Basic Mosn Stock Question

[Rigma]

So I just came into a 1944 M44 Izhevsk from AIM. Rifle condition if far better then I expected (blue is still there!). Serials on metal match but I doubt its the original stock. Stock appears to have been painted black at some point (trainer?) then probably refinished (60's-70's if you believe the web) and was not crazy heavy on the cosmo/grease.

All is clean and ready using the time and elbow grease over "quick fix" methods you read about...except for the stock. That is where I want to check before making a mistake.

Should I:
1.) Just clean it up and wipe off the bleed every time I shoot for the next year?
2.) Use the "hot car" method to get out any cosmo/grease? (Not sure that's a good idea on an arsenal refinished stock...)
3.) Strip it clean working my way down the line in sand paper grit and then a few coats of tru-oil. (I don't really want to commit blasphemy, I bought an old rifle for a reason, but I will NEVER sell this gun.)

It's in such good condition I would really like to preserve it and not make a mistake, but I'm worried the heat will ruin the arsenal refinishing and leave me with no choice but to un-ugly my mistake.

Help me finish so I can shoot it and take pictures of yet another Mosin for you all to look at.

[johnthomas]

The last mosin I got, 3 months ago, I cleaned everything with rubbing alcohol. It worked great. As far as a solvent goes, alcohol is pretty mild.

[CDFingers]

I'd avoid the sandpaper step, which will leave the "character" of your stock alone.

You can strip the old finish off quite easily using denatured alcohol, applied with a green kitchen scrubby. Then you put the stock in your hot car thing to bleed it out for some days, then wipe it clean with mineral spirits. Then you do four different coats of 50/50 mineral spirits/boiled linseed oil, two days apart each. The final step a week or two after that is all dry, is to apply a coat of 1/3 mix (equal parts beeswax, BLO, and mineral spirits melted in a two-tin-can double boiler).

Enjoy your rifle.

CDFingers

[tobkis]

Do what you want, no harm either way. I have several and some have been refinished and some stay as they are.