I had posted earlier look to see if anyone had found/used an adjustable buttplate on their Wildcat. I feel this is an oversight on FX for not making this standard, but nonetheless I found one on eBay and ordered it. It arrived today (actually yesterday but a signature was required) and I had a chance to take some pics and offer my first impressions.
1) The buttplate is 3D printed and appears well made, although if you're a stickler for finish it has some little white marks that appear to be a result of the printing process, but they do look like they can be rubbed out. The adjustments all smooth and work without issue which is the most important thing to me. The screws are included and as you can see from the pics they come secured via tape. Overall, first looks left me impressed.
2) I took the old buttplate off to do a quick comparison, and as you can see the new one matches up very well.
3) The screws come with little washers because the screw holes inside of the new buttplate are not recessed for wood screws. I may check out Lowes this weekend to see if I can find some appropriate metal screws for this, but the installation went off without a hitch using what was provided. You can also see it's simple to install by folding up the adjustable "wings" to expose the screw holes. Again, easy peasy.
4) Before/After installation. As you can see it matches up well, although I will provide feedback to the seller that it would be even better, from an aesthetic standpoint it would be better looking if it followed the original contour at the top. Again, function over form on this for me, but YMMV. I will say I puckered a bit tightening the adjustable wings down because there was some slip in them when I first put it to my shoulder, but it tightened down hand tight+ without issue and everything held where it needed to be.
The one thing I will need to rethink is how I store the rifle, as it's always been up and resting on the butt. I'm going to make a little stand so it doesn't put pressure on the wings when it's stored, and I think that's more of me being overly cautious, but I wanted to mention that point as well.
5) Final product. Well the proof's in the pudding here, and what I can say is after a couple quick adjustments, this new adjustable buttplate is fantastic. I put it to my shoulder and I get a comfortable, perfect cheek weld, and having the top wing out allows it to rest somewhat on my shoulder. With the fused C5/C6 in my neck, it's day and night with regards to the comfort and shooting position. The feel pushed into the shoulder is comfortable as well, and while the material is 3D-print plastic, there are grooves to roughen it up so it doesn't slide around too much (although I may put some spray grip on it to see if I like that better). Long/short I can tell already this is going to make offhand shots much easier, it's going to enhance my shooting at extended ranges when hunting my property, and will eliminate the fatigue I get while waiting for shots when shooting from a bag/rest.
So at the end of the day I think this was around $50 shipped from England (fast too all things considered), and I would wholeheartedly recommend this upgrade.
