How to take care of wood stocks in the NW rain

[ehunter]

Ok lately I have been really enamored with synthetic stocks, because of the rain, guns are a tool that I use and in some cases a small amount of abuse happens. So after all that I have ended up with a FW Winchester stock in a gun that really shoots well but its a wood stock. I have been thinking about getting a synthetic stock because I know that this stock will get thrashed in the fall when I hunt. Between the rain and the brush? So what do you guys do to protect the wood. Is there some kind of coating that can be applied?

Thanks

[DogZilla15]

I always bed the action which seals the stock from the recoil lug back. When free floating the barrel, this leaves room to put finish in the barrel channel. I've always shot wood stocks and never had a problem if I did the stock work right.

[ehunter]

Thats something I had not considered I was not going to mess with this gun as it shoots great now but I could varnish and seal the stock from the inside.

Originally Posted by DogZilla15

I always bed the action which seals the stock from the recoil lug back. When free floating the barrel, this leaves room to put finish in the barrel channel. I've always shot wood stocks and never had a problem if I did the stock work right.

[llama77]

I took the synthetic stocks off my shotguns and replaced them with custom wood stocks for a better fit. I have tried the "true oil " finish and wasnt happy with it. I now use Min wax wipe on poly and it holds up really well. Even on my waterfowl gun.

It goes on in thin layers just like oil.

[Smoked Salmon]

I refinished a gun in linseed oil in 2005 and it seems to be holding up fine. Stripped off all the old poly, sanded it with 200 grit, and then 5 coats of oil, letting it dry in the warm shade between coats. Only almost burnt down my house once because of improperly disposing of my rags. Almost.

[Adjhunt]

I put a synthetic stock on for the hunting season, and my wood stock on for the summer for trap shooting.
I had a really bad experiance with my wood stock on a hunt with rain all day. Benelli replaced the stock for me!

[Don Fischer]

Same as Dogzilla. Bed the action and finish the unseen parts. On my remingtons, when I got a couple scratches in them, I put Tru Oil on the scratch. To many scratches and that junk Remington finish got taken off and Tru Oil finished.

Of course if you plan on leaving your rifle out in the boat thru a rain storm, that might require other measures!

[Erich_870]

Originally Posted by Smoked Salmon

I refinished a gun in linseed oil in 2005 and it seems to be holding up fine. Stripped off all the old poly, sanded it with 200 grit, and then 5 coats of oil, letting it dry in the warm shade between coats. Only almost burnt down my house once because of improperly disposing of my rags. Almost.

I use linseed oil as well. Smells good so the wife doesn't complain and it works.

Erich

[DogZilla15]

For exterior finish, True-Oil has never failed me. The beauty of this stuff is ease of repairs and and a couple of new top-coats every now and then. No special prep work involved beyond 0000 steel wool and complete stripping is a thing of the past.

There are certainly more durable finishes but I don't mistreat my guns and use them like a club or canoe paddle.

[duckcall]

Don't forget the butt of the gunstock, under the pad. I always remove the plate/pad and heavily coat with beeswax, then re-install.

[baltz526]

i use a solvent based beeswax on oil finished stocks. not completely happy with it, but it works for a while. under recoil pad is very important

[Quaka Wacka]

The boiled linseed works great cause once you strip the original varnish off, you just recoat at the end of every season and never refinish again.