1917 Remington Finnish Capture question about stock

[REM1917]

I just got a Remington 1917 that appears to have been through Finland. Question I have is what type of finish should the stock have ? Shellac, oil ?? I have to put some kind of finish on it as there was none on it when I got it and I want it to be correct as it can be.

Thanks

If I get 2 extra minutes to rub together, I will try and post some pics.

[millman]

Please post pictures. Sometimes Finn stocks have a dry appearance, and it is correct. Let us help you determine what you have before you add something it doesn't need, and potentially reduce it's value.

[REM1917]

Here, I hope, are some pics:



The last pic has the faint #2 above the screw hole.

Thanks

[REM1917]

Hopefully this isn't a duplicate reply.



The last pic has the faint "2" above the small hole.

[Snayperskaya]

Nice Finnish two piece stock, the finish looks to be the same as my Finnish 91/30 pot-belly stock.

The crossed cannons cartouche on the butt is the stockmakers mark, the "Z" denotes you have a stock made by Oy EkWall AB.

My pot-belly stock has the same mark and the following was sent to me by a Finnish collector......

The Oy Ekwall factory was originally founded under the name Björneborgs sängfabrik (that is the Swedish name of the factory) / Porin sänkytehdas (factory name in Finnish) Pori bed factory in 1909. It was located in a stone building at Annankatu 21. In the 1910s, Honkanen's bookstore also operated on the attic floor.
The early production of the factory was mainly folding accordion beds and villa beds. The company was gradually expanded and at the same time production diversified. In 1925, a limited liability company was formed, which became Oy Ekwall Ab. A little later, the company bought a small sawmill in Karjaranta to secure the supply of raw materials.
In the 1940s, the factory manufactured chairs and other furniture, cots and children's room furniture, tea carts and restaurant furniture, among other things including rifle stocks. Only a quarter of production went to the domestic market. The exporting countries were mainly England, South Africa, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Malta, the West Indies and Palestine. Birch-bent furniture and cots were the most important export items. The products were exported from the ports of Mäntyluoto and Turku.

[REM1917]

From what I'm seeing on my other Finnish Mosins and online, a pine tar finish seems to be the answer. I really don;t like the looks of it, but IF that is correct, I will go that way.

[neal45]

Please wait until you hear from more folks here. It looks fine, as is to me.

[REM1917]

Neal,

I'm in no hurry. The stock just doesn't look right without some kind of finish on it. The handguard needs stripped and matched to the stock, so as soon as I have a way forward, that gets done too.

[SA1911a1]

Your stock is not missing anything. It is the correct finish. Anything you do to it will diminish it's value greatly. Wipe it down with a little lemon oil if you feel like you have to do something to it, but it doesn't even need that.

[REM1917]

It's just that I have never seen a Mosin Nagant stock that was just bare wood. I have some with shellac, some with pine tar, some with an oil finish.
So the Finns just turned the stocks from a blank, put them on a rifle and put them in the field, no oil, nothing ?

As you can tell, I'm a bit confused.

[REM1917]

For an example, here's my M39.



looks to me like a pine tar finish, at least it has some protection.

[millman]

Here is a pic I found in the showcase. It is a M39 that belongs to Millertyme. It has a post war stock, with the dry appearance. It is proper, and it would be a shame if it were altered.
Maybe we are not seeing yours properly, some other photos in different light from different angles might help.

[House Beagle]

I have a Westinghouse produced M91 with a Finnish stock on it. Looks identical to yours. Only exception is yours is in exceptional shape, mine is a little banged up.

Like millman said, it would be a shame to alter the original finish and ruin its value. I haven’t seen the full rifle, but if it looks as awesome as that stock does, it’s got some serious collector value to it.

[Snayperskaya]

This is the pot-belly stock on my 41-marked Finnish-captured 91/30 and it is the original finish.....

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As for the handguard not matching the stock....it could very well be the case that it didn't match from the day the Finns fitted it.As you can see in the photos above my handguard is darker than the forend but it is the one that was fitted at the time, colour matching was top of the Finns priorities when it came to stocks and handguards.

[REM1917]

I will have to do something eventually. The stock looks to be in great shape, but the PO sanded it, so I feel like I need to do something to protect it.

Snayperskaya, very good looking rifle. That looks to me, like a pine tar finish on it. My M39 looks the same.

I took a couple pics of the handguard. It looks a bit different than all my others.

[Snayperskaya]

Thank REM, she is a very pretty 91/30 even if I do say so myself but she's a bit of a mongrel when it comes to it......she's got a mix of Izhevsk, pre-'26 Izhevsk, Tula, and Remington parts plus a Sestroryetsk buttplate just to throw a bit of Imperial M91 into the mix!

[ssg_lord]

From what I'm seeing on my other Finnish Mosins and online, a pine tar finish seems to be the answer. I really don;t like the looks of it, but IF that is correct, I will go that way.

Pine Tar is not the correct answer at all as it was never used as a finish on rifle stock by the Finn's. The whole pine tar thing originated back in the 80's and 90's when lack of any real documentation on Finnish rifle stock finishes caused U.S. collectors to speculate quite a bit on what it was and somehow pine tar surfaced as the correct answer and then somehow became fact despite any actual proof. A number of collectors who are Finnish nationals have stated this over the years but somehow the tale refuses to die. The wood finish on your M39 is called Kiväärintukkiöljy (rifle stock oil) , it was the primary wartime stock finish for M39's as well as some M91's and M91/30's. If you Google "Kiväärintukkiöljy" you will find a number of discussions concerning its use and composition on other forums. As for your M91 stock, it appears to be correct as is. I have a number of Finn's in stocks like that and while they have a dry look and feel to them there actually is a finish on the wood that seals it and makes it difficult to add anything to the stock without sanding beforehand. I personally would do nothing to it, the M39 I use as my regular shooter has such a stock and has been shot extensively in all types of weather for well over a decade without any change in its appearance.

[willyj73]

Why buy something if you don't like the look of it? If you aren't happy with the rifle, rather than ruining the stock, sell it and wait for one that you really like. Finnish used Remingtons aren't very rare, and they do come up for sale. Prices may be high, but that means you can also sell yours for a high price and you can use those funds to buy something that you like.

If you are new to Finns, you'll have to get used to some of the stocks having a finish like that.

[REM1917]

Willyj73

While my reasons are my reasons, for the sake of explanation, I am trying to do right by a rifle that the previous owner sanded the finish off of the stock. The reason I am here is so I put back the correct finish, as it has none. Nothing more than that.

[neal45]

Did he tell you he sanded the finish or does it just look that way? Often you can see if it has been sanded by looking carefully at the fit of the metal parts on the stock. But I would even defer on that to folks more expert than me.