Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Czech 98 mauser

So my son got one of these last year during COVID and has been trying to collect parts to put it together. He cleaned the stock with purple power to get the cosmoline off of it. What would you guys put on the stock now? He only needs a few parts and he will have it back together and then we need to get some dies and brass and work up a load for it. Thanks for any help

Welcome to the campfire. Someone that knows more about milsurp stock refinishing then me will most likely get here to give you some other ideas. IMO how to proceed now depends on the overall condition of the stock and what the old finish was. If the purple power just took the cosmoline off you can decide if you want to clean up the old stock finish to keep the rifle original.If the old finish is gone a simple way to go is a boiled linseed oil finish which is what a lot of older US rifles had.

The linseed oil will soak in and make it look as it should. I’ve seen some, mostly Yugos, that had what looked like poly applied to them and they looked awful.

Is this a sporter or in military config? If military, sometimes after you clean it you can leave it out in the hot sun and more cosmoline will melt and leach out. A few iterations to get all that gunk out then linseed. Be careful with BLO because most BLO today is a varnish and can build a finish and get glossy. I know some guys like to use artists linseed and rub with a piece of burlap to get the wood clean, smooth and rehydrated after the cosmoline removal. Czechs made nice Mausers...

If you cover the stock with powdered chalk and leave it out in the sun on a warm day you may well draw some more of the cosmoline out of the timber. You might need to do this a couple of times until the chalk is not absorbing any more.

I've used BLO, I've used raw linseed too (takes a long time to dry), but nowadays I prefer tung oil.

I've used a heat gun to draw the oil out and then wipe it off with a cloth.

To suck oil out, put it a black trash bag with some diatomaceous earth on it. Then put the whole thing out in a hot vehicle in the sun.
Diatomaceous earth is just cheap plain azz kitty litter, not that fancy chit.

Wrapping the stock in cheap paper towels before putting it in the trash bag makes less mess than chalk or diameacous earth.

Thank you guys. We are planning on starting to put the old girl together next week. Then we will get her shooting again. Then a new barrel on the 03A3 drill rifle recovery then to finish the 5 M1 carbine receivers we have. plenty of projects just short time and money