How do you stock this many rifles???

I got production numbers for the the following rifles with the estimated production period:

M1 Garand- 5 million (WW2-Korea)
Mauser '98 9 million (WW1-2)
Lee Enfield 303- 17 million (WW1-2)
M1903 30-06- 3 million (WW1-2)
Mosin Nagant- 37 million (!!!1891-1963)

So the questions (maybe more after this):
1. Were all these stocked using walnut?
2. What/where were the chief sources?
3. How had the period 1890-1950 affected the supply of walnut around the world?

 

The USA is vast. The government had buyer sourcing walnut trees all over. Farms, parks and forests. It was a good source of income for some farmers who were paid well for this resource. I would say it probably did not put much of a dent in the availability. American mid west being the prime source of hard wood forests.

 

As far as I can tell (and I wait to be corrected) Lee Enfields were also made with Birch

Admittedly I found this out from modern companies offering replacement stocks in walnut or birch...

 

When you think about all the buildings, furniture, boats, artwork, etc. made with wood, even those numbers of rifle stocks might not be that much. And of course in wartime weapons would have priority.

When I first saw “stocks” in the title, I thought it meant where would you store such stocks of rifles

p.s. I’ve read that some of those poor Russians in Ukraine were going into battle with Moisin-Nagants. Apparently they did find a place to stock them.

 

Thanks for the reply, guys. Too many gun writers nowadays talk about walnut as "never that plentiful." They were probably commissioned to say that by the stock makers to drive prices higher.

 

Most barns in Illinois and Iowa and Missouri had walnut beams in their construction. Most have been hunted down and recycled into new products. Remember that there were many old growth forests as the country expanded westward, plenty of hardwood out there, not what you would call scarce.

 

“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”
Greek Proverb

 

Germany made stocks out of laminated wood (Pine, I think). It was stronger and more stable (no warping) than straight walnut.

 

Blanchard lathe to churn out hundreds of stock blanks. Harper's Ferry and Springfield Armory each have them. The ones at Ruger are CNC and take about 5 or 6 wood stock blanks at a time. One employee puts the wood in and removes the stocks.

 

Wasn't that an expedient measure and not because of any desire for strength or greater accuracy.

 

Yes to both. The laminate stocks were certainly more expedient, but they were also stronger and resisted warping better than single-piece walnut stocks.

 

Is that essentially similar to plywood?

 

In a sense it is made like plywood but uses mulitple layers of thin wood and a lot more resin. It is more durable and less susceptible to warping or humidity like walnut, birch or other stock woods.