Back to the wood question---
It's going to be dyed Beech, dollars to donuts. The Brits were dying Beech and sapwood Walnut in WW2 and kept up the dying practice* in postwar production.
Dye instead of stain, because Beech, like Birch, will not absorb the pigment in stain very well at all.

The photos below are of an issued Irish Contract rifle of 11/54 vintage. (I have another, dated 1/55 that's a blonde as a Swedishicon Cheesemonger.)
The Macro shot of the grain shows typical European Beech flecking, or "rays" in the quartergrain. Something like this form should show up on your rifle, too.

So why is this one Brown?
Would you want to be hiding in the bushes, waiting to ambush the Red Menace, clutching a Blonde that fairly glows in the dark?
-----krinko

*"How could it be a 'dying practice' if they kept at it?" I hear you ask. Well I would do, if I hadn't got my fingers in my earholes.