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Lot of folks will recommend boiled linseed oil applied as a finish to the carbine for absolute authenticity as it was the original finish. It is time consuming and takes a long time to dry between thin coats. I did it before but I hate it. If you are just rebuilding a shooter and not a super authentic restoration, you might try something like one of the low gloss tung oil finishes. Try it on some scrap walnut and see if you like the look or not. I gave up and used that on mine to put recoating and sticky feeling stocks behind me. Maybe a slight bit glossier than plain linseed but not bad looking to me. I once was taking a carbine to a gun show that I had treated carefully with many thin coats of linseed oil before. It started to lightly sprinkle rain and everywhere a droplet touched the stock, it left a blemish in the linseed oil that was very difficult to rub out before I sold it. I had figured it would bead right off and not do anything to it. And it seemed to feel tacky forever on guns I put it on.
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