Get to a hardware store or WallyWorld, and obtain:
1 can of Formby's (liquid) Furniture Refinisher
1 package of four-ought (OOOO) steel wool pads
1 small can of Min-Wax Stain/Sealer in Walnut color
1 small can of Min-Wax Stain/Sealer in Red Mahogany color for color mixing (optional - see comments below)
1 small bottle of Tru-Oil gun stock finish
Scrounge up some clean rags, an old clean toothbrush, sections of clean newspapers (to catch drips when the stock hangs drying), and an all-wire coathanger to bend & use to hang the drying stock from a cellar or attic rafter/beam.
Remove all non-wood stock hardware before starting.
1) Strip off the old finish (do no sanding) with the Formby's, following the can directions (even in the checkering w/the toothbrush) & let it dry overnight.
2)
LIGHTLY rub down the stock, dry, with a new OOOO wool pad & inspect it for any remaining scratches that may need sanding or chips/cracks needing filling/repair.
Dents are raised by heating a clothes iron as hot as it will go, laying a damp cloth (wet, then wrung out) over the dent, and applying the heated iron to steam/swell the wood under the dent.
Small imperfections may have to be filled with a walnut putty, or a slurry made from walnut sawdust mixed into wood glue.
After all is right................
3) Stain/seal the raw wood, including checkered areas, following the MinWax directions and hang it a minimum of 8 hours to dry. The longer the stain is left on, the darker the finish resulting.
The Walnut stain may also be mixed 50/50 with Red Mahogany for a dark but red-toned finish - just like pre-war Winchesters.
4} Start to oil the stock in baby steps. Have the hanger ready, along with the time to dry at least 8 hours to overnight between oil coats. The clean, or another (better) toothbrush can help in checkered areas.
Start the first coat by dipping the tip of one finger in the bottle to pick up a guarter-sized drop of oil, and start rubbing and spreading that little bit of oil into the wood up to an area no larger than a dollar bill.
Keep rubbing that area, back.forth, round 'n round, until the finger tip starts to "drag" or "squeak", as the oil dries under it. At that point, stop, load the fingertip with another drop of oil and do the same thing in an adjascent area.
(Don't worry about finishing the checkered areas now - you can put one oil coat in there with the toothbrush when you do the last coat of oil.)
Repeat as required, until the entire stock has a single coat - including hidden areas like the barrel channel, action inletting & butt end (all of which you may want to soak B4 starting to sides).
Let dry as I suggested above - no matter how "dry" it feels or looks.
5) With a new OOOO wool pad, rub the excess oil from the surface of the outer wood, wipe it off and be sure all metal is removed via a pass or two with a magnet (the steel wool dust will get into the edges of holes & inletting, then drift back into later oil coats if not removed).
6) Repeat step (4) & (5), as required, until the finish is as filled as you like it. Don't be concerned about gloss/no gloss at this point.
If the wood's oiled & wooled smoothly, at some point it won't be necessary to take it down to bare wood each time, but it
WILL be necessary to extend the drying time to at least overnight for each coat - if you want a nice eggshell finish.
7) For a semi-gloss finish, do not rub out after the last oil coat dries; for an "eggshell" finish, rub the dried last oil coat LIGHTLY with a wool pad; for a satin (almost matte) finish, rub down to what looks like bare wood (but really isn't), then go to step 8.
When done, apply a coat of a good quality hard paste wax, like Johnson's Wax or Simonize New Car Wax.
This is a pic of the not-quite completed stock I just did for another GBO member, about 3/4 way (2 coats oil) through the process I've described above:
(I had temporarily reinstalled the hardware for a pic I sent the owner - it was removed again for the rest of the job & cleaning up my inlay)
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