Fred's M14 Stocks

 As many of you may have heard (and the rest know now!), TreelineM14 has purchased the remaining stock, handguard and cleaning kit inventory of FredsM14stocks.com.  Fred's will continue to sell other items, and has retained some ultra special stocks and handguards.  Fred (his real name is Jack, but we're going with common usage here) has been looking to semi-retire for several years.  This sale allows this to happen by transitioning the "high volume" items to me.

I'll be bringing up items (SKUs) as I get the inventory sorted and classified.  If there is an item on the website that you can't order, it's because I have it set "out of stock".  This isn't because it's not here or gone forever, I just don't have any on the shelf sorted and ready to ship.  Check back later.

I'm more or less keeping the same classification system that Fred used.  Here are the grades:

Good - ugly but functional.  Will have major and/or multiple dings, wear and scratches.  Finish is shot. May have more than minor arsenal or manugfacturer's repairs. Metal may have light rust.  No cracks that affect functionality.

Very Good - looks well used.  Will have multiple dings and scratches, one or two may be too deep to steam out (if you intend to refinish). Finish is OK to rough. May have a minor arsenal or manufacturer's repair.  Metal is used (worn). No unrepaired cracks.

Very Good Plus (Fred's "Select Plus") - same as Very Good except that (in my opinion, as a stock refinisher) the dings and scratches are fixable with patience, steaming and light sanding. This is the price point that makes a prime refinishing stock.

Excellent - looks like a well maintained, issued stock. Dings, wear and scratches are light, finish is in good shape (may have a field coat of BLO).  Metal shows some wear, but not excessive.  This is the grade you won't feel embarassed to put on a newer rifle. Plan on wiping it down with some mineral spirits and think about putting on a coat of tung oil.  If you're a stock refinisher, the process will be a lot faster than with a VG/VG+ as the dings and scratches will be fewer and shallower.

Excellent Plus - less dings and scratches than Excellent, with a better finish.  They look like a stock that has seen very little use prior to de-mil. 

As New (Fred's "As New") - looks like a newly issued stock, with added handling marks.  These were most likely off of newly manufactured rifles that were either shipped directly to storage or issued briefly before they were called in and eventually shipped to the de-mil arsenal.  They went through the de-mil process, were tossed into shipping contaners and eventually sold to Fred's, stored for 20 more years, changed warehouses, then were shipped to TreelineM14.  In other words, they may have been perfect in 1963, but they picked up some mileage in the meantime.  Probably will have a couple of light dings and always some rubs in the finish. Metal is excellent. Clean them up with mineral spirits, steam any of the small dings or scratches, and think about a coat of tung oil to renew the dried out finish.  They should look pretty much new when you're done. They come with an Excellent Plus original finish buttplate.

There's a variation here where there's a ding or scratch that I think will be difficult to impossible to take out - it's listed as an option for a reduction in price.

As New Plus (Fred's "Presentation") - miracle stocks.  They look new with no further work other than a little clean up, may have some rub marks on the finish.  They won the de-mil, storage and transportation lottery. Not many of these, and priced accordingly.

Plain Jane  Stocks with no DoD stamp or "Circle P".  Most are arsenal refinished, some are replacement stocks.  The arsenal refinished stocks will probably have some sanding marks and the front swivel and front ferrules are usually painted black as opposed to a Parkerized finish.  I grade these on the Good to Excellent scale above.