Back in the late 60s & early 70s, I was working my way through college. I would go around to all the pawn shops buying 22LR rifles. Most, except for 10/22s and Nylon 66s were priced to sell, like $10-$12. All were needing rehabilitation to various degrees. Some, simply had been sitting on racks for a decade or more, others were sadly neglected by their previous owners. I'd completely disassemble them cleaning every nook & cranny. De-rust & cold blue all the steel parts. Not as good as a hot blue, but a vast improvement over what the steel previously looked like. IIRC I was using a product called 44-40. Part of the process was refinishing the stock. I would strip all the nasty stain infused lacquer off. It was amazing to find, in most cases, really nicely figured wood underneath. Most of the wood was beech. After proper prep, I would use polyurethane as a top coat. I used polyurethane because it was self leveling, came in the textures I wanted, gloss, semi or flat, and tough as nails. I would take these rifles to gun shows and sell them at substantial profit. I didn't rent a table, I just walked around with one or two or three slung over my shoulder. I had bought surplus OD green slings in bulk for these rifles. I bought 100 of these slings, paid like 50cents each. I quit doing this 22 rifle thing when the slings ran out. I pretty much exhausted the supply of 22 rifles in the pawn shops I frequented. And the pawn shop owners began to wise up about the profits I was making. Some of my rehabed rifles were beginning to show up at the pawn shops again. Now at a substantially higher price. The money I could make was directly proportional to the niceness of the wood. Rifle fashion at that time in history pretty much dictated a glossy finish.

I'm guessing I was breaking a federal law or two, but I rekon I never attracted enough attention for it to matter.

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NRA Benefactor