Cleaning a milsurp

[daniel craig]

There's a guy in a YouTube video who suggests using OLIVE OIL to restore milsurp rifle stocks. Any comments on that from the knowledgeable shooters in this thread would be appreciated. I'm thinking of trying it on my next rifle.

I’d worry about it going rancid. It does do that.

 

[Garandimal]

I have an old M-1 Garand from CMP that I let sit out in the hot afternoon sun. It worked terrifically at bringing the oil and crap to the surface of the stock. Some paper towels to mop it up. Several days out in the heat worked like a charm.

The sun works great for puttin' BLO back on, too.

Had a grinder patch on the butt of this M1 Rifle about the half the size of my palm, where they took off somethin' they didn't like.

So I smoothed and feathered it out to palm-size w/ a sandpaper block, then applied a thick coat of BLO on the raw wood and put it on saw horses face up in the 100 deg. sun.

The BLO actually percolated into the wood.

Cooled and re-coated it every hour several times.

Then just wiped it down with a lint-free cloth.

See the Patch?

​

From raw wood, just one(1) day of BLO in the hot sun.

​

GR

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

What about bees wax? I have a ton of that.

Certainly safe enough for both metal and wood. My experience with beeswax is limited to bowstrings and fancy candles. Here's some discussion about using it on furniture:

https://homesteadhow-to.com/how-to-make-and-use-beeswax-furniture-polish/

You might want to do some testing to see how shiny and slippery it gets before trying it over an oiled gunstock finish. Waxes tend to leave a milky residue in cracks where it accumulate without entering the wood surface, so you may need to do quite a bit of rubbing after the application.