Many of you are aware of my deep and committed love for my Desert Tech SRS A1 Covert. For many years now I have been terrorizing the hills and peaks of these Rocky Mountains with the surplus of barrel options it gives me. For so long, I thought that there was no way it could possibly get any better. To put it very simple, I was wrong.
I have always loved my SRS, from the first time I shot one, till at least yesterday when I shot it last. The ergonomics of the rifle seemed to fit me perfectly, and operating it became second nature in no time. The benefits offered by this rifle fit my shooting style, its short and compact. Great for packing around, but its also extremely accurate, which is helpful for trigger jerkers like me. Add to that the ability to change untold numbers of barrel combinations makes it the only rifle I’ll ever need. I only say that because though I still have a few other nice rifles, they have barely left the safe since the SRS came home, and even when they do, it’s to let someone borrow it.

So it may come as a surprise to you, as it did to me, that my humble little SRS could be easily upgraded. That is when the brilliantly creative fellows over at Short Action Customs, LLC come in. Mark and I met long ago when I first got my SRS, he was destined to sire several Bartlein’s for me and my rifle. At the moment, I have a 7SAUM, a 300Blackout, and a 223 Remington all built by Short Action Customs. Three of my favorite barrels, all because they are extremely accurate, and repeatable enough to give me the confidence to take a cold bore shot on an elk at 970 yards.
Mark and the guys have been busy making Ohio and the world a better place, and my SRS has benefited directly. Dan Calala of Short Action Customs and the proprietor of Desert Tech Solutions contacted me some time ago about an idea he had to make the SRS even better than it already was. After I got over the initial shock of blaspheme, I tuned into Dan’s soothing voice, and I thought surely there was some good reasoning behind his idea.
All these years I had thought that my SRS had fit me perfectly, well I come to find out that maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t very picky. Now I may be the kind of guy to walk two miles with a rock in his shoe, but it never occurred to me that I wasn’t picky about my rifles. At least not until Dan sent me his invention.
When the package showed up, I was impressed by what was inside. It was a fully adjustable recoil pad for the SRS. I had always thought the standard recoil pad fit me just fine, that’s not to say it wasn’t comfortable, but this new one began to grow on me before it was even installed.

Dan had fashioned a piece of aluminium that is attached to one of the Desert Tech recoil pad spacers. An XLR recoil pad was attached to the back of it, its broad and soft texture was very appealing, and I couldn’t wait to get it on my gun.
It snapped right on, as though it was just another Desert Tech part, and after a few minutes playing with it, I soon found out just how convenient this thing was going to be. The recoil pad has a row of threaded screw holes drilled down its center axis, and screwed into the holes was a short aluminum dowel.

Recoil pad can be raised or lowered by moving the aluminum dowel up or down (red). The cant of the recoil pad is adjusted by loosening the side 5mm screw (blue)


The same tool used by SRS owners to change barrels can be used to adjust and disassemble the recoil pad.

Machine screws are threaded through the dowel, and into the front side of the recoil pad. The row of screw holes bored from top to bottom allows the user to adjust the height of the recoil pad. The aluminum dowel is received into the back of the recoil pad spacer, where there is a reciprocating bore for the dowel pin. This allows the entire recoil pad to be canted 360 degrees by the user by simply loosening one 5mm hex bolt on the right side of the spacer, the same screw is used to disassemble the unit.

It literally took me a couple minutes to get the recoil pad perfectly fit to my shoulder, and it was only then that I realized that the standard SRS recoil pad wasn’t as comfy as I had previously thought. This became more and more evident as I took the rifle out for a quick hike up my canyon.

The new adjustable recoil pad was also a bit “stickier” than the standard one, this helps keep the rifle in place when running the bolt in awkward positions. And it’s new angle, slightly canted, made the rifle more comfortable than ever. Best of all, it made it much faster to get settled in properly on the rifle.

I found that my level of comfort on the rifle was much better, particularly when shooting the larger calibers like 338LM. But it helped across the board as far as making the rifle become and extension of me.

Its been a great season of shooting with this new product, it has enhanced somewhat my shooting ability, and made it even more pleasant than before. If I had to say something negative about it, I guess it would be the added weight that it brings to the rifle. I haven’t actually weighed it, but it feels about like a pound. For me this isn’t a big issue, my gun is a pig, and always has been. So whats an additional half pound here or there.
I hunt quite a bit, and the added comfort and stability of this part has given me a little more edge in my game. After a whole season of chasing everything from squirrels to elk, you wont see me changing back anytime soon.
-CBM