Thats right...keep in mind that the pic I posted was not of my rifle. It was one that was for sale on Guns America a while back. If you can't see the stock in person, it's always like rolling the dice. One thing for sure , the maple is definitely lighter in color than walnut.
Light colored gunstocks are not popular. It could be because most light colored gunstocks you might encounter are refinish jobs done on less expensive rifles with beech or other grainless, light-colored wood that the factory originally stained in walnut color, but the owner sanded if off and slapped on a coat or two of thick, heavy varnish, often with an amber or yellowish cast.
A real classic in this genre would have little spikes and rough spots all over, because the owner forgot or didn't know to wipe off the sawdust from sanding, before gooping on the porch 'n floor varnish.
An old friend once had an H&R Topper black powder rifle in .58 caliber that was refinished that way... At first he was going to either paint or re-stain the rifle's stock but we shot it too much, and had too much fun with it as it was. After a while, the refinish job ended up on the back-burner. - The light stock became part of the rifle's character, which is another way of saying that my friend and I got used to it, I guess.
A gunstock made of nice hard maple though, with some figure to it is another matter altogether. - It might look unusual from a distance, but when you get up closer it's not bad at all! Some of them are really outstanding.
I don't know much about maple as a wood for riflestocks, except that it was utilized for some of the more beautiful Pennsylvania rifles, a few hundred years back. Since I don't know much about how it behaves, I'll play it safe and be sure the whole stock is sealed when I bed the action, whether I decide to refinish the gun or not. I don't really plan on having the rifle out in the rain, but you never know.
I'm a farmer, and this is to be a walk-around varmint/plinking rifle. Not too heavy, pretty to look at and fun to shoot. Right now I'm using a Marlin 1894cl in 32-20 for this. The Marlin is a great little rifle, but I'd like something with more velocity, a scope, less ricochet, and something that is less finicky to reload... ( I would add 'more accurate', but the little 32-20 I have is a tack-driver, hard to miss with. )
They don't offer the CZ 527 Varmint in .221 fireball or .222 Remington, so I'm going for the .223 version.
I'm looking forward to ordering the rifle. The CZ rifles my local dealer has in stock are impressive, they look really good.
