Guys, wish I could show you a picture of my T/C hawken. I stripped the stock and put clear satin finish polyurethane on it to bring out the grain. took all the brass to my cousin who deals in antiques and he gave me a solution which tarnished the brass giving it a dull grey appearance. really looks sharp.
Birchwood Casey makes a product called Brass Black which is basically blueing for brass and this works well too.