I dont believe it is maple. CVA put out alot of these kits with Beech stocks, although beech is similar to maple.
The problem lies with the type of stain I used ( oil based ) and the age and treatment of the wood. I just finished a new Traditions Kentucky Pistol Kit with a maple stock that took the same stain like a champ and brought out some beautiful character in the wood. This stock was different, I had to strip the previous finish and steam out dents and dings and Im sure oils and whatever else had soaked into the wood over time and left over from the old finish. I could strip it and refinish it again but at this point its just going to be my tiger striped ugly duckling. It is going to be a field gun that gets heavy use. I may use it to teach my son how to strip and re-finish when he is old enough but that is years away.
On the up side I shot it for the first time yesterday, range was about to close but I got two patterning shots off and busted up a few clays. I love the gun, easy to load and very instinctive on sporting clays. Need to work on tweaking my patterns but that will have to wait until I can hit the range early and make a day out of it. The neighbors get a little restless after 2 or 3 shots back in the woods, unless they are the ones shooting.
