Question About Wood Finish NPM Carbine on Pre98.Com

I'm no carbine expert, and never will be, but there are some here. There's a very nice looking National Postal Meter carbine that just sold on Pre98.com. My question is about the wood finish. Does that stock appear to be varnished or oil finished to the experts here. I think it looks like varnish, but again, I'm not the expert. If it is varnished the question becomes, was that standard on NPM carbines or any other makers? Here is the link:

http://www.pre98.com/shop/our-newest...ut-stock-mint/


I know more about Garands, '03's and trench guns than carbines. The former two were always oil finished. Stevens trench and riot guns were oil finished as well, but Winchester trench and riot guns had a commercial varnish finish almost to the end of production. The late war Model 12 trench guns that were factory parkerized were not varnished.

No USGI carbines were ever finished with varnish or any other material that would cause it to shine. Light reflecting off of it could draw unwanted attention to someone real quick in combat. RLO was used on all stocks and nothing else. Stocks were dipped in warmed raw linseed oil and then drip dried.

The carbine in the photo appears to have been wiped down with many layers of Boiled Linseed Oil. I'm not convinced it's a varnish type finish but it could be. Either way as Tuna says it's not the proper USGI finish. Is that a deal breaker? possibly for many collectors, especially for $3,500. But that's a rare bird. You almost never see real early guns in that condition because almost all went straight into combat. That gun is a keeper varnish or no varnish.

It's not uncommon to see original "right as rain" bringbacks with BLO and/or all sorts of varnish type finish because that's what civilians did to their rifles after the war.

thats not varnish, but it isnt what would be considered correct.

Tung oil and layers of BLO can cause a stock to shine like this one.

Just looks like many applications of BLO to me.