Bill, with regards to the gun you said should not have been restored, can you tell us why you feel that way? What attributes did the gun have warranting no restoration? Thx, Ray

My 2 cents is when you decide to restore a gun and after you waited a year or more to get it back -- is to shoot the snot out of it. A lot of times the gun comes back and it's "too pretty" to take to the field and it gets put away un-used in the safe and is treated as eye candy...

I shoot all my restored guns and I have the normal wear from handling and marks in the stock from me using them to pass down to the next.

Well said Frank....and I second that !!

ddp

If your not going to use it then why restore it is my feelings. That use puts back some well earned patina and takes the edge off the "newness".

Example of a 'Restoration' gone Horribly wrong
 

Poor woman went in for a 'Butt Lift'.

Edger if I were you I would get out of town and go hunting.

Thanks Edgar, I can't stop laughing every time I bring it back on my screen. It's like a horrible accident on the highway, you just have to look.

Edgar you can't buy RST shells at Wallmart:nono: so you can stop going there.

So many good points here, but none more so than evaluating each individual gun on it's own merits. A good rule of thumb might be restore if it adds value (but dont expect the increased value to be equal to the cost of the restoration and gun itself). Do not restore a gun if it will decrease the value.

I don't see much harm in bringing a tired and or broken G, P, V or even Trojan back to life and use.

I find the process of bringing back a tired gun that I enjoy shooting is fun, I am like a kid at Christmas waiting for a set of barrels to come back from refinishing or a stock rechecked or screws fixed. There is satisfaction for me in the process and enjoyment to follow. Not every dollar spent on a good shotgun I like has to bring a $ plus back to have fun, not for me anyway.

I'm right there with you Pete. I just sent two sets of barrels to Dale Edmonds for refinishing. One set is for a grade 2 16ga hammergun and when i get these back they will determine if I have the stock refinished as well, the other set are 32 inchers and that gun also a grade 2 but hammerless 16 O frame has had some TLC already.