Refinished my Mosin Stock

2Wheels4Ever · Oct 11, 2015

This was my first attempt at refinishing a gun stock. The finish as I had received it was too orange for my liking. It also had a lot of spots where the stain had set to long. I did not want to get rid of all of the character of the gun, but I did want to change it up a bit and bring out some of the wood grain. Overall I am pretty happy with the results. I regrettably did not take "before pictures".

66PonyCar · Oct 11, 2015

Wow, that has some really great grain in the buttstock. Nice refinish job!

What kind of stain and finish did you use?

erudne · Oct 11, 2015

how's she shoot?

Stomper · Oct 11, 2015

Looks great! :s0155:

2Wheels4Ever · Oct 11, 2015

I have had 5 mosins in the past,and this is the best shooting one I have had to date. No sticky bolt, sights are dead on, and the bore is has a good amount of rifling left with no counter bore.

The stain is minwax dark oak, and finished with tru-oil. 1944 Tula gun; a keeper.

P7M13 · Oct 11, 2015

Very nice - well done!
I haven't shot a Mosin since 2007. It looks like it has a very long LOP - does it?
(edit)
I have known guys who will pull out light meters to measure the color value & check the stain levels on fine furniture they're building. On this, I think you did well with your application.

Sgt Nambu · Oct 11, 2015

That looks great! Nice job!

2Wheels4Ever · Oct 12, 2015

P7id10T said:
Very nice - well done!
I haven't shot a Mosin since 2007. It looks like it has a very long LOP - does it?
(edit)
I have known guys who will pull out light meters to measure the color value & check the stain levels on fine furniture they're building. On this, I think you did well with your application.

No, the LOP on mosins is notoriously short. A lot of guys will put on a butt pad just to lengthen the LOP. There is some kick, but I find it to be a pleasant gun to shoot.

etrain16 · Oct 12, 2015

That looks great, very nice work.

I have given up on using stain to refinish wood for projects like this - the results are really too inconsistent for my liking. I've done it, but found that finishing wood with simply oil-type products only, such as Tru Oil, BLO (Boiled Linseed Oil), Tung Oil, Lemon Oil, etc. They just seem to give much more consistent results. There is also an old finish recipe that combines equal parts beeswax, tung oil and mineral spirits. You work it in and it both finishes and seals the wood. I understand it's an old trick used by some military folks for their old gun stocks, I guess some even used it in the field to protect their rifles. I haven't tried that recipe myself on a gun stock yet, but have done it on some other wood, and it seems to be very promising.