I got two stocks today that I ordered in mid July.

They were listed as fair and unwarped.  The stock pictures showed ugly rust on the metal parts, particularly the hinged butt and the rear sling loop.

The stocks I received were true to the pictures.

In fact I think these stocks were never used in the field and were simply stored poorly.  The fiberglas was perfect but with some rust stains from its box mates and some minor grunge.  One stock had a dryrotted cotton sling attached.  I didn’t check for cleaning kis in the traps as the hinged plates were rusted stiff.  

I sprayed the metal down to soak the rust.   I might sand blast them or maaybe just hit them with a wire wheel.   They’re getting painted anyhow.  

In time one will likely get a winter camo and the other will OD green and sand (or RVN red sand ) camo.   I already have a box of handguards suitable for painting.  

Total with tax and shipping was $59.   The stocks were perfect for my needs.

Interesting. Nice post.  I bought a big red birch from Fred’s stocks in about 2008 and put my rebuilt Polytech in the stock.

I bought one too!   I got one with a big dished out side, thinning the stock next to the side alongside the action, half thickness, faint crayon marking that said “BAD”.   I shipped it back for replacement and never got anything back.  Ignored emails, telephone calls etc.  One phone call got a person who said no one was there who could look up the status, no call back of course.  

Too bad they screwed me.

I ordered a couple of barrels a while back and added one of these stocks in the order since they were so cheap.  I didn't expect much, but was pleasantly surprised with it.  It's rough and dirty out of the box.  This one looks to be new, but stored in dirty dampness.  The metal parts have no finish wear other than the rust.  The plate was frozen solid, but Kroil and some effort got it moving without bending it, and I managed to drive the pin out.  Small Dremel wire brush cleaned everything up nicely.   I got a new steel detent ball from the hardware store.  

I put it on my light M1A, and I really like it.  I like the reddish color.  I ended up putting the GI wood stock back on, but if I end up with another rifle with a commercial stock on it, I'm definitely going to swap it into this stock.

I got two of these from Numrich back when they were the $12 rusty specials. About 30 minutes of work, around $10 of new metal and a fresh coat of paint. I now have 2 really nice and valuable stocks.

Same here. Ground off the rusty and seized bits, put on new metal and some nice buttplates that Fred gave me for free years ago, and a good blast of Duracoat before reassembly, and I have two awesome synthetic stocks to show for it.

Some folks wouldn't waste their time on the rustbuckets I got from Numrich, but it was a labor of love

In the meanwhile, I ordered 4 more, and they are slightly worse than the first one I got back before this thread.  I'm still happy with them.  I'd like to know the story on where these came from. Check out the sling remnants.

Most likely the junk leftovers from fred's

After working with this second batch, I want to make something clear.  If you want to just clean these up and paint or use as is, fine.  If you want to disassemble them completely and restore every part to nice condition and proper function,I'd say forget it.  The rust on these is much worse than the first one I got.  I got the plates to move and finally freed up the trap door latches and hinges somewhat.

I managed to get both screws out of 1 of the stocks.  The lower screws on the other 3 would not break free.  Kroil soak, impact driver, nothing breaks them loose.  I drilled the heads off to salvage the buttplate parts, but am left with a stock bodies with a headless screws and sling swivels in them.  So I'd have been fine just to clean them externally and paint, but that was never my intention.  I guess I could tape some gas pipe in them for kids to run around and have battles with.

Side note- I noticed one of the stocks rattling when I unboxed them.  There was a complete cleaning kit in one of the stocks, but it was more rust than tools I think.