Here is the thing. If you want your gun to be perfect so it can sit in a glass case and you can admire it, you'll be ogling a fraud. And others won't respect or admire it because they'll think of it as a fraud or fake as well. The previous value, taking into consideration condition, will be even more diminished as far as most are concerned.
If you want it to look nice when you take it to the range, you'll worry every minute about putting that first scratch on it. Cleaning it after some range time will be torturously slow and painstaking. You'll never be able to put it in the hand of a neophyte and let them shoot a piece of history. That history will be lost on a polishing belt and chemical bath. Besides, you'll be worrying about wear.
These classic firearms are classics because they've stood the test of time, not because they've avoided it. If it truly was a NIB gun then stash it away if you must, but it sounds like your gun has been used and enjoyed. If it's a money thing sell it and regroup your money. If not, shoot it and enjoy it and care for it so it can be passed on. But please, not as a fraud.
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Last edited by retiredbadge8091; 03-26-2017 at 03:31 PM.
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