Before I did this I looked around the web and found almost no pictures of someone who had used a green stain on a solid wood stock and had it come out well. Plenty of green laminates out there but that wasn't the look I wanted. I inherited a never used model 11 in .243 and didn't really take to the gun (probably because the bolt is lefty and I'm not) so I decided to put some love into it and see if I still didn't like it. My dislikes with the gun were the trigger pull and the cheap piece of wood they call a stock. I adjusted the trigger to a somewhat acceptable pull (still needs a trigger job though) and jumped into the cheap finish on the stock. I'm a carpenter so I work with wood a lot but even if you aren't adept at woodwork you can pull this off pretty easy. The only tools I used in doing this were sand paper, terry cloth, air sprayer and compressor. If you don't have a compressor you can put on the urethane by hand but thin it first and let it cure 100% between coats. They even sell rattle cans of urethane that would work.

Steps:

I sanded the stock all the way out with 120 and 150 until I was looking at white beech everywhere no blotchy spots or finger prints (wear latex gloves why you are sanding as your skin oil is counter productive to what you are trying to do)

When I had it complete, I evenly and lightly roughed the whole surface with 120 grit

If you are using a colored stain wipe it on and be sure to wipe it off within a minute or two at the most. Never allow the colored stain to dry on the stock because the colorant will set up on top of the pores and look like paint and you will just have to sand it back out. If you want it darker just take your time and re apply the stain a few times.

After the stain I just used some straws from a corn broom and some green camo paint to put a little paint over the grip areas. I had planned to match the stock paint to action paint but it looked so good letting the green stain show through the camo paint I had to stop there.

Then I hung it by the sling mounts from the ceiling and sprayed about 10 coats of water thinned urethane over it. (It's currently hung back in the garage on its way to 20 coats which is usually around where I stop.)

Taped the action and scope and did a quick 2 color camo although Im sure to add at least one more green to the color scheme soon.

Bolt it back together and bobs your uncle.