Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Hill
Is any restoration acceptable (i.e., barrels reblued correctly or stock refinish) for adding value to the gun? A lot of people stay away from recase coloring the action.
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Some things are maintenance more than "restoration". If the bluing is so worn that it is going to easily rust without contact oil application, then it is time to re-blue them as a form of maintenance. The same can be said about stock finish.
However, if the gun is so worn to where it actually needs these things, then it was not a high value collectors piece anyway. In these cases, the value is increases by performing these maintenance/restorative operations.
There is absolutely no reason to have to do any restoration work to a true 75-80% or better gun.
Fixing a buggard screw or something is one thing. But finish restoration is another.
Any gun truly NEEDING (say... 40% condition or less) restoration is of course going to be worth more restored than it was before. But not as much as an original gun in that same (post-restored) condition.
I tell people all the time, that very few guns are actually "worth" fully restoring from a monetary gain standpoint. You do it because you want to do it. Period. If financial gain can be had in some occasions, great.
And of course, any talk of restoration that I mention is assuming the work is top notch and completely correct. Anything less is not even worth discussing because it does de-value the gun.