Crescent Butt Plates

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Idaholewis

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Who likes a Crescent Butt Plate? Who has modified them? I totally understand how they are supposed to be shot, off the upper part of the Bicep. But for guys like myself i find them 100% useless! My style doesn’t allow shooting off the upper part of the Bicep comfortably. When i bought my Lyman Great Plains Hunter rifle the VERY FIRST thing i did was go around the Crescent butt plate by filling the Gap with memory foam and installing a Lace up leather pad, My Lyman was DANGEROUSLY sharp on the top end of the Crescent, so sharp that i was Confident it would cut a hole through my new lace up leather pad, I actually removed the Plate from the Rifle and used a Dremel tool with sanding wheel and rounded the ‘Knife Edge’ off really good, then reblued it, and added the Leather Lace up pad. My TC Hawken Crescent wasn’t nowhere near as bad as the Lyman but i stil didn’t like it, it wasn’t ‘Knife Edge’ sharp like the Lyman so all i had to do was ad the memory foam in the U and install the Pad

I talked to a guy on CB way back that got ‘Bit’ HARD by a Crescent butt plate, it actually poked a hole in him! Now I understand he wasn’t holding the rifle correctly, but fact is Why chance an accident like this? Other than being ‘Traditional’ i find the Crescent Butt Plates to be 100% useless
Here is a Crescent Butt plate like my Lyman Great Plains Hunter, look at the top of this thing, no need to bring a knife along while hunting, you already have one on the Butt of your rifle :lol: Total joke in my opinion, and the first thing that goes on any rifle i own!
QSM29pX.jpg


Picture of the guy that got a hole poked in him from a Crescent Butt Plate, Looking back, i bet he wishes he had done something different that day :D
PQmAtnD.jpg


My fix on both of my Rifles with Crescent Butt Plates, Lyman Great Plains Hunter, and TC Hawken
Wprg4UP.jpg
 
I took care of my crescent butt plate today. I modified my T/C Hawken stock. I had an old cracked walnut buttstock from a Stevens shotgun. I measured the cut out area of my Hawken stock and cut a plug to match the space left on top when the brass butt plate was removed. After things cured up, I used my power miter saw to get the angle that I wanted and cut the curved section off. A little elbow grease with some rasps and scrapers and all was blended and matched. I used the old black hard pad from the shotgun and shaped it to match the stock. MUCH MUCH BETTER! All I need to do now is finish sanding the stock and applying a new finish. Probably use trusty ol' TruOil. I like the raised cheek weld on the Hawken stock but could not shoot comfortably with the hooked crescent butt. I shoot this gun off the bench and also crossed shooting sticks so actually putting the stock in my shoulder is how I mount this rifle. Maybe there will be a few pictures of my amateur gun stocking skills.
 
Pics added for Harleysboss, Awesome work my friend!! :yeah: The Crescent Butt Plates simply don’t work worth a darn with our style of shooting, i also mount my rifle in to my shoulder, from a bench, or sticks. I could just see me ending up like the guy in the photo i posted above

rlvLRRE.jpg


0ZC4T9g.jpg
 
The crescent buttplates have never bothered me, I’m not sure why? I’m pretty sure the stock is against my shoulder rather than my bicep when I shoot. It’s probably that all my rifles with those buttplates are .45 and under and I don’t load them very heavy.
 
I teach hunter ed courses and usually have the muzzleloader section. I give instruction on the benefits and potential dangers of a crescent/ rifle buttplate.
I have to say I absolutely love a crescent plate on a hunting rifle! Properly used with a rifle having sufficient length of barrel, they are outstanding for offhand work. Once you are used to them, they grow on you. If you let them. Wish my 2 Black Diamonds had them...
 
Confederate rifleman said:
I teach hunter ed courses and usually have the muzzleloader section. I give instruction on the benefits and potential dangers of a crescent/ rifle buttplate.
I have to say I absolutely love a crescent plate on a hunting rifle! Properly used with a rifle having sufficient length of barrel, they are outstanding for offhand work. Once you are used to them, they grow on you. If you let them. Wish my 2 Black Diamonds had them...

If i had 2 that would fit on your Black Diamonds i would GLADLY give them to ya, i’d even pay the shipping! :D
 
what makes a gun more comfortable to me for shooting offhand is correct length of pull, nothing makes a gun more difficult to shoot offhand then too long L.O.P. to me.





Confederate rifleman said:
I teach hunter ed courses and usually have the muzzleloader section. I give instruction on the benefits and potential dangers of a crescent/ rifle buttplate.
I have to say I absolutely love a crescent plate on a hunting rifle! Properly used with a rifle having sufficient length of barrel, they are outstanding for offhand work. Once you are used to them, they grow on you. If you let them. Wish my 2 Black Diamonds had them...
 
used to see them for sale every now and then, owned 3 of them over the last 20 yrs but now like you say they are nowhere to be found.. I do have 2 .54 Firehawks unfired with nice walnut stocks.





Confederate rifleman said:
I'm still looking for a walnut stock with triggerguard for my 45 Black Diamond. Unobtainium... A very rare wood.
 
Aww, you buncha sissies. :poke:

Those stupid "cheek rests" are causin' most of yer problems. Throw that rifle gun up to yer portside shoulder & it'll shoot like a whole new gun. :yeah:
 
bubba.50 said:
Aww, you buncha sissies. :poke:

Those stupid "cheek rests" are causin' most of yer problems. Throw that rifle gun up to yer portside shoulder & it'll shoot like a whole new gun. :yeah:

:lol: That it Definitely would bubba!! I use to shoot with an Ole Boy named Gilbert, We called him Gib for short. Gib Ran Yarder when i worked in the Riggin Logging, He would bring a different rifle to work about every decent day that we could shoot, After the last turn of logs hit the landing for the day Ole Gib would grab Whatever rifle he had brought, He always let me shoot a Group or 2, especially so if he was having a rough time with a Group himself, large percentage of Gib’s Guns were Left Handed, i shot them just fine Right handed! :D I often think about what happened to all of his stuff? Gib was an Old Bachelor, lived in a little house in town, No idea how many guns he had, but it was a BUNCH of em! He died in his Chair, wasn’t found for a week or so in the summer! He had gotten HUGE (over 400 pounds) he had to sleep sitting up in a chair. I bet that was hell of a mess :puke:

Moral of the story? There aint one! Other than i shot a LOT of left handed rifles right handed :yeah:
 
Who likes a Crescent Butt Plate? Who has modified them? I totally understand how they are supposed to be shot, off the upper part of the Bicep. But for guys like myself i find them 100% useless! My style doesn’t allow shooting off the upper part of the Bicep comfortably. When i bought my Lyman Great Plains Hunter rifle the VERY FIRST thing i did was go around the Crescent butt plate by filling the Gap with memory foam and installing a Lace up leather pad, My Lyman was DANGEROUSLY sharp on the top end of the Crescent, so sharp that i was Confident it would cut a hole through my new lace up leather pad, I actually removed the Plate from the Rifle and used a Dremel tool with sanding wheel and rounded the ‘Knife Edge’ off really good, then reblued it, and added the Leather Lace up pad. My TC Hawken Crescent wasn’t nowhere near as bad as the Lyman but i stil didn’t like it, it wasn’t ‘Knife Edge’ sharp like the Lyman so all i had to do was ad the memory foam in the U and install the Pad

I talked to a guy on CB way back that got ‘Bit’ HARD by a Crescent butt plate, it actually poked a hole in him! Now I understand he wasn’t holding the rifle correctly, but fact is Why chance an accident like this? Other than being ‘Traditional’ i find the Crescent Butt Plates to be 100% useless
Here is a Crescent Butt plate like my Lyman Great Plains Hunter, look at the top of this thing, no need to bring a knife along while hunting, you already have one on the Butt of your rifle :lol: Total joke in my opinion, and the first thing that goes on any rifle i own!
QSM29pX.jpg


Picture of the guy that got a hole poked in him from a Crescent Butt Plate, Looking back, i bet he wishes he had done something different that day :D
PQmAtnD.jpg


My fix on both of my Rifles with Crescent Butt Plates, Lyman Great Plains Hunter, and TC Hawken
Wprg4UP.jpg

@Idaholewis hey mate I think the top one/lyman has a pretty similar butt to the missouri river.

Which buffalo arms pad is that? the rifle or carbine?
 
A recently learned trick, courtesy of a Browning Mountain Rifle.
Keep the crescent off the pocket of the shoulder and just off the shoulder ball. Most important though, is sit as straight up as you can. The typical hunched over bench position will cause the top of the crescent to become the pivot point during recoil. That's where recoil hickies come from. The more upright you are, the less the effect.
The TC Hawken is one of the best crescent designs, but even they can bite. The crescent, or rifle buttplate, was designed for offhand work. Get yourself as close as you can to that position and you'll be more comfortable.
Otherwise, I guess that's why they made the Renegade!
 
A recently learned trick, courtesy of a Browning Mountain Rifle.
Keep the crescent off the pocket of the shoulder and just off the shoulder ball. Most important though, is sit as straight up as you can. The typical hunched over bench position will cause the top of the crescent to become the pivot point during recoil. That's where recoil hickies come from. The more upright you are, the less the effect.
The TC Hawken is one of the best crescent designs, but even they can bite. The crescent, or rifle buttplate, was designed for offhand work. Get yourself as close as you can to that position and you'll be more comfortable.
Otherwise, I guess that's why they made the Renegade!

I understand how they're meant to be shot, I just don't like that hold. Besides, as soon as a big red stag jumps in front of me and I quickly shoulder the rifle, all thought of placing the rifle differently in my shoulder will be fly away, just like a chunk of my shoulder!
I did a lot of competition shotgun shooting when I was younger and because of that I naturally shoot across my body offhand. But kneeling and prone I'm pretty square on and as I hunt almost exclusively on foot those types of shots come up regularly.

I know some folks love them but my personal view is if they were that great modern firearms would still come with one.
 
Idaholewis, whatever you are doing is obviously working, as you've posted plenty of groups I can only strive for, but I'm surprised you used memory foam. I once tried sleeping on a memory foam pad in an October hunt in unit 27. Subfreezing temperatures made that soft memory foam about as cushy as a pine plank. I don't guess it's made much difference in the way you are using it, as you've proven that setup at the range, and in the field. Maybe, don't fix a fix that's not broken.
 
Idaholewis, whatever you are doing is obviously working, as you've posted plenty of groups I can only strive for, but I'm surprised you used memory foam. I once tried sleeping on a memory foam pad in an October hunt in unit 27. Subfreezing temperatures made that soft memory foam about as cushy as a pine plank. I don't guess it's made much difference in the way you are using it, as you've proven that setup at the range, and in the field. Maybe, don't fix a fix that's not broken.

The stuff i am using now (The last 2 of these Setups i did) was Memory foam from a Mattress Topper, it works good for me, for this application. I can push in the middle of the Crescent and get Good “Flex” I am shooting 610-615 Grain 50 Cal bullets at 1,350 to 1,375 Fps with my latest Rig, It absolutely makes a Difference :lewis: I am not hanging out in Subfreezing temps long enough for it to matter i guess :)
 
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