In our small town, I couldn't find any other source of raw linseed oilicon when I was needing to finish a No. 4 Mark 2 stock so I purchased a bottle of flax seed oil gel-caps from the health food rack at the local dollar store. Used no stain. The capsules were actually quite handy. One just split the end of a capsule and applied a measured amount with less muss and fuss. One capsule goes a long way, even with a dry stock surface, completely void of any oil. The raw linseed oilicon gives more satisfactory results for me than the boiled linseed oil commonly found. Here's the before and after of rehab'ing a formerly sporterized, yet non-import-marked No. 4 Mark 2 rifle.


















Seems dark compared with all the blonde No. 4 Mark 2 rifles typically seen but internet research indicated that the rifles' stocks were originally finished using raw linseed oil and a good friend who is English, lives and breaths Britishicon militaria in Yorkshire, also validated the use of raw linseed oil. At any rate, the finished stock looks better than the nasty orange-colored refinish of the original cut-down stock. The tops of the hand guards stand a little too proud where they meet the bands but I haven't decided whether to try to mimic the appearance of of original No. 4 Mark 2 rifles I see at gun shows or in internet photos and re-contour the hand guards.

It's now been a couple of years since the rehab and the stock now has a bit less sheen and is a nice dark reddish hue, similar to a U. S. Kragicon Jorgensen or a pre-World War I 1903 Springfield.