I can't imagine why someone would do this to a sweet little box? The paint is so thick, it looks like wood texture. It came with my newest Terrier, and looks to be the original box. Friends don't let friends do this! An abomination! Oh, the horror!

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Wish somebody had done that to my Steyr GB boxes. They are notoriously fragile and could do with a double coat of Hammerite to help hold them together. Maybe a coat or two on the inside, at least.

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Release the Kraken

Confession time...

Y'all ain't gonna believe this but it be true.

Back in the day I worked in our department's armory. When new pistols were acquired, we immediately engraved our control number on the frame AND THREW THE BOX IN THE TRASH.

If the revolver was to get Goodyears, the magnas WENT INTO THE TRASH TOO.

I shot on our pistol team and I ordered myself a new nickel, model 19, 6 inch (circa 1988). When it arrived, I opened the box, took out the beauty and threw that box in the trash. I took off the target grips and was about to toss them but they had a lottery winning grain. "I'm gonna stick these back." I told my bud. "Why? They're a-dime-a-dozen!" he replied.

Those Smiths were wonderful pistols but the workhorse of their day. And treated as such.

,

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Death? Smile back...

It could look like this.........

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Colt Police Positive Box.jpg (138.5 KB, 105 views)

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

AAARRGH!!...My eyes!...Quick, somebody poke a sharp stick in my face to take the pain away!......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

That's too bad! I don't think that there's any way that you could remove that paint without damaging the cardboard/paper finish underneath. A paper conservator might be able to restore it, but the price would be prohibitive. Perhaps a water-based paint stripper carefully applied...but that would be a big risk. It may be hard to stomach, but it may best to leave it alone and live with it.

If you believe what you have is a never shoot collectible, find a new box and have an expert swap labels.

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Front sight and squeeze

I like the painted box..

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My Daddy was a pistol..

first world problems, fer sure......

Barbarians!! At least we took our boxes, filled them with the wax paper, brochures, etc., set them on fire and floated them out in the pond while we took target practice and sank them.

We relish the days of old. It's a thrill to see our guns the way they shipped back then. But they were tools; workhorses. Boxes and other stuff went into the trash.

There's a new microwave in the kitchen; the box went into recycling. I bought new foglights for my truck. The box vanished. It may be that some microwave or foglight collector in the future will scorn my actions. Yet, I can't imagine saving all the boxes stuff came in. Except for guns, that is. I confess to saving every gun box and contents that ever crossed my path. It's a sickness.

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That was the default practice. Almost every serious shooter replaced the grips on duty revolvers with something that worked better. I too pitched many a box and original grips. The collector mindset was and is about as foreign to me as speaking an ancient language. I do wish I had kept the OEM PC Magnas from my M58, but admittedly only to sell to someone who values them. That revolver has had pachmyer grips since at least 1980. It was my first duty weapon, and set up for such.

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NHI, 10-8.

The original owner probably intended the box for semi-permanent storage, and the thick paint would protect the contents and also make it stronger. The worry of 70 years later for us collectors was probably not on his mind.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

The primary reason that boxes for old guns are valuable is that so many people threw them away. If everyone saved them they would be of little value. As for the OP's box, it isn't ever going to be 'original' again, but at least it is still with the gun. I would learn to live with it, and if for some strange reason I couldn't, I would sell it.
To move the topic forward, please show us your new Terrier. There are a lot of us that like to see Terriers.

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NRA Endowment Member

Let me preface this by saying that:

1. None of my 30+ guns is a "collector." I buy stuff to shoot, fill a niche, etc...

2. I hate clutter.

OK, now thats out of the way...

When I buy a gun I take it home, save the manual, do the warranty and the box goes in the trash. I have absolutely no use for boxes. I bought a Marlin 45-70 from a guy at the gun club. We haggled a bit and he kept saying "but it has the box and papers for the gun and the box for the scope." I said I should pay less cuz thats more stuff I have to dispose of.

I totally get saving the box if it is a collector gun.

Maybe not in our lifetimes, but at some point in time it will be a collector's piece..........Just saying.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Go to the 1896 to 1961 forum and there's a thread "Terrier and MP .38"

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I kind of like the box; it is a chapter in the gun’s story.

Original boxes from that era aren’t *common*, but they’re attainable. This box, on the other hand, is unique.

One man's trash is another man's treasurer. One day I was in a local gun shop for some reason and when I was leaving I saw a big bin full of branded pistol boxes. One of the employees told me that some customers would buy a handgun and throw away the factory box on the way out the door. Being that I save everything from a gun acquisition I just couldn't bear the idea of all those orphaned pistol boxes, so I made a deal with the store and bought the whole bin full. My brother and I were going to get a table at a gun show, and I sold a bunch of the boxes. I remember one fellow was really happy to get the box for a Firestar pistol. I was glad to see that a bunch of those boxes got re-homed.

WHO would even think to paint a gun box??!!

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Which will not be of any importance to us.

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NHI, 10-8.