Quote:
"I will be very happy to correspond with folks who try this, as an old military rifle provides the greatest cleaning challenge of which I'm aware, so far as pure grease, grime, dirt, soaked in petroleum [wood-eating!] oil, and excessive finish."
I couldn't agree with the above more.
Pictured below is a Turkish Mauser I purchased a few years ago. Unfortunately I don't have a "Before" picture but this rifle dated 1948 was soaked in both oil and grease and had probably been in storage for half a century. I was taking it on faith that the stock was even walnut* as I couldn't tell from the pictures. To add to the difficulties the importer had apparentely bundled them together for transport using steel bands and creating horrendous dents in the process.
I followed the general procedure already covered for using Easy Off and then raised the dents. After that I lightly sanded with 150 grit I believe so keep in mind that this is a military stock. I finished up with two coats of oil.
*It was kind of luck of the draw when these Mausers were being imported. Mine has a relatively plain stock but I have seen examples with almost exhibition quality wood.
Jim
