem also.

 

Guess I should dig my NY Hunter out of the back of the safe and check its pad. But not doing so would make it a version of Schrodinger's cat.

Edited to add that I did shine a light on it, and from what I could see it's okay. Mine has a red pad, I know there was an earlier version with a black (I think) pad. For those with a problem, what color is your pad, man.

 

Related thread:
https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1209245

 

I have my Kimber 82G in a model 84 SSV stock. When I moved to TX 5 years ago we loaded my gun chest on to the moving truck and then put most of my guns inside in their cases. Some time after the move I took my 82G out of the case and found the recoil pad had melted. I assume it happened while it was in the back of the moving truck in the summer heat. Several of my rifles have rubber recoil pads. The Kimber is the only one it happened to. I'll have to send it to my brother so he can install a new pad

 

Ok I have to take back my story of the pad melting during my move to Texas. I found pics where I had the rifle at the range here not long after I moved. The pad was fine. So either it melted in the trunk of my car on the way home from the range that day or it melted while in the my gun safe (in AC). I guess I'll never know but it looks pretty bad

 

I just pulled out my NOS Kimber stock, and it was sticking to the carpet. I rubbed it down with my thumb, creating a little bit of friction heat, and the effected areas look close to normal. We just had this conversation of elastomer break down in the Sako forum. I had a pair of Rocky boots that the soles of which, after 5 years, suddenly turned into a gooey mess. No elastomer or polymer is as stable as we’ve been led to believe. Fortunately, most of my rifles have steel or ebony butt plates, but this is quite concerning.

TBR

 

The pad on my Hunter 22 did the same thing, and it is on an open air gun rack, not sitting buttpad down on anything. I replaced it with a Pachmayr RP200, the closest in appearance and thickness to the original that l found. Fitting a butt pad is a pain in the butt. Sorry for the bad pun, l just couldn't resist.....

 

Melted Kimber pad

I recently bought a Kimber with a melted pad. To make it look acceptable I used a small sanding block and a small piece of the finest sand paper I could find. Very carefully I sanded it down and it looks pretty good now, not perfect but good. I do store it on its butt in the safe but I have it slid so that it's sitting on the entire pad instead of just the heel. My hope this will spread the weight over a larger area slowing down any future melting. So far, so good.

 

I think, unfortunately that most of us guys who have Kimbers in our safes have the same issue. Luckily for me, I read about the issue on here in time to save most of mine. I did buy a Super America with the molten pad issue, but knew about it ahead of time and think I got an ok price anyway. It's very unfortunate.

If we only knew a lawyer who was interested in Kimber rifles, maybe he could get a class action suit started against all the companies alive and dead so we could all have a vent for our rage. Maybe rage is a lot strong...

 

Here is a picture of my Hunter butt pad. Terrible

!

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Here is a side view of that butt pad on that hunter stock

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Luckily, I discovered this before all of my guns that have pads were damaged, except one, an SVT. All of the padded ones are now stored together, muzzle down.
The pads are glued on so you need to know what you are doing to replace one. I don't, so I sent the SVT stock to Dennis Smith, The Stock Doctor, and had him replace it. Original and uninstalled Kimber pads are just not available, so he uses a Pachmayr pad of the exact dimensions and color of the original Kimber pads, it just doesn't say Kimber in the center. I'm pretty sure that Pachmayr made the original Kimber pads as well.
Anyway, lesson learned and one pad replaced. I'll probably pay a small price for it should I sell the gun to a collector, but it definitely looks original and hugely better than it did. It does seem interesting that all of these pads are failing at appx the same time.

 

I sold my last Kimber K22 Hunter 2-3 years ago. It had a red pad on it and didn't show any signs of decomposing yet, and it sat in a safe on carpet. If it had developed the problem, I would have done the same as SageRat22.

 

I guess God was watching out for me because I installed hooks in the top of my safe and have the Kimbers, as well as many others, hanging from their slings inside of gun socks. I hope when I do need to replace one The Stock Doctor is still working his magic.

 

Retirement day is planned for Thanksgiving Day 2030. I will be 75 then. Prayerfully my hands hold out that long. FWIW....Kimber pads were made by Pachmayr. The pads have the makers circle on the underside of the pad. Some of the pads say "Made by Pachmayr" under the Kimber logo. I possess several Orange Kimber pads I got from Larry Peters before he passed on. I found a box of 70 in his effects when we inventoried his house. They disappeared!!!

Greg arranged to get pads made by another maker (Uncle Mikes). They were lousy pads!! Several of them were put on for testing and quickly removed because they ground so poorly on the belt sander.

 

Love it when you can get "the inside story". If I understand DES/TSD's statement correctly, none of the Uncle Mike's left the factory on guns? Hope your hands...and everything else holds out that long and longer.

 

Officially, none of the Uncle Mike's recoil pads were sent out on production guns. Unofficially, there are guns that were made late '88 that used what was on hand to meet non-production ( read Special Order) needs. How do I know? I asked!!

Butch Weyand was the Wood Shop Manager and he went on to become the owner of Cascade Arms. He also is a friend and is medically hurting today. His wife worked at Kimber also and later became my Real Estate Broker when we bought our home 15 years ago. I am grateful to both Butch and Sylvia for their help over the years we have known each other.

 

Y'all had me a bit worried about my own Kimber Yonkers Hunter 22 recoil pad that sits on the carpet in a vertical rack. Thankfully, all is well. No compression of the black "Kimber" buttpad, and no softening of the pad material.
I suspect that my carpet has completely "off gased" long ago, and many of you with gun safes had relatively newer carpeted bottoms that are still "off gasing" and reacting with the composition of some of these buttpads. Just a guess now.

 

A reaction to certain carpets used in gun safes could be the key to this problem.
Any further thoughts in this regard ?

 

Example

Here are images of my pad, not as bad as some others ! Applied heat with a hair dryer and pushed it back to a better shape. Storing it muzzle down now. Got the Pachmayr pad mentioned above on the way, may live with it as is.

 

Not Kimber, but I recently found the same thing on a Model 12 skeet gun with a Pachmayr pad. I first noticed the pad getting soft and semi-deformable a couple years ago on a particularly hot day. This last week it looked worse than your pictures. I'm wondering if the electric drying rods we put in our gun safes might contribute.

 

yuk , gotta look in on all of mine ....sorry to hear this happened to you

 

I have had the same thing happen with the similar to butt stock 'rubber like' padding on Hercules guitar stands. One would dissolve, and another next to it would be fine.
So I agree its probably not temperature, but more of a chemical reaction with the compound. Annoying when it happens.

 

I had a Limbsaver pad deteriorate like that a few years ago. I contacted them and they said it was a known problem with a few batches of pads. They asked for photos and then replaced my pad at no charge. So far the new one has remained perfect. See this thread: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/limbsaver-rotting-away.830245/

 

I have always stored my long guns muzzle down to prevent oil from migrating towards the stocks. My shotguns are stored the same way. If anything is in "long term storage >6 mo." they are in Zerust bags as well. An old gunsmith gave me this tip when I was a young man. No rust problems and no ruined butt pads or stocks in 55 years.

 

Never considered this but I’m going to try it.

 

Elastomer materials are prone to deteriorate after a few years. My Proflex mountain bike had elastomers in the suspension. They would all eventually do one of two things: (1) become rock hard and cease to function or (2) melt into a pool of liquid goo. Replace and repeat.

Ecco dress shoes have comfortable soles made of similar material. It is well known that the soles will just come apart, mainly and ironically on shoes that are stored away and not used. I have some I wear daily, and they do fine, but when I kept a pair in the box for a few months they fell apart as I walked across the room. Ecco did replace them, as they are aware of the issue.