I bought a 1950s Ithaca 37 that had a slip on pad. Under the pad was significantly darker than the exposed wood. Like perfect line and substantially darker. Stripped the finish and redid the stock.
The solution is to put a Pachmayr Old English Decelerator on it and be done with it.
Id love to put real pads on, but I need to add lop to 2-3 guns so trying to have a quick cheap fix. I threw a cheap slip on pad on a cheap o/u that I dont care much about kind of as a test run. Probably pull it off after season.
I doubt it. Discoloration of wood is usually caused by sunlight. My experiences have been lighter wood turns dark and darker woods turn light. So I'm not positive but when I see that on older guns, I always think it's the rest of the exposed wood that turned lite, not the wood under the pad that turns dark.