CMP Garand is here!...stock refinishing question

[TCW]

I received my 1st M1 from the CMP (Field grade SA)! I'm very pleased with it. It was made in 6/44 and has a SA barrel with the same date. The metal is very nice, no cosmoline, but the stock needs a little TLC. There are not to many gouges in it, but the stock doesnt totally match the handguards, has some discoloration patterns, and it's pretty dry. I think the stock is walnut.

Question: When you strip the existing finish (with Minwax Antique furniture stripper, for example) do you need to restain it before applying the tung oil finish?

Judging by the pics, do you think the wood will match when it's stripped?

BTW, trivial info: the stock says "RRAD on the left side and has a "P" inside a square underneith (behind the trigger).

Attached are a few pics.

Thanks!
TCW

 

[MechAg94]

Man, that looks nice. I wouldn't touch the stock myself. I am not that much of a perfectionist when it comes to wood I guess. I like the idea of leaving it largely as I got it. Each to his own though.

I got my CMP HRA Greek service grade M1 last week and shot it last weekend. It shoot better than I can and functions great. The main stock looks about like that. The fore end pieces are more beat up. The color is close enough for my taste. I am leaving it alone.

There was not much cosmoline on the outside, but there was a good bit on the inside and between the wood and metal.



Maybe you or someone else can answer a question of mine: The foreend piece up near the gas cylinder is somewhat oversized. It rides higher than the one you have pictured here. Is that normal? I was looking at replacements and one web site said Korean era weapons had an oversize foreend piece.

 

[treeprof]

The stock is birch. Front handguard looks to be walnut, rear looks like dk birch. Not gonna match.

Some refinish info:

http://www.fulton-armory.com/StockSave.htm

 

[HankB]

Hard to tell from the pictures, but unless the stock is really grungy or oil-soaked, I'd just use some 0000 steel wool with some mineral spirits or acetone - this will take off the outermost layer of crud. (Use discretion near the cartouches - you don't want to obscure or remove them.)

The stock will gradually lighten up. At some point, you call a halt to the cleaning process, let it dry, and then rub in some Minwax stain. Build up the stain s-l-o-w-l-y since you can always go darker, but it's hard to lighten it up.

Once you're satisfied with the color, I recommend you apply some tung oil to the stock. Note, I said tung oil, not tung oil finish. If it has the word "finish" it's probably mixed with varnish or shellac or something. I much prefer the results I get from using pure tung oil.

If the stock is really porous, you can thin the tung oil with mineral spirits - this will help it soak in deeper.

Note that application of oil will darken the stock a bit.

Good luck, and enjoy your piece of history!

 

[jefnvk]

It probably won't come out as a match, the woods are different. If you want it to match, I'd look for a new buttstock, a walnut one. Or, get a new stock. Boyds run like $70-80.

FWIW, the guns wern't stained, linseed oil was used.

 

[Father Knows Best]

BTW, trivial info: the stock says "RRAD on the left side and has a "P" inside a square underneith (behind the trigger).

The "P" is found on all USGI stocks. The "RRAD" is a little unusual. If it was just RRA, then I know exactly what it is -- the mark of Red River Arsenal in Texas. Lots of Garands were rebuilt at RRA, and stocks installed or refinished there were stamped with RRA on the left side of the buttstock. I have a 5-45 SA with a RRA stock. The D is not something I've seen before. Are you sure it is part of the RRA mark? Could it have been stamped separately?

 

[TheEgg]

This is a philisophical point, but I usually resist "refinishing" stocks on old mil-surp guns, especially one in as good a shape as yours. I will clean them (with BLO, usually) but will try to leave them alone.

Why? Because I value the history of the beast!

That is not to say I have never refinished a stock -- for example, I acquired a bare receiver and built up a 1903A3 -- in the process, I got an old stock and refinished it. In that case, the rifle was in no way original, so I did not mind refinishing it.

In the case of CMP guns, these come from Army stocks, so they are original in that sense, even though they have mostly been re-worked, sometimes several times. Thus my reluctance to mess with them much.

I have also purchased new stocks if I wanted to use the M1 as a shooter, and the old stock was a mess. Then, just swapped out the stock but kept the old one as is to put back on the rifle.

All that being said, I got one Rack Grade Greek issue that the stock was so bad on that I did attempt to refinish it, but it was beyond salvage.

If you decide to refinish despite my persausive reasoning, try using Formby's or Minwax Antique Refinisher -- they are more likely to leave at least some of the original patina.

 

[30Cal]

If you're goal is to have the wood all the same color, then you need new wood. You won't get a birch buttstock to match walnut handguards.

Ty

 

[rgs1975]

Here's another vote for leaving the stock the way it is. You have a great looking rifle man, I think it looks very nice in the pics you put up. I kindof like the old grungy look MilSurps get. My SMLE and MN-M44 are plenty grimy and I love it!

 

[Titus]

Not that anyone here would do this, but let me share my refinishing story... Back when I was waiting for my Garand years back, I saw that CMP was selling "ugly" stocks for cheap. (They were really described as "ugly".) So I got one and used the Easy-Off on it and refinished with the tung oil.

Not having read the whole can, I put all the used paper towels and such in a blue Wal-mart bag on the floor of the workshop and happened to leave it there. Maybe a day or two later, I'm out on the back porch and it smells like someone's barbequing or something. I go out into the workshop and notice a hole in the floor. Hmmm... Somehow I ended up reading the rest of the can and realized that the rags had spontaneously ignited and burned through the wood floor, down onto the concrete pad. Fortunately (sort of), I hadn't put the bag in the garbage can in the garage, attached to the house.

So see? Guns are dangerous! I wanted to get rid of the rest of the can, and stopped by the fire station around the corner to ask how I should dispose of it. The guy said he didn't know, but "Don't bring it here!" Now I make it a point to read ALL the directions and think a lot more carefully about how I could go horribly wrong!

 

[rgs1975]

How'd the stock come out titus???

 

[Titus]

Just fine! When the rifle showed up (at that time, I think it took about 7 months from start to delivery), I took the stock it had on there off and put the formerly-ugly one on and never switched back. The one I refinished was walnut and the one that came on it wasn't, so I don't think it could help but look better.

 

[RoyG]

Here's another vote for leaving the stock the way it is. You have a great looking rifle man...

+1

I'd leave it just like it is. Take it apart and apply a few coats of BLO to the inside and outside letting it soak in before applying more.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

The gunk you clean off that stock might contain dirt from Bastogne, sand from Iwo Jima, and the blood of dead soldiers... are you really sure you want to refinish it?

Seriously, if I was hell-bent on "improving" the appearance of the gun, I would take off the old stock entirely, save it, and just replace it with an aftermarket stock.

That way, when you finally come to your senses, you can put the correct stock back on

 

[rgs1975]

Seriously, if I was hell-bent on "improving" the appearance of the gun, I would take off the old stock entirely, save it, and just replace it with an aftermarket stock.

Exactly! I put a composite lightweight stock on my 1931 Enfield No.1 Mk III, it helps when I'm using it to pig hunt and it's less maintenance when in storage. I kept the original stock and hardware and I put it back on when I want to show off the rifle or take new pics. I'll also put the original stock on when I go to the range because I get alot more "ooos" and "aaahhhs" when it looks it's age.

Edited to add: I'm thinking of doing the same thing to my 1953 MN M44 now that I found a pretty nice aftermarkt composite stock for it.