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Your garden variety wood carbine 10/22 has always been birch far as I know. Ruger did and still do offer what is called the Sporter model that comes with a walnut stock that is checkered. The extra weight of the walnut is appreciated. They also offer laminate stocks but only on the target models. You can find other laminate stocks on the non-target models but they are through special distributors.
Actually, hate to be disagreeable, but it has not always been birch. Only reason I know is that I have a few old standard carbine 10/22 stocks in walnut. Uncheckered, unfancy. But definitely walnut.
I didn't know that. I've never seen a 10/22 in my 40+ years of shooting them that was walnut other than the Sporter model. How old are they? Do they have the barrel band?...the Sporter does not. Post a picture if it isn't too much hassle.
Careful there, Jbett. You say "hardwood", which almost always (from the factory) means something "less" than walnut. You got nut-tree wood on that puppy, dude.
I have a 5-digit 10-22, (carbine, with band) that I know for a fact was purchased new in 1966. It is stocked in walnut (as is yours) with no debate.
Yers is purtier than mine. But my scope is mounted at a much more reasonable level (for what that is worth).
For a Craigslist buy at $150.00, I'm not complaining.
Have yet to shoot the thing, but the see through scope rings allow you to just see the front sight at the bottom of the v notch, and the scope does present itself quite easily, even though it is a little to high for most folks.
I don't think this old Ruger has had more then 200 rds though it.
No jeweler's loupe or anything else is required to determine Walnut apart from Birch or Maple.
I was surprised to see the generic original answer to come up "Birch". I do not dispute this answer, but might have surmised the correct answer to be Maple.
My very recent experience with "working man's .22's" involves complete restoration of my (multiple) neighbors' Marlins from the '70's. These were the K-Mart guns: Bolt and auto, they came supplied with a 3/4" tube scope for the price range about $49.99. (Circa 1970-1985).
In a farming community, these came to me as "Grandpa's guns", carried on the tractor to shoot squirrels in the Filbert orchards and such. (One came after spending 15-20 years in a barn.) "Cheap-bubblegum .22's." But I saw the minerals beneath the soil.
Maple (even run-of the mill) has some weird crap going. Weird crap that the Marlin factory (and others of the period realizing the poverty of decreasing walnut supplies) wanted no part of from a marketing standpoint: They stained and coated the Maple to appear as the accepted and expected Walnut.
They covered up what was there for the asking: Here are two that I recently refinished. Keep in mind, that these guns when sold had a bland, uniform, brown stained finish to resemble walnut for the consumer.
No, you don't need a jewelers loupe to tell the difference, but I was trying to make a point. There is limited things you can do with the stocks like you showed above. I've refinished several and most of my customers have actually requested a clear finish to leave the wood blond(ish). And I agree, most the time it looks better than trying to get a good stain. I have seen a few exceptions, but they were done by a gentleman who is considerably more experienced with stains and finishes than I am.
My preference (as yours) is for a much richer depth. These were done "blonde", by order of the owner of the automatic, and then by influence of that gun to the owner of the the bolt M25 (I fed 4 coats of stain to). The flash picture brightened it up a lot. In hand it appears as tan/brown, and the pattern you see manifests itself (in proper lighting) to something rather reptilian.
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