i wouldnt put a pad on it. no offense to anyone but if you cant handle the recoil of a 30-06 then you should just sell your guns and find something else to do with your time. i would on the other hand find a nice vintage scope for it
I think it will be safe to use because if it was one of the unsafe ones it wouldve blown up sometime in the last 100 years you know? if it were mine i would rebuild it.