So this is my first foray into older rifles and while I have a bunch of WWI/WWII stuff, it's my first rifle that's over 110 years old.  The wood has seen better days, but it's all in decent condition and appears to be shootable.  Bore has surprisingly good rifling and is bright; no pitting I could see.  Wish I knew more about it.  No idea on the value of it.  Some pics to enjoy - and in case you have any details or tips for me on it.

Looks a little beat up, but I guess 111 years of use will do that.

Enjoy it.

Very cool!

You said you have some old GI stuff.  I see the M1 Garand guys writing that they clean the wood first (some even do it in their dishwasher), let it dry and use a hot iron over a wet cloth to help raise up some of the dents/gouges in the wood before lightly sanding and refinishing the stock.

I have no idea what the original stocks were finished with but I'm sure you could use an oil finish.

For the metal, some 3n1 oil (or other light oil) with 0000 steel wool added and then lightly rubbed over the metal will remove the surface rust without damaging any remaining bluing.

I bought an old Auto 5 a few years back that was pretty "brown" with surface rust.  After the oil/0000 steel wool rub down I was amazed at how much "blue" showed up.  It won't remove pits, or put bluing back in a gouge, but it will remove brown looking rust and leave any remaining bluing more visible.

I would leave it as it is, but that's just me.

(I would definitely shoot it, though)

Very cool. I'd leave it alone, honest wear on a gun like that is most of the appeal.

Thanks.

Definitely not going to do anything to it other than shoot it and take care of it.  Not going to try to clean up the spots on it or "fix" the stock.  I found out that it's actually made in 1906 (turns out most of the years on the web are wrong) and the wood on this is "gumwood" not walnut, which is how most of the 1894's from 1906 came from the factory.

On the other hand some rails, an M4 stock, a bipod/vertical grip/muzzle brake and a Kryptek camo job would be a nice way to "customize"

(Just kidding, please don't do that)

Neat.

What the hell is "gum wood"?

From what I've found, "Gumwood" is a cheaper alternative than Walnut.  Not as nice - and was used as a cost savings measure in 1906 and a during a few other sporadic production runs around WWI time. The wood is generally softer than walnut, dents and scratches easily.  Doesn't take a lot of use before they look well worn and beat-up and gets darker with more use, so this rifle - despite the excellent condition bore - has had a good amount of use or at least carry.  Apparently the condition of these stocks here isn't all that bad considering it's gumwood; as it's very rare to find one this old with gumwood that is in comparable cosmetic condition to Walnut.


Just gives it more of that "Old West; if only this gun could talk" type look, IMO.  


 

EDIT:  Oh, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commidendrum


Though don't ask me how you make a stock out of a "shrub".  LOL.

Unfortunately, common names aren't worth a shit.

Too bad, as it would be interesting to know what it really is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_tree

I think you found a real jewel.

Nice old rifle. I believe that the rear sight was a special order type. The front sight might be, as well.

Nice rifle OP!  Yes, except for a gentle cleaning, I would leave it as is.



I have sweet gum trees on my property that have grown quite large.  The wood is soft, but very hard to split so it would make a good split resistant gunstock, I never had thought of that use for the wood.





 

Awesome pick up.

Beautiful gun.