Hi goodguy. I've finished a few stocks several different ways. Earlier I used to use a product called Linspeed (linseed oil). This was put on by hand with very thin coats, spreading it evenly onto/into the wood. Then allow to dry overnight, sand with 00 or finer steel wool, wipe off and recoat with more linspeed. Usually about 7 coats gives the stock a nice luster. It takes a long time for this finish to completely dry but when it does, a good waxing with a quality furniture paste was brings a nice shine to the stock.

Lately though, the last stock I finished was much faster and it really looks nice. I have a T/C Hawken .50 cal that I stripped off the shiny finish and removed the brass. I used brass black to darken the brass and applied a couple coats of satin finish polyurethane allowing it to dry between coats. This really brought out the grain in the wood and brought out the grayish brown color of the walnut. Matched up with the black "brass", Makes for a really neat looking piece.