Refinishing laminated stock Mosin Nagant

[ndolson]

I got some kind of cleaner (carb cleaner, me thinks) on the stock on one of my Mosin Nagant m44 with a laminated stock and it left white streaks in the finish, where it ate into it or something. I want to keep the fit and finish as original as possible, I can't tell what these laminated stock models are finished in?

I know the standard wood ones are stained with shellac (sp?) or something, but the laminated ones are a bit shinier so I didn't know if they have some sort of urythane coat on them.

Any tips on refinishing the stock on one of these?

 

[Texas Colt]

ndolson, it sounds like the cleaner dissolved some of the shellac. There are plenty of different options, like poly, varnish, etc.

I just refinished a Mosin stock using tung oil and it turned out really nice. So, one option would be to completely strip the stock and refinish it with tung oil. The advantage to tung oil is that you can easily touch up areas that get damaged or scratched.

 

[ndolson]

How would I strip it all off? Sandpaper?

 

[M110]

Use denatured alcohol and a green scrub pad. IT will take a little while but it will come off. The traditional mix for some older shellacs that are exceedingly hard to remove was 50-50 denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner.

 

[chris in va]

I was pretty shocked yesterday at the gun show when I saw this beautiful British 303 with a very light colored stock on it. The guy said it was just the refinished original. Must've been beech or something as it was almost yellow in color.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I was pretty shocked yesterday at the gun show when I saw this beautiful British 303 with a very light colored stock on it. The guy said it was just the refinished original. Must've been beech or something as it was almost yellow in color.

That may have been one of the "Irish Contract" No.4 Mark IIs made in the 50s, never delivered, and then surplussed off in the 90s. I have one and the stock is similar to what you described.