Refinishing my Mosin Stock

[Pigslayer]

I really hadn't intended to refinish my Mosin stock but . . . I had the barreled action out of the stock due to installing a scope mount and also doing a trigger job. So anyway I was sitting here at my desk with the wooden barrel cover(?) lying in front of me & noticed that the finish was very thin . . . varnish of some sort. I picked up my pocket knife & started scraping it a little. The finish came off easily. Before I knew it the whole piece was stripped & looking pretty good. I sanded it out and then remembered that I had a bottle of Formby's Tung Oil finish out on the back porch. Put a coat on & rubbed it in. O.K. that looks pretty good. The wood is so dry that it is inhaling the Tung Oil!
O.K. I'm passed the point of no return now. Started scraping down the whole stock. Whoops! The butt plate is narrower than the stock! Out come the carving tools & wood rasps. Taking this baby down & refitting the buttplate. Whoops! The sling escutcheons are a little deep gonna have to work on the stock & take it down to evenly meet the escutcheons. Here I go again. Enough is never enough!! The wood is actually quite nice. My piece looks to be quartersawn and has some curl to it. Wonder what kind of wood it is?:rolleyes:

[3006guns]

I swear, the "finish" on a MN stock was made from whatever they had laying around at the time.....such as Natasha's toe nail paint.

[plmitch]

I swear, the "finish" on a MN stock was made from whatever they had laying around at the time.....such as Natasha's toe nail paint.

Good call on that one.

[Shepherd2]

The book I have on Mosin Nagants says the stocks are made of birch (artic birch , I read some where else.). The book also said the stocks made around the time of WWII were given a coat of heavy varnish to protect the wood.

[Pigslayer]

A few pictures to show the part of the stock that covers the top of the barrel. I scraped off all of the varnish, sanded & put several coats of Tung Oil on it. I have these little "Scotchbrite" like wheels that I use on my Dremel tool & I used them to clean up the brass on the ends. I could polish them out to a high luster but I think I'll leave them be.
I have the stock all scraped & mostly sanded out. I have yet to removed the varnish from the cleaning rod groove. I think I'll make a little scraper out of an old hacksaw blade. I was able to take the stock down to be flush with the sling escutions along with the buttplate.

[skeet1]

I have found that acetone is just the ticket to remove the old shellac the Russians used. Just take some acetone on a rag and it dissolves right off. I had a 91/30 that I just couldn't stand the old finish and I removed it leaving a very nice stock underneath. The purists don't like it but I do. I then used some danish tung oil on it and it turned out great.

Ken

[Uncle Grinch]

Ya' know... to be as solid and even accurate as they are... they sure are ugly looking bolt guns!

Kind'a like a Studebaker pickup truck, so ugly they look good after a while.

[Pigslayer]

I have found that acetone is just the ticket to remove the old shellac the Russians used. Just take some acetone on a rag and it dissolves right off. I had a 91/30 that I just couldn't stand the old finish and I removed it leaving a very nice stock underneath. The purists don't like it but I do. I then used some danish tung oil on it and it turned out great.

Ken

It looks good. Just a few hours work can turn those relics into a respectable looking piece . . . besides being good shooters.:coffee:

[smoked turkey]

I just have to tell somebody about my purchase of a Mosin Nagant today at the local gun shop. It has matching SN on the action, bolt and steel recoil pad. It has a 1946 date on the receiver. The reason I jumped in here is because the stock is pretty well scratched and beat up. Unfortunately it has some gouges in the wood in a few places. However, the metal all looks pretty good. It actually looks like the stock does not match the metal condition. I was considering stripping the stock and doing a quick refinish on it. I ran across this thread and it pretty much convinces me to do it. I am going to look it over good tonight and clean it up good. The bore looks pretty good too. I am hoping it is not pitted due to corrosive ammo. Anyway I intend to slug the bore and make a cast boolit rifle out of it.

[JeffHolt]

Most WWII Mosin nagants were given a very quick and sloppy coat of a waxed shellac by Ivan (or Ivana).
It can be stripped easily or you can rub out small scuffs and dings by wiping down the stock with denatured alcohol. By using a (waxed) shellac you will keep your M/N more authentic.
I used a non- waxed shellac on a pair of them a couple of years ago so it would let that beautiful artic birch grain through. LOL!

[wallenba]

I discovered that with one of mine too. I ended up scraping the entire stock clean with a 6 inch scale, except for the finger grooves which I used the rounded end of a thick feeler gage. It took about an hour.
Min-Wax Colonial maple stain is a real close match to the original color.