Minwax Dark Mahogany Stain
Boiled linseed oil, from lowes. Comes in blue rectangular metal cans.
~1" foam brush
Take off all the wood, remove all the metal retainers if you want. I left the upper on the gas tube and it did fine. I did remove the buttplate and sling loop from the stock.
Sand - I did 400 grit. You probably could graduate starting with 100 to get any big scratches out. My stock is super smooth.
Apply stain liberally with a foam brush and let it sit a few hours. I put my stock in a vice to keep the visible part of the stock from touching anything and set my handguards so nothing was touching what I stained. I only stained the parts of the handguards that would be visible when attached to the rifle, so if I want, I can still see the original color of the wood. Wipe clean with old t-shirt. Repeat until desired darkness has been achieved. after you wipe it down real good, let it sit a day to soak in any excess stain. Wipe it down thoroughly until a minimal amount of stain comes out on your white t-shirt/cloth. I then applied a few coats of linseed oil and it really makes it look, feel, and smell good. It will be a little tacky after all this, but after a few weeks it soaks in and feels really nice.
Not sure if this is the best way, but it was the simplest and most straightforward for me, having never done this before.
Before and after. Click to go Full Size. use bayonet as a comparative baseline.
