Final pics...
Attachment 113236Attachment 113237Attachment 113238
What? There was wood on the grip all this time?
Tried to make the lighting the same for accurate comparison. Final color will mellow in the coming weeks as the raw linseed oilicon does its happy thing.
I'm happy!
I know there is plenty of disagreement on how to treat these...some think all that grime and sludge is part of its service history and leave it as is. I don't have anything that is not a parts rifle in my collection - if I did I'd likely leave it as is, and set it in the back of the safe or in a case to collect value. Don't think I'd every spend my money on something just to look at though. I collect to get as close as possible to history...I want to know as best I am able what it felt like carrying these rifles up San Juan hill or on patrol in the Philippines. All of its dings and wounds along the way are still there, and my kids and I learned a lot on the way to making it serviceable again.
Thanks for all your help along the way milsurps team!