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.
