Stabilizing wood military stock from warpage?

[charlie b]

You could, but, it would be an expensive way to do it. But, it doesn't fix temperature expansion/contraction.

[Naphtali]

I think the OP is looking to "stabilize" wood stocks amid the highly variable temp and humidity changes in the Western states. I have the same issue at 6500', its super dry and gets super cold and then rains and snows and the RH goes all over the place.
What I found best for the mil-surps - do a through de-oil of the wood. I use a heat gun and lots of paper towels and rubbing alcohol or other flash dry de-greaser, I'll use mineral spirits to start the process. Do it over and over to get out the most oil and mosture that you can. The channels of old rifles are filled with oil. That oil in the stock eventually degrades the wood. I'll use 0000 steel wool towards the end of the process to smooth out the hairs and fibers that will be sticking up. NO SANDPAPER. I found that once the oils are gone, the stocks don't swell up as bad under the finish that you choose. Tru-oil is nice, but not "correct" like linseed oil. Tung oil is good too, go light coats and let each coat dry a bit.

Such "protected" wood would not accept reasonable bedding improvements? About the only way to salvage such a stock appears to be to inlay/replace existing bedding with metal or synthetic bearing area - to resist effect of weather. If these conclusions are [close to] accurate, I oughta leave the wood alone or buy a Boyd's laminated wood stock.

[Bigslug]

I too wanted a weatherproof "Mauser" This was my answer:



The long and short of hunting with the "old stuff", is that even if you get your wood stabilized against warpage, you're still going to need to fight the war against rust - even if it's just from condensation caused by bringing a cold gun back inside. At the point of taking a real soaking, you'll be pulling it out of your carefully bedded stock to dry out and re-oil.

Making the change to stainless and plastic/laminate was is about the best thing one who both hunts and appreciates guns can do for his ongoing peace of mind.

[Naphtali]

I too wanted a weatherproof "Mauser" This was my answer:



The long and short of hunting with the "old stuff", is that even if you get your wood stabilized against warpage, you're still going to need to fight the war against rust - even if it's just from condensation caused by bringing a cold gun back inside. At the point of taking a real soaking, you'll be pulling it out of your carefully bedded stock to dry out and re-oil.

Making the change to stainless and plastic/laminate was is about the best thing one who both hunts and appreciates guns can do for his ongoing peace of mind.

I'll attempt to have us return to Mauser stock stabilizing after this reply.

Rather than investing about a thousand, I would send out for dark or black nitriding at about forty percent. Not a perfect solution, but acceptable. Remaining springs and other will have redundant parts that replaced as needed.