For the stock, I’ve always been a big fan of rubbed oil. If you do it right, it’s a great finish, good for the wood, and good for a hunting gun vs. 1/8" thick high gloss. It’s just a very warm finish and if you get it sealed right and the pores filled with dust, it is smooth as silk and weatherproof for life.
As far as free floating, it’s a tough call. 1.5 inches at 100 yards is pretty good for a hunting rifle. If you aren’t planning on competitive shooting, or long range hunting (300+ yards), I wouldn’t bother. Everyone wants a 1 inch group at most, but I know very few people who can come close to shooting one, even with rifles that can do it in a bench vise. I’ve always been more of a fan of glass bedding myself. Free floating can be an improvement, but it can also be a bad thing. If you do decide on trying free floating, I would do it before you did anything else, then test fire it with the same ammo you’ve been using. If it gets worse, you can at least glass bed it back. Don’t refinish it first only to find out that you have to do more woodwork.
For recoil pads, generally you just cut down the same amount to leave the stock the same length, mount the pad and grind it down to contour. If you like the way the rifle feels and you shoot it well, leave it. If you think it is too long, take a bit here and there and try it out. When you get to what you think feels good, take the length of the pad off. Personally, I think it is worth the very little cost to have a gunsmith do it over the effort, but since you are going to be refinishing and all else, why not? Just remember, once you cut, it’s gone. You’ll wind up having to shim, and while it can be done in an attractive manner, it’s a pain.
For blueing, I’ve tried a bunch of cold blueing solutions over the years, and while they work okay for an entire piece, you aren’t going to match the original blueing. From experience, it is well worth some bucks to have a gunsmith hot blue it if you have one around with the equipment to do it. Not many do these days because of EPA crap though. Cold blueing will work in a pinch and is pretty idiot proof, but a good hot blueing is gorgeous. You have a nice rifle. A nice rifle is like a good woman. Naked or in a burlap sack, they are beautiful. But dress them the way they want to be dressed, and dayyyummmmmmmm. (No offense to any girls).
That said, a personalized rifle can be a wonderful thing. Quick story: When I was 16, I bought a Savage 99 in the (at the time) new .375 “Big Bore” at a great price. I didn’t like lever actions in general, this proved to be no different, and traded my dad for a lever action 30-06 with a name we had never heard of that he had just bought from some old-timer for $100. It was pretty as hell, but had a really long stock and a 28 inch barrel. In my neck of the woods, it was very impractical. It was like walking through the bush with a 10 foot ladder. I immediately cut 4 inches off the ridiculously styled stock, mounted a Pachmyer white line pad, and cut 8 inches off the barrel. A year later, looking through a gun digest, I found I had basically destroyed an $1800 Winslow. And I would do it again. I can walk with this rifle through woods. Eventually, I glass bedded it, which improved the accuracy a bit, stripped it, pulled the garish inlays out of it and wood burned my own “floral checkering ala Weatherby” into it, and refinished it. I wouldn’t sell it for 5 grand now. It was once a display piece. Now it is a hunting rifle. I still need to get it re-blued though, and might do some jewelling on it.
