Late war M44 correct finish

[CRomanos]

Several years ago I bought a pair of what Centerfire called "battlefield pickup" M44s with 1945 dates. I'm finally getting around to cleaning them up and once I got all the cosmolene out of the stocks I found wood and nothing but - not a trace of shellac anywhere. So I'm wondering, what was the correct original treatment for these rifles, and what would be a proper modern version?

BLO? Possibly sent to the front entirely unfinished?

I was thinking I might use some Tom's 1/3 mix, but eager to hear other suggestions. Certainly open to leaving them unfinished, too, if that's correct for the rifle.

[swede]

I had a stock in similar shape that I had to make my own stain and then used blo topped with tom's 1/3 mix. It came out great.

[CRomanos]

I'm thinking that the late war models would not have had that involved a finish. Found an article on mosinnagant.net that implied that they stopped using shellac to speed up production, but doesn't say what they went to, if anything

[Aladinbama]

Should be done with t by now, but the correct finish for nearly all pre-war and war time Russian rifles was shellac. It's possible yours could have been restocked, but ...... reworks were nearly all shellacked

[CRomanos]

Can't believe I missed your reply, almost a year ago!

Based on the well-used condition of the stocks, I dont think they were re-worked, and there isnt a trace of shellac on either one.

Sounds like BLO and 1/3 will be the way to go.

And no, in my start-and-stop life, I haven't gotten back to these, but I'm eager to get them both done (along with a turk Mauser) and out the door to free up room in my collection.