m14 buttplate

[leadchucker62]

good day everyone:
i've been looking for a replacement umc buttplate for my first year production m14.
i read somewhere that there is a company making reproduction umc buttplates.
but i cant find the link to the company,if i remember correctly, they are in florida?
any info would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Z

[Tom H]

Try www.vintagegungrips.com . They make a copy of the hard rubber buttplate and it is the "R12a" that you need........

[nambujim]

The buttplate from "Vintage" is a spot on match BUT you will have to fit it to the gun which means you will probably need to have a good stock man do it for you. The reason I say that is that the plate is flat as received and there is curvature to the stock and some excess will need to be taken off the sides.

It is necessary to inject humor here since they make these plates in colors along with the black, always wanted to see what a red one would look like on a Model 14, even white would be interesting. I curious as to why they even have them but it is entertaining to speculate.

................be sure to order the R12a, that's the one Tom told you about for the Model 14, I think they are about $16.

Jim

[leadchucker62]

thanks for your replies:
about the curvature of the buttface(ha,ha),how do you "bend" the bittplate to fit.
a number of years ago i found a flat one that was correct fo this gun,but when i tried to install it it snapped.man,was i kicken myself in the butt for that one.
because it was the only one i'd seen in years and i paid alot for it.
so how do i get it to bend,soften it up in the oven?
any input is greatly appreciated.

Z

[nambujim]

I believe the accepted practice is to immerse them in hot or boiling water.

I have never done it myself but have seen it done several times, I can make Model 14's work but I send anything wood related out to folks that do that type of work on a daily basis.

Jim

[umcpumpgun]

I am definitely a stock man,but have managed to fit several to mod 14 buttstocks. I have tried several ways to bend them,but by far the best way is to put it in a pot of boiling water on the stove to soften it. If you don't soften it you will never get it to bend right. It is just a trial and error about how long to boil it. It takes longer than you might think,but just start with a short time and keep putting it back in the water till it will bend by hand not with the screws. Get it close by hand and then use the screws. Jim is right about it not fitting correctly,but can be solved with a rasp or belt sander fairly easy if you take your time. I use an old busted stock to put it on instead of my good one to get it fairly close,then put masking tape around butt of my good one and finish it off on the good one. Go slow and be carefull and finish the edge off with very fine sand paper and you can get a nice job. And by the way the repo plate doesn't have the exact logo and letters as the original,but will pass for a nice job.