Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Refinish ROTC Drill Rifles...

I have been asked if I would be interested in refinishing the wood furniture on the demilled M1's that our HS NJROTC drill team uses. They have two usable pairs. One pair with relatively blond (birch) stocks and guards. One pair with darker walnut (I think) furniture. Two questions:

1) Preferred finish for drill rifles? I am thinking polyurethane for durability. Would also be interested to understand if there are any hints or tips to improve "grip-ability" of the finish ? I am thinking a gloss finish for the light colored rifles, and more of a satin finish for the walnut. Also, anything to avoid?

2) The painted finish and the parkerized finish are rough in places. Are there any hobbyist finishes that that can be used to restore / reproduce the parkerized finish? Titanium air dry ceracoat? Also any recommendations to repair or re-do the painted finishes?

This is a low cost project. All constructive comments and suggestions appreciated. If there is a book or other resource related to drill rifles, or related to refurbing a park finish, appreciate if you could shoot me a link or reference.

Thank you !

You might find the info you're looking for by posting your question on the CMP Forum. Lotsa military experts over on that forum.

Any kind of a varnish finish on the wood would be ok for a rifle that will only see drill fields and parades (where flashy counts for more than originality). Use the same stuff on both rifles, don't get too carried away here.

(And for the record, "furniture" is the stuff attached to the stock, ie: swivels, barrel bands, butt plates, etc. The wood stock is, well, a wood stock.)

I never saw any home hobbyist solutions for mimicking Parkerizing that blended with arsenal Parkerizing or that didn't look like an afterthought. There may be something like that out there but it's unknown to me. I had a buddy, since deceased, who had a basement full of M1 Garands and Carbines and was all the time building/rebuilding those guns from boxes of parts and never found a darned thing that blended with original Parkerization. He finally gave up and set up his own tanks and started doing his own Parkerizing. (Repro stocks weathered to look 70 years old, Parkerizing tanks, hand stamps to create arsenal inspectors cartouches, barrels of parts/receivers/barrels/sights/etc., equaled a helluva pile of re-created M1's that you couldn't tell from original- and they wonder why caveat emptor applies to that kind of stuff these days.)

Thank you for the reference. Did not know that place existed. Will check there if I come up with a blank here.



Appreciate the clarification regarding "furniture" versus a "wood stock". My primary interest is the wood stock, or stock sets. However, the receivers, barrels and furniture could use spruced up as well. Not looking to go to the extent of your buddy in the repro's. Just trying to make the rifles presentable. The focus of the drill team should be the cadets. Just want to ensure the rifles do not take away from their drill. I am thinking that I may need to find something "close". And then re-do all of the metal work on the rifles for consistency.