Stock Advice for No. 1 -mildew

[tact1]

Bought a No. 1 .458 in an auction and found when I went to pick it up the stock has some mildew on one side of it. Foreend is good, just the buttstock, and it is not really bad, just a few circles of gray about the size of pencil erasers. What do I put on it to kill it?

 

[wunbe]

Sounds like the same thing as water glass circles on wood tables. Try those fixes -- like lemon oil.

Someone 'rode it hard and put it away wet'. I'd strip that gun down, check for hidden rust, lube it good.

wunbe

 

[tact1]

I tried some polish like that and it didn't do much. Maybe I'll try some diluted bleach that will kill it. This gun was stored in a closed up house of an old man when he was sent to a home. Just one side of the stock is affected, nothing else, no rust, etc. Strange.

 

[gewehrfreund]

I suspect any bleach solution will also discolor the stock finish.

If it were mine, I'd just try to lightly polish it out with some 0000 steel wool or rotten stone and a good wax like Howards Feed 'n Wax, etc.

 

[eveled]

Go to the hardware store and by the stuff that kills it. I think it is moldex. Cleaning it with anything else will just spread it around. Like blowing dandelion seeds everywhere. It will come back much worse.

They say bleach is no good because it is mostly water.

I would try Lysol before bleach. Ed

 

[pisgah]

I inherited a long-stored (and poorly-stored) .22 rifle a while back that was covered with mildew. Sprayed it down with CLP, wiped it off, and it hasn't returned.

 

[tact1]

Now that sounds easy. Several things to try, Thanks for the response.