Whig wrote on Jun 14
th, 2019 at 2:51pm:
Looks a little darker and shiner. Much nicer.
I think you've found out that your stock has so much old oil and dirt that the wood cells are not porous anymore and won't soak in any more stain. If you put stain on wood like that, it will either just wipe off if its still wet or, if you let it dry too long, it just dries in a sticky layer and doesn't look good.
I'd stay with what you've done. It looks better and actually pretty nice. Otherwise, you'd need to use mineral spirits and clean off a lot of the old oil and strip some of the old stain out to try to refinish it more. That's a ton of trouble and you might not get it looking much better.
Now, put it back together and shoot it!
Yes. If; this will dry, I will call it done. If not, I dont know.
As for shooting, I am studying up on loading for this. I am not an avid reloader but; it looks like the way to go here. I am leaning toward 220 gr Hornady to replicate the original ammo but with a mid-level load. Of powders listed in Hornady's 9th, I have 4064 and 4831 on hand. Maybe try 39 gr of H4831? Hornady data predicts a modest 1700-1800 fps. I dont really care for Lee dies, but; I do like the collet crimper. Or good old RCBS. Starting from scratch there are so many choices.
My hopefully modest shooting goal is ringing a 10" steel gong off-hand at 100 yards.
(I fixed the attachments, thanks)