Hi Ken. Yes, this was my first time. If I had it to do over again, I would consider this product:
http://www.fairtrimmers.com/index.html
Congratulations on buying an M1. I'm sure you'll love it
In case any confusion over it exists, the stocks were not stained originally, although I did end up staining mine
My buttstock actually needed a lot of work, including sanding. I did not want to go that route but that's how it ended up.
I tried cleaning with linseed oil. Then I tried isopropyl alcohol. Then I tried isopropyl and a scotch-brite pad. Then I tried mineral spirits...nothing made that piece of wood turn from dog-doo brown to walnut brown.
I did not want to get aggressive; you lose the original color, the so-called 'arsenal red' if you go nuts. That color was achieved through years and decades of exposure to sweat, sun, dirt, gun oils, cleaning solvents, etc. The original finish was done through a dipping process; for my rifle's time, this was a linseed oil dip. Also in that dip tank was rust, dead bugs, sweat, dirt, etc etc. The 'arsenal red' is at least partly due to oxidation of impurities in the finish. So I did not want to mess with that! But nothing took the brownish/blackish stains off. It was like tar mixed with glue that had gone into the pores of the wood.
After 3 or 4 days of no results, I carefully taped over the cartouches (I only had a rebuild stamp from Rock Island Arsenal and a post-war Circled P) and I started to sand. I was very careful not to round over any of the machined edges too much; I just hit them enough to knock off anything that might splinter. I started with 100 grit, gently (if you can use 100gr gently), and then I went to 240 and then 400. I then used very fine scotch-brite. I have since learned that the original texture was very near to that produced from 150 grit sandpaper; wear smoothed the stocks out
Since I had removed the 'arsenal red' finish along with the blackish mess, I started thinking about stains. In the meantime, I used a hand-held iron and a cloth to steam out some- but hardly all- of the dents and gouges in the wood. I stayed clear of cartouches so as not to raise them. You place a damp cloth over the wood, and use the iron set on 'steam', 1 or 2 inches above the wood at the dent or gouge. I never would have tried this had the wood been not in need of a full refinish but I figured what the heck. It worked well (and slowly) but I restricted it to a few really ugly spots. During the process I was continually wiping down the wood with clean dry rags to remove as much moisture as possible. I then set the stock by a radiator to dry for a day
I then stained the buttstock and rear hand guard. The front hand guard is not stained but the match is pretty good; I just had to clean the front guard but the wood was a lighter walnut than I wanted so I decided to stain to match
I used Dark Walnut Minwax stain mixed with their Red Oak stain, 1 part Dark Walnut to 3 parts Red Oak. I stained three times over the course of a day, starting at about 9 am and finishing about 4 pm I used a rag, and a piece of scotch-brite, to apply the oil. I don't think that the scotch-brite mattered in retrospect. I set the stock and hand guard inside to dry by a radiator for three days. Three very, very long days
Then I rubbed them down hard with a clean rag. Lots of stain came off but I had a nice red-brown with some golden spots here and there. One more day to make sure they were really dry was spent with the wood near that radiator again
Then I oiled the wood. Just boiled linseed oil. I let that dry overnight...by the radiator. Then the rubbing and oiling every day for a week began. Then one day a week for a month. I oil it every few months now.
I feel the Minwax mix I used ended up pretty good, judging from the color of the front guard. Here's the other side of the rifle
Now, all that said: I didn't want to go that route at all. Sure it looks nice but it was a PITA in a lot of ways; I smelled like linseed oil and stain for weeks and I had stain on my hands that wouldn't come off even though I wore gloves. You probably won't have to go through the process I describe above; hopefully your stock wasn't used to mix glue and tar or something like mine was. I'd say I spent 80 hours on the wood. It was fun in a lot of ways too, but it felt like work sometimes
I have also cleaned and oiled a USGI stock for an M1 carbine, in about two hours total, with results equal to the two-week process I just told you about. I took my Pop's M1 carbine stock, and cleaned it with a toothbrush and isopropyl alcohol- from the same tin that did nothing for my M1 stock in fact, and then wiped it down, and put some mineral spirits on a rag and wiped down the stock again. I put it in the sun for half an hour to dry; it was August. The stock was a light grayish color when I came back. Then, I put one coat of boiled linseed oil on it, and the color jumped out:
I let it dry overnight, rubbed it with a rag, and was done. I
really preferred that two hours of effort to the 80 hours!