No4.MkII reality check

Very good chance it's Birch.

I purchased a dozen NOS butts about 20 years ago and all of them were Birch.

None of them were in the white, but wrapped in crumpling brown, wax paper.

It's a very simple stain to duplicate, as it doesn't appear to be oil based, maybe to allow the Linseed Oil to soak in better???
 
bearhunter said:
Very good chance it's Birch.

I purchased a dozen NOS butts about 20 years ago and all of them were Birch.

None of them were in the white, but wrapped in crumpling brown, wax paper.

It's a very simple stain to duplicate, as it doesn't appear to be oil based, maybe to allow the Linseed Oil to soak in better???
Click to expand...
Birch! That's what my stock is!

I don't know why I thought it was beech. In any case, it sure is ugly stock wood.

Claven, I saw a beech normal buttstock on a photo link to Apex in the States, but they blocked Canadian access to viewing their webpage.

Here is the link if you know a workaround:

https://www.apexgunparts.com/enfield-4-buttstock-british-beech-normal-length-nos.html

OIP.WOGgO9zuCdBjX7_FpnIRWwHaEC
 
Butts are in 1/2" increments. B for Bantam, Short, Normal, Long and I might be remembering wrong there might be an XL. While my copy of Stratton doesn't give a start length, a B is - 1", a S is - 1/2", N is the neutral length, and L is + 1/2".
 
Apex definitely does not ship to Canada, and given current border tensions, importing it from my us address would also be iffy, I think. Would like to find something here in Canada
 
I might be getting myself confused
I am trying to find out if the rifle has sold, or if the owner has figuerd out what he wants for it
 
Normal length Beech butt. I have acouple coming from a UK auction. Pictures look good on them. Non issued. I could part with one. I have a couple here that have been sanded and stamps gone which could be used until something better came along.
If I can find a measure tape I’ll measure my Bantum stock. Non issued Long Branch. I’ve been finding some stock wood lately. I have all lengths.
 
Snider shooter said:
Normal length Beech butt. I have acouple coming from a UK auction. Pictures look good on them. Non issued. I could part with one. I have a couple here that have been sanded and stamps gone which could be used until something better came along.
If I can find a measure tape I’ll measure my Bantum stock. Non issued Long Branch. I’ve been finding some stock wood lately. I have all lengths.
Click to expand...
LMK when they arrive if you can spare one pls.
 
so here is the stock from marstar that is not beech. It's possibly birch or elm, british manufacture, from factory N49? actually has some nice grain, and an entire gun stocked in this wood would look nice, but it's not a great fir for the rest of the beech furniture.

This is as close a color match as I could make it (and it was not easy!!). Also required a lot of fitting - it was pretty oversized, more than I usually expect from a new in wrap butt.

As soon as I can locate a normal length beech butt, I'll swap it out, but at least the length of pull is usable now.

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I think I found 2 suitable candidates for you, I'll get some pictures. One appears to be birch the other I think is beech. both Long and CA marked .

They are not in pristine condition and have the normal bumps and bruises.

birch butt stock, will need some sanding.

birch L butt 2.jpgbirch L butt 3.jpg
 
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MapleSugar said:
Birch! That's what my stock is!

I don't know why I thought it was beech. In any case, it sure is ugly stock wood.

Claven, I saw a beech normal buttstock on a photo link to Apex in the States, but they blocked Canadian access to viewing their webpage.

Here is the link if you know a workaround:

https://www.apexgunparts.com/enfield-4-buttstock-british-beech-normal-length-nos.html

OIP.WOGgO9zuCdBjX7_FpnIRWwHaEC
Click to expand...
Birch is very good stock wood, just as good as Beech, which is a very similar tree. Most of the Birch stocks I've seen haven't had the final sanding done to them before being put into storage, some of them weren't cured properly before being wrapped and put away, and you see them with dark black stains. They almost always have very straight grain, but the wood is dense and strong and does finish well. It can be easily stained to match Beech, Maple or Walnut components or left as is, if the full stock set is Birch.

I had one rifle where the Birch stock components had been bleached to almost an eggshell white, which was quite a contrast against the dark black phosphate type metal finish on the 1950 Long Branch it was fitted to.

I had that rifle for at least a decade and it shot very well. Someone talked or traded me out of it though.
 
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