Why would you use any stain? .
Because I don’t like the light color of the wood. Same reason I have paint on my truck. I guess they could have just clearcoated the metal and it still drive the same but I prefer the paint.
Seriously though have you ever seen the vintage English rifles? Most were stocked with plain English Walnut that was very light in color they used stain or something to get the dark brown color you see. Alkanet root juice didn’t get it that dark. If you’ve ever seen one of these stocks with the finish removed they were not much darker than a pine board no amount of rubbing clear oil would get that dark not in 100 years.
The cheek piece on the stock is way to thick imo I guess I’ll sand and finish the cheek piece until I find what works then sand it all down to the finished profile and go from there.
