At the NRA show one of the dealers had a Victory with a 4 in barrel. The grips looked like it was used to drive nails, a bit rough, but the metal was brand new parkerizing, it was the kind of parkerizing I have seen on the new Auto-Ordanence 45's.
The dealer claimed it was a factory refinish job and was asking $700 for the gun.

I am new to collecting but I was extremely leary of the refinish job, while beautiful, was it factory or not? Also the price seemed really high for a refinished gun.

He claimed to have sold a beatup Victory for $800 earlier in the show and this was a steal, and said he sold a USN Victory for $900 earier in the day.

It seemed like a come on to me, and $700 seemed high.

What should I look for to ID a factory refinish (I read in the S&W book they don't do them anymore) and how do I tell if it is factory or not and what does it do to the price?

Ask him "Whose factory?"

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

If I have the slightest doubt about anything I am looking to buy whether it be a gun or something else, I don't buy it. I learned that the hard way.

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Dom

The price was very high, especially with a refinish and damaged grips. Many gun dealers aren't far from used car dealers in their ethics and sales techniques. Be guided accordingly.

S&W used to say that they would not refinish M-28's and Victory models in other than their original finishes. So, if you see a Victory in bright blue, be very suspicious of a "factory refinish."

But I'd suspect the one that you saw, anyway.

T-Star

Price is way to high. it's worth $250, $300 if the grips number to the gun at the most.

popgun

Thanks that is what I thought. It was at the Springfield MA show and was sitting there and with all the SWCS people there if it was a good buy it would have been gone.