Savage P.A.D. and Accustock questions

Im thinking about treating myself to a long range hunter for Christmas, but I have a few questions about it first. The P.A.D. recoil pad seems to be very soft, almost too soft. Have any of you guys had problems with the P.A.D. tearing or ripping during field use? Also, is it true that it's necessary to store the rifle muzzle down to prevent the P.A.D. from deforming? As for the accustock, I have heard that it has a kind of rubberized finish that tends to peel off over time and I was wondering if anyone here has experienced that? Finally, I know there was ALOT of trouble with the original version of the Accustock that had the wedge in it, as far as getting the rifle to shoot good groups after you took the the stock off to adjust the trigger. Just wondering if the new version of the Accustock is as tempermental to deal with? I really like the looks of the rifle, and I would like to put one in the safe, however I dont want to buy a rifle with lots of "issues." Thanks in advance guys.

For an example of the "peeling" that I'm referring to check out the photos at this link.
http://www.cabelas.com/grand-junctio...-win-mag.shtml

bump

I havnt seen any posts on this website about any peeling parts of the stocks on Accustock rifles. Recent models of the Accustock do not have that wedge or the screw that adjusts it. When they removed it I am not sure. Someone will chime in I am sure. As for the soft buttpad, I have seen posts that suggest that the rifle NOT be stored with the pad down, in other words, muzzle down.

El Lobo

Thanks ellobo. It seems like most of the peeling problems were confined to late 2010 and early 2011. If you do a forum search for "peeling" you will see several posts from that time frame. A few folks mentioned that they were going to get a replacement stock from Savage. I would like for anyone that received a replacement stock from Savage to chime in and let us know if the replacement stock had the same problems. Like I said before, I like the idea of the LRH and apparently it really shoots, but I dont want to buy a rifle that is going to look like the one in the link above after a short while.

Jason, I enlarged that picture as much as I could and couldnt see what you were talking about. Maybe its just my 75 yr old eyes.

El Lobo

Ellobo, scroll down and click on some of the pictures below that one. It's easy to see in some of the others.

OK, looked at the other pictures, didnt notice them in the first pass, my bad. Looks like paint peeling. On this particular rifle it looks like paint peeling. The barrel is the same color which makes me wonder if someone duracoated the whole thing and didnt clean the plastic stock well enough or not at all before painting. I hope someone chimes in with a definitive answer on this one.

El Lobo

Maybe I should ask this question a different way. How many folks on here have LRH's that have not peeled? I know there are bound to be some forum members who own Long Range Hunters.

Jason,
Although I do have a LRH in 300 WSM (I like it), it is fairly new & has not seen rough use yet (bought it for 1000-2000 yd. local sniper matches).
The soft tactil overmould feels nice in the hand, but I fully expect that if I bang it around on rocks & branches in use, it will get scratched up. I suppose that if it was built out of titainium it would not scratch as easily, but I would not like the feel- particularly below freezing!
I have some guns stocked in very nice premium wood- great to look at- seldom get shot & certainly not in "FIELD" conditions. You should have seen my M16 after 13 months in Vietnam! I also have a f/g handled Stanley hammer that I got 45 years ago that has built MANY things- looks a bit rough, but still works perfect & has "Character"... all those scratches & marks bring back some good memories!
I also like the PAD & have added some lead & foam in the hollow stock to help with that 208 gr. Amax leaving at near 3000 fps.
If you treat yourself to this rifle at Christmas, it could end up being a life long friend & any scratches will not matter.

Well, I've spent some time tonight researching rubber overmoldings from various manufacturers and I have come to a conclusion. If you do google searches about the browning/ winchester "Duratouch" finish you will find plenty of people complaining that the finish peels or flakes off. Also the same goes for the bell and carlson finish "Maxxguard." I am starting to think that none of the rubberized finishes currently on the market are worth a %$#@. If this is the case, I'm not sure why Savage chose to offer a rubberized finish on the LRH? It seems like they would just do away with it after a certain number of complaints. Anyways, I suppose if push comes to shove and I get a rifle with the peeling problem I will just call Savage and ask that they send me a replacemnt that doesn't have the coating on the stock. Simple enough, right?

I have a savage with the PAD recoil pad. It was stored it in the cabinet stock down and the pad actually split across at the screw hole and the whole toe of the pad fell off when I took it out a month later. Do not store one on the pad!