Maintaining rifle while Retaining Patina - Please tell.

[Thunderbox]

With old rifles where I do not want to clean without removing the wood patina, I use a high-quality spray-on beeswax furniture polish - in UK where you are, there are many brands marketed for antique furniture. I apply it fairly liberally and polish off with something absorbent like a bit of old towel: the solvent in the spray does a good job of lifting off surface crud and grime, and the wax polish helps ensure that the wood retains its patina gloss.

The rifle will probably survive at least another hundred years without being stripped down, but a careful dismantling would allow you to clean the metalwork and any mud and dirt which is inside the barrel channel.