How to shorten the FN SLP Mk1 Stock...

Fried Chicken Blowout · Mar 25, 2012

I'm going to fire up my first post here with a write up on how to fix one the the issues I see with the SLP shotgun... I will do this in several post since I don't know how may photos I can use in a single post. I know some forums limited it to 4 per post. Here we go...

I've been getting back into 3-Gun in the last 8 months or so after focusing strictly on IDPA for the last couple of years. When I set out to get into 3-Gun again, I decided to look for a shotgun that provided the best bang for the buck and was left hand friendly. I ended up deciding on the FNH SLP Mk1 since the safety could be flipped and it appeared to have a good amount of aftermarket support. I got it about 8 months ago and immediately thought it was one bad ass piece of equipment... BUT... Who the hell decided to make the stock so long???!!!

I'm 5' 11" and I couldn't mount the gun without dragging the stock on my chest. If my shirt had a pocket, the stock would hang up on my pocket when dismounting the gun. I was also forced to blade my stance much more than I normally would when shooting rifle. The factory spec says the LOP is 14"... My measurement is actually 14.25" in the factory configuration. I believe this is actually shorter than the Winchester version but not by much. The factory recoil pad is pretty nice and reduced recoil pretty well from what I discovered.

Here's the factory recoil pad as supplied from the factory. It's been loosened up, that's why there is a gap there...

IMG_0487 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

My first thought to shorten the LOP was to rid the gun of the recoil part of the pad. I ended up cutting up the stock recoil pad to remove about 5/8" to see if it would help...

IMG_0488 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

As you can see here, I took it down to the nubs...

IMG_0489 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

This was a good improvement in the overall LOP. But after shooting it today vs my dad's factory FNH SLP Mk1, I discovered it had about twice the recoil as the factory gun. So something else needed to be done...

So once we discovered that our match for today was cancelled, my dad and I went in search of some sort of recoil pad to rework this situation. Thankfully my dad was also interested in shorting his LOP which was what really made this happen for me. I'm in my late 30's and have lived my life in the medical field. I'm pretty good with mechanical things, but I have an issue with thinking within a small box. At times I have difficulty thinking "outside the box" and being creative in this situation would be beneficial. My dad is in his early 60's and spent his younger years as a master cabinet maker and has the ability to make creative decisions and think outside the box which was a huge part to making this project a success...

At a local gun shop we were able to source the Pachmayr Decelerator Recoil Pad. It was low profile and seems like it would fit the bill. We got a chance to talk to their gunsmith a bit about how to do such a thing. He rambled on and on about how to use this jig to help get the angles right and how to do this or that to make this whole thing perfect... The whole time I'm thinking... Great, but this gun is going to get beat so I don't really care about getting it perfect, but I let him ramble. I knew my dad would be soaking this up and end up with some great ideas on how to make this happened with the limited tools we would have on hand. Sure enough, by the time we left there was a plan in his mind...

Here's what we ended up using...

IMG_0534 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0535 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Of course we started out by breaking down both the guns and taking some measurements on how much we could hack off the stocks and still have clearance for the for the recoil system in the stock. We settled on 0.75" as what we could cut off and still have a little room for mistakes if we had to recut something. After deciding that, we got down to business...

The compound miter saw was setup to match the angles of the factory stock end.

IMG_0491 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

This called for the table angle to be placed at 3 degrees to match the factory stock once it was placed on the fence with a short piece of 1x material.

IMG_0504 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

The cutting head also needed to be tilted 1 degree in order to make up for the fact the the stock would not sit totally flat. This allowed for the fact that the stock was thinner at the grip than at the rear.

IMG_0502 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Stand by for more...

Fried Chicken Blowout · Mar 25, 2012

We also had to shim the stock a tad to get it to be basically flat.

IMG_0492 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Using a large flat bladed screwdriver taped in place as a shim, we were in business...

The next step was to wrap the stock in tape and scribe the line that would be used to ensure the stock was cut correctly. We choose to use duct tape to have a substantial buffer for later when we were shaping the recoil pad.

IMG_0495 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Next it was time to do or die...

IMG_0499 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0500 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0501 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

As you can see here, the stock recoil pad would not drop right back into place. The profile of the stock has been changed because it was cut in the smaller portion. This pretty much eliminates the ability of replacing the factory recoil pad.

IMG_0505 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

If you were really into using a Dremel, you might be able to reshape the shoulder that goes into the stock and get the stock recoil pad back into place, but this would take just as much work as what we did. It would also result in only 0.75" reduction in LOP. We were then able to use our new recoil pad's bottom screw hole to locate the pad onto the stock. A second hole was drilled in the proper location to use the factory screw placement that was still left over after cutting the stock down.

IMG_0483 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0508 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Fried Chicken Blowout · Mar 25, 2012

As you can see in the post above, we had a tad bit of extra pad that wasn't needed. So it was game time with the belt sander. The sander was clamped to the work bench and a 34 grit belt was placed on it for the heavy grinding....

IMG_0484 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0510 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0511 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0512 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0513 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0514 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

So here you can see both stocks after having lots of material removed from the recoil pad. The shape is starting to come around...

IMG_0485 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0516 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

We then gradually reduced the grit on the belt. 50 grit then 80 grit and finally 120 grit was used to help smooth the material and insure that too much material was not taken off as we got closer to the stock's profile. This kept us from digging into the stock and making it look like a hack job... You can see how the pad shaped up as we moved along...

IMG_0517 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0518 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0519 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0520 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Fried Chicken Blowout · Mar 25, 2012

Once all the shaping was complete, the stock was reinstalled onto the gun. You can see from these photos that the recoil system has very little clearance, but enough...

IMG_0521 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0522 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Here's the finished product... Not perfectly in line with the stock, but pretty damn close without every touching the stock with the belt sander. The fit is pretty much as good as the factory pad and about 1" shorter.

IMG_0526 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0527 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0533 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_0486 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Here's some photos of my gun in better light. You can see there is a little bit of oversizing of the recoil pad but it's really not enough to be concerned about. It looks like more than it is in the photos because of where the light is coming from.

IMG_4291 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_4292 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

IMG_4290 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr

Hopefully this will help someone that might have the same issue with the LOP!!!

Let me know if you have any questions. I'll also be posting some info about what I would suggest for the "Must do" Mods for the SLP. That post will be coming in the next few mins.

Joel Clouse · Mar 25, 2012

I used to fit recoil pads back in the day when I worked at Shootin' Shop South in Littleton. With the oversized pad fitted to the stock, scribe a reference line on the underside of the recoil pad and mark your stock outline. Do the sanding with the pad off so you don't risk horsing up the finish on the stock.

Great post, thanks!

Fried Chicken Blowout · Mar 25, 2012

We had initially planned on scribing and then shaping off the stock... But being limited to the sander setup we had and the fact that we didn't have the butt plate jig, we couldn't get the angles of the stock contour right. Doing it on the stock allowed for us to follow the angles without the jig. The duct tape worked well. You can hit it a few times without cutting through the tape into the stock. Clearly not the best way to do things but I HATE sending stuff of to a gunsmith, so I'd rather try to wing it myself.