I was unsatisfied with the finish of the wood on the rifle (not surprisingly) and being it's a real multi-purpose/woods rifle in my collection, a nice sling was a must. So, I wanted to share here how I tackled these two issues and some photos of the results.
I will start with the wood. I started by taking the factory finish off with a cotton applicator and Zinsser finish stripping product. I soaked the wood and left it sit for 20 minutes, then scrubbed it with 00 steel wool. I repeated this exercise 3 times to get all of the stain off.
Next, I rubbed on a coat of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil, allowed it to dry (about a day), then rubbed it in lightly with 00 steel wool, and repeated this exercise for a total of 3 times.
The wood now has a nice color and grain character to it. I still feel that the RH side of the buttstock looks a little flat in places, and I may add more oil to try and help this, but overall I am very pleased.
Next, for a sling mount. I had tried a magazine tube mount sling swivel, and was pretty unhappy with it. For one, it looked awful with a black finished mount on a stainless gun. For two, it wasn't very secure. As tight as I could make the screws, it would still rotate around the mag tube if gripped on the upper part of the sling.
I wanted something that would be robust, and not glaringly hideous in appearance. After taking some advice on this forum, I embarked on a mission to mount a stud in my forearm endcap. Disassembling the rifle again, I mounted the endcap in a drill press. I proceeded to drill a hole through the stainless material. I did not have the end cap chucked up as tight as I should have, and the hole "walked" a little bit from where I originally intended it to be as a result, but it's still fine. I drilled through the thickest part of the metal, and after deburring the hole with emery cloth and a small file, I hand cut the threads. I loaded up the machine screw sling stud with blue loctite and then threaded it in to the hole. I used the supplied composite washer with it, and was still able to get a full 4-5 threads of engagement in the hole with full clearance for the magazine tube.
Next, reassembled the rifle and mounted my favorite leather sling.
I still want to replace the sights (front and rear) and also replace the ejector spring and magazine tube cap, and then mechanically the rifle will be complete. Cosmetically, I may also add a leather butt-cuff or cartridge holder too.
Enough talk - on to the pictures!
