Here in Finland birch has quite often used for gunstocks. I have seen some old Husqvarna stocks but none of them has been made of birch. Light colouded walnut is quite normal. And I have to say that most of the ordinary riflemen in scandinavia do not know different woods well enough.

If you NZHunter could send here some bigger fotos I could without doubt say if this stock is birch or not.