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Unread 01-07-2010, 07:05 PM   #11
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Jim,

My personal opinion, for whatever it's worth, is that this gun is looks like exactly what it is. It looks its age and has earned its stripes. Aside from cleaning, oiling the metal and waxing the wood anything you do to it, like refinishing the stock, repointing the checking, etc. will just throw the whole appearance thing out of whack. I recommend conservation rather than remediation. Since there is nothing broken, it is unlikely that what you spend to remediate will increase its value.

For a complete refinishing you could spend $3 to $4,000 and you would end up with a spiffy looking gun that is worth little (or no) more than what it is now. I found this out for myself.

I have a 16 ga. VHE that is in very similar condition to your 20. It will not receive any "reconditioning" as long as I have it. I'm proud to carry it into the field and the doves are just as dead when I do my part.

Good luck,
Carl.
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