I had a local furniture shop chemically strip it in their chamber * for only $50 and it came out great. In fact, it needed very little sanding afterwards, just a light touch. Then I used Cabot's “Gun Stock” color as the wood stain (it is walnut colored with just a hint of the vintage “Winchester Red” that I like a lot), and then I added the first thin coat of Birchwood Casey's "Genuine Oil" (a satin-finish version of their TruOil gunstock finish). I also ground a Pachmayr recoil pad to fit, before applying the stain.
I think this will look great after 7 or 8 more thin coats -- all hand rubbed, of course! Now it won't show white scratches like a Browning finish does, and will be easier to maintain if it gets nicked while out hunting.
Old No7
* I learned the hard way many years ago on a BLR .308 not to try and strip/refinish a HARD Browning finish on my own... Ended up replacing the wood...
![Surprised :o](./images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif)
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