On this AK, the previous owner put on some "Russian Red" wood furniture.  Unfortunately, he shipped it to me with the rear stock removed and neglected to bubble wrap it, so it spent the trip banging up against a mag and the gun barrel, so it has a lot of "rash" on it.  Ideally, I'd like to make that look better without needing to completely refinish the stock.  I know the correct way is to probably sand that area down through the laminate to remove the scuffs so it's clean and flat, then re-stain and then re-laminate.  Given that I don't know the exact stain color, don't have the materials, etc - I'm hoping there is a shortcut method I can use to improve the look a bit without a ton of effort to make it look "like new".  Ideas?  Pics of the stock damage here:  https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA3cyQ

Dinged up stocks look good.
0000 steel wool and  Tung oil do wonders.

So the steel wool will strip off the lacquer coating from those areas and "sand" the wood down so it's flat, but the tung oil won't match the "Russian Red" finish at all, will it?

Stock looks like it was dyed and likely finished with clear polyurethane. Most of the repro "Russian red" stocks out there are like this. Couldn't say for sure without looking at it though.

If it were me I would buy a couple small cans of Minwax stain and test to find the closest shade, allow to dry, and either spray the whole stock again or simply touch up the spots with brush on clear poly using a fine brush.

You might test it for yourself, I had some furniture that took a little damaged in shipping and the manufacture recommended this process.
I found 0000 steel wool is fine enough that it does not strip anything,  and the tung oil didn’t change color.