*Update!
Well, I think I'm almost there. The forend was stained with just 2 50% thinned coats of Birchwood Casey Walnut Stain. In the above pic, you can see that it was pretty dark already.
The pistol grip was both lighter, and less red, so I gave it 3 full strength coats of a half & half mix of the above mentioned walnut, and Birchwood Casey Rusty Walnut Stain. I think they're pretty close. The difference won't be noticeable once they're installed.
Both got 6 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. Did the first 2 coats very thin, then flat-sanded and steel wooled it between the last 4. I opted not to wet sand the Tru-Oil to fill the pores and hairline natural cracks in the wood. As mentioned above, I'm aiming for a well-used finish on the entire weapon, so leaving the character of the wood and the patina from use was important. The largest of which is is a 2" long scar about ⅓ of the way down the forend. You can see it in the below picture.
Marks like that are 1, difficult to replicate, and 2, nearly impossible to sand out of such an intricate pattern as a corncob forend. The more you sand, the wider the flats look, and the narrower the grooves look. So, I decided to incorporate it into the theme of the weapon, (well-loved but beat up a lil bit).
The gloss showing in the pic will be knocked back to a semi-gloss with Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen and Conditioner. This leaves a semi-gloss sheen to it.
I have to wait a week for all of it to cure, so I'm done for now. The end result will hopefully resembled an old reddish walnut stock from a well-used and well-loved, favorite weapon. This *should match well with Mossberg's Satin Blued Finish, and it's ability to attract dings, dents, scratches, while wearing down quickly on action bars and magazine tube.
