Jim, i have had a thing for military firearms for years. I was thinking of one today, the only one i ever refinished. It was a russian capture K98. I was watching that german t.v. program on war as mentioned in another thread and got to thinking about it.
the russians being the pagans they are, dipped them on the metal for a cheap park that is rather crude, then some kind of horse finish applied to the wood, in additon to stamping their own markings on the wood.
Mine had that done to it, but it had "blood rust" around the breech. I just couldn't stand it, so i reblued the metal, cleaned up the stock in the fashion the germans used in 1934, and decided to get rid of the pits from the blood. All the time hoping that poor guy that bled all over it would understand. Put a leather german sling on it, shot it one time, and then put it up. I think the guy that had it was watching me today. For sure it was used in combat on the ost front. If it could only talk.
