Fitting a recoil plate

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   Looking for some tips on fitting a recoil plate. I have a decent stockpile of recoil plates and normally I would just go through them and pick one that fits instead of trying to file the plate to fit the receiver. But in this case the rifle is a late Rockola and I really would like to use a Rockola marked plate. I have tried 14 type 3 plates including 5 Rockola and they will not seat properly (too big of a gap to the receiver at the bottom). I do have a couple of type 2 plates that fit. What's interesting is that comparing the type 3s that don't fit with the type 2s that do, the critical contact areas appear the same.

[Edited original post as I was a bit frustrated at the time of writing]

Edited by GotSnlB28 - Aug 09 2020 at 6:58pm

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GotSnlB28 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Hard Corps Joined: Jan 01 2016 Location: WI Status: Offline Points: 896	Post Options Post Reply Quote GotSnlB28 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Fitting a recoil plate Posted: Aug 09 2020 at 1:53pm
	Looking for some tips on fitting a recoil plate. I have a decent stockpile of recoil plates and normally I would just go through them and pick one that fits instead of trying to file the plate to fit the receiver. But in this case the rifle is a late Rockola and I really would like to use a Rockola marked plate. I have tried 14 type 3 plates including 5 Rockola and they will not seat properly (too big of a gap to the receiver at the bottom). I do have a couple of type 2 plates that fit. What's interesting is that comparing the type 3s that don't fit with the type 2s that do, the critical contact areas appear the same. [Edited original post as I was a bit frustrated at the time of writing] Edited by GotSnlB28 - Aug 09 2020 at 6:58pm

W5USMC Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: Apr 29 2017 Location: Missouri Status: Offline Points: 2959	Post Options Post Reply Quote W5USMC Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Aug 09 2020 at 5:59pm
	Have you read paragraph 4 of this old CMP article that is now a sticky on their forum? http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=185373
	Wayne USMC Retired NRA Life Member

GotSnlB28 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Hard Corps Joined: Jan 01 2016 Location: WI Status: Offline Points: 896	Post Options Post Reply Quote GotSnlB28 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Aug 09 2020 at 6:56pm
	thanks for the reply Wayne, i checked the article but it seems to address the loose plate and not one that is too tight and will not seat. Picture of what it looks like:

jackp1028 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Hard Corps Joined: Jan 01 2016 Location: Cloudcroft, NM Status: Online Points: 1276	Post Options Post Reply Quote jackp1028 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Aug 09 2020 at 7:42pm
	@GotSnlB28, carefully squeeze your RockOla recoil plate in a vice until it's right. If you use aluminum jaws you can catch it between the tang and the lower jaw to open it up. Or squeeze it this way to close it. If you mess it up, you have 13 more to try.
	JackP

GotSnlB28 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Hard Corps Joined: Jan 01 2016 Location: WI Status: Offline Points: 896	Post Options Post Reply Quote GotSnlB28 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Aug 09 2020 at 8:13pm
	@jackp - "if you mess it up, you have 13 more to try" - now that's funny :) It was probably 5 years ago I tried to tighten a STANDARD PRODUCTS plate up that I'd bought and it didn't fit well. Hammer first, no luck, so I moved to the vice. Well, a couple of tries and it didn't tighten up much. So I decided it must not have been enough force. You guessed it, "snap" right in the thin part and there went my 35 bucks. I'm a bit gun shy on the technique now. I probably just used too much force, or maybe the steel was weak. This one is the furthest off i've experienced, I just wonder if there is enough give. But comparing the type 3's that don't fit and the type 2 that does, they do line up so it just has to be a tiny difference causing it.

GotSnlB28 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Hard Corps Joined: Jan 01 2016 Location: WI Status: Offline Points: 896	Post Options Post Reply Quote GotSnlB28 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Aug 10 2020 at 1:16pm
	Another thought that occured to me, how did the carbine manufacturers handle this issue when they were originally built? Certainly they would have had large bins of recoil plates but what if they couldn't find one that fit in x amount of tries?

desert-storm Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Recruit Joined: Aug 07 2019 Location: New Mexico Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote desert-storm Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Aug 10 2020 at 9:33pm
	I have custom fit every single recoil plate on my carbines. Even my original mint carbines had to be adjusted and I built a jig and used specific tools and protection against any metal to metal contact to tighten and loosen the recoil plates, leaving no marks. I was not going to swap out any parts original to the carbine. No time to include the details of tools and jig. If they are not adjusted correctly/properly, cracks will appear in the recoil plate pocket and surrounding area into the screw hole/escutcheon. I would like to think the 9 manufacturers did this but it was war time, fast production and may have not been deemed critical. Maybe there was some issues that were documented that Ruth may have uncovered?