While I applaud your consideration of both Turnbull and the factory for a restoration, neither firm will work on your gun. I've heard so many different reasons/excuses for Turnbull's withdrawal from the market, I've decided to distill them down to "just 'cause". The factory's withdrawal likely comes from a combination of orientation (self), and the presence of too many lawyers (of the 1-800 BAD GUNS variety (ilk)) we see on TV commercials suggesting instant wealth for the downtrodden, and otherwise abused segment of our society.
As to a suitable substitute, Fords comes quickly to mind.
The value before and after, I'll leave to those more familiar with the current marketplace---except to say the after value will be considerably less than the cost to get there----------but it'll be pretty.
I, like many others here, have considered restoration of "neat old guns" more than once. Most of us, especially those of a more practical bent, have decided a more appropriate route is to spend our money on the very best original example we can find----and to not get into a big steaming rush to find it. An entirely acceptable alternative seems to be to muster up the courage to do the work ourselves. The results are often merely excellent----surprisingly so. I suspect the learning process takes a good deal longer than the doing process.
Ralph Tremaine
There is a fairly recent thread here treating with the "do it yourself restoration" of a K-22 (??). It involved the "rust bluing" process, which from the standpoint of my limited knowledge, would seem to be the only game in town for a top quality bluing job without the investment in equipment required for a more "modern" (but inferior) treatment. Someone may be able to help find it for you, and I'll suggest it's worthwhile not only because of the very impressive results achieved; but for a thorough treatment of that required to achieve those results.
Last edited by rct269; 05-05-2018 at 11:01 AM.
|