Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 1899D MHG question

Does anyone know what the original stock finish was? Mine shows traces of what appears to be a very thin coat of varnish. It is nearly all worn off except along the sides of the butt. If it's not factory, it was done a long time ago by someone who knew less is more.

Thanks.

Murray's Ninety Nine book states varnish.

It sure does. Don't know how I missed that. Ain't getting old a joy?

Thanks.

I would have guessed the 1899D's finish to be typical rubbed oil of the time vs. varnish finish, but apparently not so.

Also, if I understand correctly the MHG rifles were individuals rifles rather than Canadian, Military, arsenal, etc. and possibly more inclined to be personalized by owners.

I don't know how one could tell if original finish or added somewhere along the line by the owner. Probably not as important as correctness of the wood and hardware.

Some were bought by the guardsmen and some were bought by companies whose employees were in the MHG. I covered the MHG on pages 52 - 54 in my book. It includes a pic, fig. 4-32, of the name of the guardsman who bought the rifle. Murray's coverage seems to be of the early musket that was no longer cataloged after 1905. He mentioned that a block of muskets were produced in the 165,000 serial number range but his facts on this mucket are pretty skecthy.

I'll hazard a guess that they finished the stocks as they did all the pre-WWI 1899H's that have passed through my hands. I had always said they were varnished, but now I'm not so sure. I'm thinking clear nitrocellulose lacquer. Dunno for a fact though. To have used varnish with its attendant labor intensive application protocols (even if spraying) to achieve the glass-like finish would've been cost and time prohibitive in a high volume factory setting, whereas spraying clear lacquer is quick and dries rapidly. Anybody have any insight into this?

Not really insight, but I inherited a bunch of old gunsmithing books from the early 1900s and almost everyone said lacquer was the preferred finish for stocks, even over oil.