Was wondering what you guys are using for sealing the barrel channel of a wooden stocked bolt gun. I have heard everything from various oil stains to laquer. I never really thought of doing this because if the weather is going to be potentially foul I usually pull a synthetic rifle out of the safe, but figure it cant hurt to do.

I use Tru-Oil

I use multiple coats of Laurel Mtn sealer, but there is no reason you couldn't use about anything you'd use to finish the exterior of a stock.

The best idea is matching the stock finish to the barrel channel sealer. If the sealer is much better than the finish, water will still get into the stock faster than the barrel channel and may cause it to warp INTO the barrel.

Oil stops liquid water but actually increases water vapor absorption...

I use Permalyn Stock Finish-Sealer for the barrel channel, bottom metal/trigger guard/action inlet, checkering, and underneath the recoil pad.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=7785/Product/PERMALYN-STOCK-FINISH-SEALER

I just dip a rag into a can of polyurethane and give the barrel channel a light coat. If there are areas I can't reach with the rag I'll use whatever tool seems appropriate. Cotton swabs work well for tiny areas.

you can brush on varathane into the channel, action inletting, and butt of the stock, using a 1/2 wide nylon brush used for painting with acrylics. i use two coats.

birchwood casey tru oil is the best finish i've used for stocks--i've used it for 35 years now.

you can use it to seal the inletting too, and if you thin it with paint thinner, you can also use it to seal the checkering (though i prefer watco for the checkering, followed by either cordovan or black shoe polish for the final seal, and to accentuate the diamonds--tru oil is a little too shiny for my liking to use on checkering though it really seals it well).

in my experience, tru oil is hard to chemically strip off a gun--unlike some varnishes and varathanes. it is super tough, and when i needed to remove it once, i had to sand it off. i also use tru oil to "fill sand"--which fills the pores of the wood, and have also used it with shellac to create a final finish in the french polish method...

Whatever you use it needs to be a truly waterproof finish and form a barrier OVER the SURFACE of the wood. Any wood grain left exposed above the surface of the finish {as would be normal with a "light coat"} will allow the wood to absorb water and water vapor like a sponge.

Permalyn stock sealer , till it stops soaking into the wood !

Acra Glass gell If I am bedding the action. I do the barrel channel as well. Marine Spar Varnish if I'm not glassing. Use this stuff every where. Under the butt plate, grip cap, and the rest of the inletting.

tru-oil or helmsman spar urethane. both have (and continue) to work for me. when i lived and hunted in ak, i had my rifles bedded from rear tang to forend tip. never had a problem either. i understand sitka deer is our resident expert on sealing wood stocks, having done much research on the topic. i'd strongly consider his replies regarding this subject.

+1 for Acraglass!

Go to Lowes or Home Depot, get small can of clear wood sealer. Works great. Use it for all internally exposed areas.

+1. I like to use the same finishing material inside the gun as on the outside (although not built up to the same degree, obviously), for the same reasons Art pointed out. And since I prefer a barrier finish such as spar varnish*, it only makes sense to use the same stuff inside too. To use disparate products is to invite uneven movement of the wood- and it will move. The trick is in minimizing/controlling that movement.

* The final coat of spar varnish can be rubbed out, with rottenstone or 0000 de-greased steel wool, to look for all the world like a "hand rubbed oil finish". The added benefit is the fact that a barrier finish provides much, much better protection from moisture fenestration than any 'oil' finish can hope to. After putting countless hours of labor into building a stock, it amazes me that so many people go cheap (in terms of labor and time) into the final crucial phase.

I seal barrel channels with polyurethane. Tru-Oil is expensive so it only goes on the exterior.