Throughout the eras stretching from the Spanish-American War to the Vietnam War, U.S. military small arms documentation consistently specified raw linseed oil (and occasionally raw tung oil) as the mandated material for cleaning, preserving, and maintaining wood stocks.

The key official manuals and publications that call out raw linseed oil include:

Rules for the Management and Care of the U.S. Magazine Rifle, Caliber .30, Models 1892, 1896, and 1898 (Krag-Jørgensen era): Early editions explicitly instructed soldiers to occasionally rub the wood parts with raw linseed oil to protect them from moisture and weather.

Description and Rules for the Management of the United States Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1903 (Springfield '03 era): Multiple revisions (including the prominent 1915 and 1917 editions) stated under care and preservation that the stock should be rubbed with raw linseed oil. It warned against using varnishes or colored oils.

TM 9-1275 / TO 11W3-5-5-1 Ordnance Maintenance: U.S. Rifles, Cal. .30, M1, M1C, and M1D (M1 Garand era): This specialized maintenance manual explicitly directed armorers to treat wood components with raw linseed oil. It strongly cautioned against using any compounds that created a glossy or hard-varnished surface finish.

TM 9-2025 Maintenance Instructions: Shoulder Weapons (Post-WWII / Korean War era): Consolidated guidance for various legacy small arms continued to dictate the use of raw linseed oil for stock reconditioning and preservation in the field.

TM 9-1005-223-20 Organizational Maintenance Manual: Rifle, 7.62mm, M14 and M14A1 (Pre-Vietnam era): Before the M14 was largely replaced by the synthetic-stocked M16 in Vietnam, its maintenance manuals still called out raw linseed oil (NSN 8010-00-221-0612 or equivalent military specifications) as the proper preservative to be rubbed into the walnut or birch stocks by hand.

Why Raw Instead of Boiled?

Though individual soldiers sometimes acquired hardware-store boiled linseed oil (BLO) because it dried much faster, ordnance departments officially mandated raw linseed oil.

The military preferred raw oil because mass-production stocks were dipped in large tanks of warm oil to cure. Boiled linseed oil or oils containing chemical "driers" would dry too quickly on the surface, creating a thick, sticky, or high-gloss varnish layer that prevented deep penetration into the wood fibers. Raw oil soaked deeply into the grain, keeping the wood resilient and weather-resistant under field conditions without gumming up.

Note that even if, during the period of late 1941 to 1944, US Garand stocks were treated with tung oil, they received one coat, and one coat only which, if the rifle was ever maintained by a GI, was then coated repeatedly over years with coats of RLO.

Hope this helps folks understand why I tend to post about this when anything other than RLO comes up as a correct finish if you want a rifle stock that looks like it's been in service, with that red hue, rather than a refurbished piece.

And just so folks understand, raw linseed oil, multiple coats hand rubbed in over a couple weeks, has also been a finish of choice for many custom gun makers, as well as tung.

These oil finishes to not truly "dry" and a good, deep finish recovers easily from minor field mandling with a drop of fresh oil

You can do the same on these rifles as well, dull the eventually shine from the coats of oil with a piece of burlap (old gunsmith truck), 4/0 steel wool or scotchbrite 7448 fine pads.

Am i imagining it, or has there been a recent revival of interest in the Mini-14? It's appearing a lot more in social media, lately.

I've always wanted one, but between the weirdly high price, it's poor reputation for accuracy (at least at one point), and competition from AR15's, it never made sense for me.

Just picked this guy up recently. Did a full detail strip to check the barrel draw and it's a legit D sniper barrel. From what I understand, these were built off of any rifle sitting on the rack at the time. This receiver dates to early '52, so this one would've been converted very quickly after initial production. It's in beautiful shape and still in its original stock as far as I can tell. Unless I'm missing something weird, this thing is likely as close as you can get to a "factory" M1D.

My first garand. Sorry for my ignorance

Hey new here, I was wondering if anyone knows how to convert a standard m1 garand into a m1D. I cant seem to find any videos on a m1D taken apart and what it needs and google is no help if I’m able to make mine into a m1D in the first place. Thanks.

Signed up with the VFW to go through the CMP to pick up this beautiful rifle. I lucked out when looking into the CMP & turns out I live 25 minutes from the CMP North store!

Got to talk to some knowledgeable folks & they helped me pick out this RM1308EXPERTWRARC. I was hesitant on getting a 308 & reclaimed rifle, but I realized that doesn’t really bother me. My checkboxes were something I could afford to shoot, Winchester, & a decently low serial number.
From what I’ve looked up the serial number dates the receiver to about March 1944. Pretty stoked with that!

So far, I’ve picked up a GI web sling, butt stock cleaning kit, and a USGI bandoleer repack set. The repack clips run flawlessly while the clip that came with the rifle seems to get stuck very easily. Looking for a bayonet in the future, any general tips or suggestions for keeping the stock nice are appreciated, happy to have this part of history!

Finished my first stock finish project on my Garand, this is the result. 8 or 9 coats of Hope's 100% Pure Tung Oil on a CMP Boyd stock and handguards, wiped off the excess after an hour, let everything sit for 24 hours between each coat, then used 0000 3M finish pads on all of the wood before applying the next coat. For my first time doing a project like this I am satisfied with how it turned out, looks way better than it did before. Might apply a coat here and there as time goes on but it is good for the time being.

(Photo is from last year with my 1940s lend lease m1)

I will preface this with the fact that I may be a bit ocd about my rifle zeros and i have a decent amount of experience ahooting for about 20 years now with planty of different guns.

With my m1 I am able to get a consistent sight picture with the rifles sights however I am struggling to find a good target to use at 100 yds where my sight picture is on the same spot on the target each time. (For example I may shoot one group repost the target and shoot another group but on this one all my hits are 2in lower. Nothing has changed other than where my sights are positioned on the target) my bullets are going where im aiming however it is hard to aim at the exact center of a round target at 100yds (with bad eyes).

I end up with good groups that tend to shift from target to target leading me to belive the issue lies with how I am "putting the sights on the target" bc the general groups are tight at about 3in but they shift indicating that it is hard to actually find the exact center each time.

I have run into this issue and found that some target styles and sizes work better than others and I was wondering if there is a good target size or shape to use to help due to my fuzzy eye sight. The round ones are good however im still trying to find a good size for them. I am considering going ti ti the "pumpkin on a fence post" method for zeroing and lining up all my shots to the bottom center of a round target. This way my sights are still set to a split target style but I get a little more precision for zeroing by using the post method.

Thanks for coming to my rant/Ted talk

Hello all, I went to shoot my garand today and when i shoot it, the shell wont eject and I have to pull the charging handle back to eject/cycle a new round. A worker at the range said it might need a new op rod spring but I wanted to get some 2nd opinions first before making a move. I greased it in all the right places when I first got it so it cant be a lube problem

Came into my shop from a group that does honor guards at veteran funerals. Not cycling with a BFA and blanks. Cool in a "you don't see one everyday" way.

While going through some spare parts for carbines I own, I realized I have enough parts to throw together a shooter carbine and I’m half tempted to do it provided I can find a receiver and barrel, or even better a barreled action. It is a total Heinz 57, with an Underwood trigger group (guts are QHMC except an Underwood trigger and IP sear), Underwood bolt (SG extractor and Inland firing pin), Rock Ola wood (stock is Rock Ola for QHMC that went through a rework at Underwood, metal’s underwood too), and an original flip sight and Type 1 barrel band. I do have other parts on the way such as a front sight with the goodies for it, Underwood slide, gas piston and nut, and recoil spring guide coming. My goal is to make a shooter with as many original GI parts as possible, but I can live with some commercial stuff like say if I found a close enough to GI receiver and barrel. Of the parts I have currently, the only repros are the sling and oiler from At The Front. Really looking forward to this project and giving my West German police Inland a friend in the safe!

Another person that can't get the trigger guard to close on a new wood frame CMP. Read all I can find and can get it about a quarter inch with all my might but not enough still. Hit it with a hammer and it didn't budge.

Hammer is back, it closes easily to just the receiver when outside the stock, the rear of the housing does make some serious indentations when I use force.

At a loss.

I guess I’m getting caught up on things to do on my old milsurp stuff.

Yesterday I cleaned some of the nastier leather slings with saddle soap and treated most of them with mink oil.

Finishing mink oil on the rest of them today.

Time to find another project rifle I suppose? 🤣

Recently picked up this beauty. It looks to be a matching '42 from what I could see. I don't have a gauge set at the house, but she shot like a dream today. Does anyone have any idea what the white band could be? I was thinking it could be a unit armory mark.
Any information about what I have is appreciated!
SN: 529xxx
Barrel: SA 3-42
Receiver: D28291-17 REP 24 C
Bolt: D28287-12SA RE5C
Op rod: uncut 35382 3 SA
Gas tube screw: single slot
Trigger housing: D28290-5-SA
Stock: SA GHS / Circle P behind trigger guard

the left grip won't sit right

Hello,

I got this m1 carbine. Replaced cracked front sight all springs and swapped the extractor. Shot 50 rounds through her and the POI kept changing thought I had to drift the rear sight when I got home. The rear sight ended up coming out by hand. Ended up getting a replacement stamped rear sight. Using the rear sight tool I pushed it back on. The issue is the staking done to the previous sight looks to be drilled out on the receiver and the replacement sight itself. gun is non import marked so who knows what happened post refurb. I plan on staking it again with a pointed 1/8th punch but wanted to confirm with the larger community of what the cmp has done on your rifles and if anyone encountered this before.

Appears to be marked "LX" on the bottom. Internet searching has yielded nothing so far, hoping maybe the group can figure this out.

Available on SGAmmo.

I just picked up my expert grade reclaimed M1 Garand from the CMP yesterday. Today I put 80 rounds of 30-06 through it. It's probably the most fun gun I have now (and I have a PS90). It is also the first time that I've bruised my shoulder from shooting. lmao