The advent of WWII brought with it major advancements in small arms design, and set the foundation that would become common requirements of the modern battle rifle. Auto-loading and magazine fed quickly replaced the bolt-actions of the day, and by the 1960’s wood stocks had been replaced with polymers in the majority of modern military rifles (the AK47 and M14 notwithstanding.)
The introduction of weather resistant materials in stocks, grips, and fore ends was for good reason – wood is not as durable and often suffers from swelling and contraction as a response to humidity. Military rifles that incorporated wood stocks often had multiple coats (03 Springfields had 20!) of boiled linseed oil [Term corrected from “lacquer”] applied in an attempt to negate the swelling issue; a tactic which worked reasonably well.
For decades after WWII Americans collected and fired military rifles, many acquired through the government’s Civilian Marksmanship Program (until 1996.) 10’s of thousands of surplus Springfield, Garand, Enfield, and .30-Carbine rifles were sold to citizens from the 50’s to the early 90’s, leaving little demand for new production.
However, to keep up with demand as the supplies of vintage rifles began to dry up, companies began offering reproductions of the most common. Presently, Inland Manufacturing, Fulton Armory and Kahr Arms (under the Auto Ordnance name) all manufacture quality .30-Carbine rifles which are quite popular with our students.