A friend gave me a Ruger factory wood stock painted over with a pebbly gray paint of some kind. Looks great, very easy to hold onto

 

Check out the 35 cerekote project thread just below this one. The author used truck bedliner as a paint for that for the stock. Looks decent and should be durable.

 

You might be able to get most/some of dings out of the stock with a damp cloth and a hot iron, steam them out so to say and then refinish; worked good for a friend of mine. That said, I also was considering going with the truck bedliner type coating mentioned above on a project rifle of mine. Tough stuff I would think with a non-slip angle to it...
Good luck to you.

 

Is your stock birch or walnut?

Is your objective to keep it new looking instead of character?

I like the birch, I actually think it makes a better material on a working rifle. If its birch and dings don't bother you maybe try stripping and lightly sanding, then stain it the color you want and spray it with some Helmsman Valspar satin or matte Poly inside and out.

Either way, I'd stain it a like color to your spray paint first.

 

That's just it, the stock is a light Birch, and the forearm looks almost walnut it's so dark. It's been that way since it was new. Really liked the look of the green sticks on the new 45-70.

 

Strip to bare wood.
Clean.
Prime.
(Sand if desired.)
Paint.


I have never had satisfactory results when using any type of paint over the top of factory clear sealers (urethane, shellac, or other).
I tested six different clear coats for my last painted project. The one that I liked the best, and has held up the best, was Rust-Oleum 'Painters Touch' 2x Ultra-Cover matte clear. On that stock, the clear was used over a textured paint - Rust-Oleum 'Enamel Multi-Colored Textured' in "Desert Bisque".



Personally... I'd probably just sand off the factory finish and hand-rub some coats of thinned Tung oil. If desired, the dents and dings could be ironed out before the Tung oil applications.


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This one went the opposite direction. I stripped the paint and refinished the original wood.

This rifle had 2-10 layers of paint on it, depending upon what area you were looking at (there was a previous camo paint job under the pink - and the barrel had many layers).
The stock was also quite badly abused. To make matters worse, the pressed checkering on the fore-end was full of enamel paint that I could not remove.

So, a wet towel, a good iron, and some patience were put to work. I ended up being able to raise every dent and ding in the stock.
I then spent about a day raising, sanding, raising, sanding, raising, and sanding the pressed-checkering.
The result was a visible checkering pattern on the stock, but you could not feel it, whatsoever. My brothers and I called it "Ghost Checkering".

Some hand-rubbed coats of Tung oil brought that old stock back to life, after the work was done.

It went from decent 'deer rifle' to battered 'truck gun' to ... well, I'm not sure ... and then back to something respectable. Last I heard, it was to be a 14 year-old kid's first deer rifle.

(Mossberg 800BSM 'scoped police' prototype, circa 1973, built from left over parts spanning 6+ years of production.)

 

I have used Plasti Kote Trunk Paint on both wood and synthetic stocks with good success. The finish lasts longer if you apply the clear sealant when the original base coat cures. Nice thing is touch up are easy.

 

I have a Ruger 77. I painted green, the action and barrel are brown. well, lets just say in my youth. I sometimes was between jobs, money was tight, sooo deer taste the same all year long. old saying , a man with a rifle will never starve! also. when things got better, I did not do it any more. I know some may think poorly of me but I had to do what I had to do.

 

Been there

 

Rust-Oleum has a fairly new textured paint out that comes in various colors. I don't know if it's as tough as bedliner spray. Bedliner spray is almost indestructible. I have used bed liner spray in black but do not know if it now comes in colors.

 

Used to paint my hunting and varmint rigs. Tape off the power dial on the scope, scope caps in place. Tri color with dollar store aerosol.

Flat Black, Flat Green and Red Primer. Just gave them a stripe job free hand.

Now days, I'd go with the truck bed or trunk inner. Lot of choices. Lot of color combos

 

What colors can I get the bedliner in, or do I do a top coat of paint over the bed liner?

 

I have painted many stocks and complete rifles for hunters in my area and have had good results with it staying on for years. Whether it is wood or synthetic it is necessary to get it really clean. I first give it a good wipe down with lacquer thinner. Then I go over it with scotch brite.(NO scotch brite on the metal) Then another wipe down with the thinner before applying the base coat. I use Brownell's grit paint for a base coat and it gives very good grip. A really beat up stock with gouges I ask the owner if he wants them filled and if he does I use auto body filler for filling them in and sand them down smooth. Then add the colors I want and the patterns and last I use a dull clear coat and let it cure before using it. I also use the same method for synthetic. I have hunted with painted guns for years and later removed the paint to trade one in and they look unused with no visible wear except on the bolt body. Here is a rough Remington 582 I painted to hunt squirrel with because it is as accurate as my 541S that I never hunt with. Lots of body filler on this stock but the grit paint hides it well.

My Savage Axis synthetic I painted along side my friends unpainted one. I think the painted one looks better. The trick seems to be getting it really free of any oil or waxes or on the synthetic get all the mold release off before painting to get it to stick well.

 

I'm not planning on painting the action, just the stocks.