Has anyone solved the mystery of.....

My guess would be "Imitation."



--Fargo007

it's quite possiblya Luan or species of mohagony.... Once I get to see one up close I may be able to tell you further.

Different mentions the type of wood in his book. If I remember correctly, its called Chu wood and is mostly found in Manchuria. I believe its a sub-species of maple, but is much softer than American maple, which in turn is harder than American or European walnut. The Chu wood is also softer than American walnut, AFAIK.

I don't know, but it sure smelled up my gun safe!! Pulled it off and put on a GI plastic stock, put the ChiCom stock in the barn. 6 years later it still stinks!!

In Poyer's book he says it is Luan (Philippine mahogany) which is not a true mahogany, but in the palm family of trees. It also said other types of wood were used, pretty much what was available at the time. Most are junk IMHO. I chucked mine and put it in a USGI surplus stock.

Poyer is incorrect on the type of wood used on Chinese M14 stocks. It is not Luan although one could easily make that mistake. On Keng's and Century imported Chinese M14 rifles the wood is chu. Chu wood is found only in Manchuria (northern China). TEA is correct, it is softer than American black walnut. The wood on CJA/IDE imported Chinese M14 rifles is walnut harvested from a forest in Yunnan Province located in southwest China (near Viet Nam). I interviewed Other Source # 12 to obtain this and other answers to vexing questions on the Chinese M14. He and Ron Smith (Smith Enterprise) are the foremost English speaking authorities on the Chinese M14 rifle. Other Source # 12 does not wish to be identified but trust me, you don't know how much we M14 fans owe him. See complete details in the FREE online book M14 Rifle History and Development at www.imageseek.com/m1a This book will also be available in print in 2005 or I will die in the attempt to make it so. :lol:

But Different, why do they smell so bad? I had a Chinese M14 type rifle several years ago. I put it in a new stock and it worked okay, had some problems and I traded it but the old stock ended up in the back of the shop. Pulled it out because of this thread and it still stinks. Frankly, and I am no expert, this looks/smells like pallet wood to me...

Why does chu wood smell bad? I don't know. Perhaps the State Arsenal 356 (where all Chinese M14 rifles are made) dipped the wood into some nasty smelling wood preservative. I'm sure it's not the same stuff surfers wax their surfboards with. :lol:

Thanks for weighing in on this, guys! I know it doesn't seem important to many, but besides the roughout work inside my IDE Polytech, I didn't find much to dislike about the factory stock.

I wish I would have bought more for the $350.00 I paid for it in 1991.

Of course I wish I would have bought more mags when they were cheap, and other GI parts...who'd have thought that these things would go up so quickly in value, or that the M14 would have such a resurgence in popularity!

And if wishes were fishes we'd all have a fry.