Refinished by remington

[Brett Souder]

Is a parker that was built in 1926 that was sent to Remington in 1941 to get refurbished considered original condition?

[Brian Dudley]

Kinda sorta. If the gun is quality work that is in line with factory appearance and there is documented support that it was done by Remington, then that helps a lot in calling the gun original or not. It is not technically original, but it is the next best thing.

[Bill Murphy]

If the high finish resembles Remington work, and the repair code stampings are there, the gun is considered very nice and valuable. I would be very interested in a Remington refinished gun with markings, if the gun were otherwise nice.

[Brett Souder]

Brian and Bill, thank you for your reply. That seams to be an area that I could not get an answer on looking into previous discussions about original condition compared to refurbished condition. The first thing that stands out to me is the case coloring is not bone charcoal on Remington era guns.

[greg conomos]

I'd consider a 1926 gun reworked by Remington in 1941 to be 'OEM' if not exactly original. I'd also consider it a lot more OEM than a gun built in 1884 that was sent back in 1941.

[Jay Gardner]

Interesting question especially if the refinish can be documented. Humm... Clearly not "original" as is normally defined or a prospective buyer would expect but definitely not your average restored gun either.

[Ray Masciarella]

It can only be original once but who cares if it is a nice gun. Not sure it would really affect value. I think some collectors would care. I have some friends that are Colt collectors and they make a distinction between original and factory repair/refinish and I think it affects value. But Colts aren't Parkers and it seems to me that collector attitudes aren't different between the two groups

[edgarspencer]

Would you be upset if someone sold you a gun, and told you it was original, but you later found out it was redone by Remington? I would.

To me, there is simply one definition of 'Original'. That mean's it is in the condition it was in when it left the factory when it was new, and not brought back to look like the condition it was in when it left the factory.

If you held up an as-new Meriden Parker to an as-new Remington Parker there would be even less argument.

[Rich Anderson]

Originality IMHO is a one time thing.

[Bill Murphy]

In my post, I described a Remington redone gun with code stamps as "very interesting and valuable". That's a long way from "original".

[Dean Romig]

Documented factory done repairs and refinishes keep a gun's value well above comparable non-factory work, especially if the gun's condition is greatly improved by the factory work.

[Bill Murphy]

My favorite "not quite original" Parker with Remington repair codes is a high condition 29" Titanic barrel DH Grade 12 gauge with cyanide colors. The seller didn't know the barrel length, according to his answer to that question. The gun turned out to be an original 29" gun, sold cheap.

[Brett Souder]

When you say "documented", are you referring to a receipt for the work performed by Remington? Thanks for all the replies.

[Dean Romig]

If a receipt were available that would be the perfect documentation. Remington kept no records on exactly what was done to a gun as far as we know. All we are aware of in the way of records are the IBM cards produced when the guns were made and they tell very little.

[Jeff Christie]

Angels on pinheads. Who cares?

[Dean Romig]

Some of us do Jeff - or at least we find it an interesting topic.

[Sam Ogle]

A bit off the subject: A lady friend has an old Remington Hammer 12 gauge gun in nice condition. It has been in the family since new. A letter from the Remington Arms "Historian" dated 1974 was very disappointing in that it gave very little information about the gun, and was primarily devoted to telling the owner not to shoot Damascus or Twist barrels, as they could blow up. (This gun has STEEL barrels; one could only wish it were damascus.)

[William Davis]

I have a S&W M 1905 Target 1911 production. I believe it was refinished by S&W, serial number has a star stamped beside it, considered by most collectors to be a mark of factory refurbishment work. Other than the star no documentation of the re-work exist.

Bought it for about a third of what the same revolver would have sold for with the original finish in the same high condition. My opinion Re-finished even by the factory makes a difference not only how much a gun sells for how long it sits for sale too. This gun was on the market for some time before I bought it.

It's a nice shooting vintage target revolver fact that it's been refinished makes no difference to me at all, however did not pay factory original finish price for it either. Selling it may bring a little premium over a non factory re-blue, not much.

William

[Brett Souder]

Now I never thought much about other firearms having been refinished. So reading the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson Written by Jim Supica, the section on Factory refinish he says that the star mark after the serial number means that the gun was sent in for rework of some kind and that a gun that has been sent in for refinish will bring a price somewhere between original finish and non-factory finish.
So if i understand it right. I believe that a gun that was sent back to Remington for refinishing, could be worth as much as a non refinished gun to a certain group of buyers if the quality and condition of the work is as well executed?

[William Davis]

Using the S&W analogy, I believe there is a diminishing pool of S&W Revolver Collectors, and as the pool gets smaller collectors remaining are more careful about what they buy. This makes the re-blues, even if very good factory re-blues slow sellers. Not a lot of shooting activity with old Revolvers to push up demand.


Shotgun shooters seem to be less concerned about alterations and finish upgrades. S&W equation may not be relevant on a Parker. In the end suppy and demand sets the price no matter what the alteration. If I was looking at a well done re-finish on a gun that suited me otherwise would not consider it a negative.


William

[Dean Romig]

Shotgun shooters seem to be less concerned about alterations and finish upgrades.
William

I won't argue with that concept. I will however say that shotgun collectors are quite concerned with alterations and and refinishes.

[William Davis]

True, seems to me Parkers have a strong shooter and collector following, either one would look at a particular gun in a different way.

William