Opinions Whether to Re-blue or Not to Re-blue?

[Rhetorician]

Friends of the SW Board,

I have a question that has been a concern of mine?

First a quote from my letter from Mr. Roy Jinks:

"The revolver you inquired about is the .38 Military and Police. . . 1905 Fourth Change. . . . This modification occurred in 1915 and was produced until 1942 with a total of 758,297 revolvers" made. My purchase has the 5" barrel. It was "shipped from our factory on March 19, 1924 and delivered to Stauffer-Eshleman & Co., New Orleans, LA. The records indicate that this revolver was shipped with a . . . blue finish, and checkered walnut square butt grips."

It is a "shooter quality" with some pits and such as you might expect. I don't do "downloads" very well but you can imagine the pictures. I only gave $200 for it from my local pawn emporium. By-the-by, it shoots better than I do! Great fun range gun for sure.

Now the question: Please let me know opinions "good, bad, or ugly" as to the re-bluing and / or refinishing of it or not? Where can I go to have it done? What will it cost?

Or is is better to just keep it a shooter and antique with the patina as is? I watch a lot of the car auctions, and many times a survivor with the natural patina will be worth more than an antique that is restored.

Opinions invited?

Thanks ahead of time.

rd

 

[bamabiker]

Most of us around here are against refinishing. It's a shooter, enjoy as one.

 

[Modified]

Just keep it as is. The only reason to reblue an old gun is if you are doing other things to it also. You never recoup the cost and a modern reblue removes basically all collector value to most guns.

If a modern shop could duplicate a pre-war, era appropriate reblue I think it might be a different matter, but as close as any shop comes it's not the same (even though some shops can do a really nice job).

If you really like the gun and want it to be all shiny and good looking you would do better to just buy a second gun that is in high condition.

 

[1blindref]

Leave it as is and buy ammo with the money you save by not re-bluing it.

 

[clang444]

It will cost you somewhere around $200 for re-blue and be worth $200 when you are done.

 

[Bill Bates]

It is your M&P so do with it what you want. A good refinish won't make it shoot one bit better.

Something to consider is the cost of refinishing. Figure somewhere in the $250-300 range to have it done. If you go down that road you will be in it $500 or so dollars and have re finished $300-400 M&P.

If you parted with for what you paid for(you might be able to even do a bit better) put that same $300 dollars you were going to spend you could by a fairly decent M&P in original condition.

Myself, I would shoot it and leave it be but again it is your gun do what makes you happy. When it comes right down to it $500 over the life a that gun is just a few dollars a year for tons of fun.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

It is not collectible now and won't be after it is refinished. So, the decision is do you want to put money into it to make it prettier. You have $200 in it and a reblue will cost about $200. In a local sale to a non-collector, you might get between $300-400 for it. If you have it nickeled for about $300 you might get more. If you are just concerned about the corrosion resistance, have it Parkerized...or do it yourself. MidwayUSA sells a kit with DVD instructions for about $60. As ^Bill says, it's your gun...do what you want.

 

[BC38]

Personally, I'd probably just shoot it. But I kind of like Wiregrassguy's suggestion of a home Parkerizing job too. For $60 and a little of your time an ugly old M&P could easily be made to look like a pretty nice victory model.

Sure, the non-original finish would kill any collector value, but as others have said $200 M&P doesn't have much collectability to start with, and a nice Parkerizing might actually raise its value to $300-$400 as a shooter.

I know I'd be more likely give $300+ for a shooter with a nice looking Parkerized finish than to pay $200 for one that doesn't look so good.

 

[Arik]

I'm not so much against refinishing it. To me its purely economics. Spending the money to refinish it will not raise it's value much if any and that same money can be spent on ammo

 

[amazingflapjack]

Hard to opine with no pics.

 

[DWalt]

If you value its cosmetic appearance enough for you to pay the cost of a re-blue job cost ($200-$300 and up), and can easily afford it, then re-blue it. But re-bluing will not increase its value to a collector, and in fact, most serious collectors will have no interest in a re-blued gun. Note that S&W will not re-blue it for you - too old. From an economic perspective, re-bluing is almost always a losing proposition.

 

[roaddog28]

I have almost the same revolver as yours, with the only difference being mine is a 4 inch and shipped around 1923. This revolver is strictly a shooter grade with no finish and not the original grips. Value is $100 to $150. Smith and Wesson will re-blue the revolver for around $350. So I could spend the $350 and still have a revolver worth around $200. I agree with others that you should enjoy shooting your revolver and forget re-refinishing. Even a original finish pristine example with box and tools only brings $400 tops. Remember these are not rare revolvers. S&W made thousands of them.
Enjoy shooting your revolver.
Good luck.

 

[Rhetorician]

Rhet's Come Back

Friends of the SW Board,

I have a question that has been a concern of mine?

First a quote from my letter from Mr. Roy Jinks:

"The revolver you inquired about is the .38 Military and Police. . . 1905 Fourth Change. . . . This modification occurred in 1915 and was produced until 1942 with a total of 758,297 revolvers" made. My purchase has the 5" barrel. It was "shipped from our factory on March 19, 1924 and delivered to Stauffer-Eshleman & Co., New Orleans, LA. The records indicate that this revolver was shipped with a . . . blue finish, and checkered walnut square butt grips."

It is a "shooter quality" with some pits and such as you might expect. I don't do "downloads" very well but you can imagine the pictures. I only gave $200 for it from my local pawn emporium. By-the-by, it shoots better than I do! Great fun range gun for sure.

Now the question: Please let me know opinions "good, bad, or ugly" as to the re-bluing and / or refinishing of it or not? Where can I go to have it done? What will it cost?

Or is is better to just keep it a shooter and antique with the patina as is? I watch a lot of the car auctions, and many times a survivor with the natural patina will be worth more than an antique that is restored.

Opinions invited?

Thanks ahead of time.

rd

Thanks all for the opinions. Sometimes just finding, having, shooting, and owning a Smith and Wesson is enough in itself!!

True?

rd

 

[gwpercle]

If you do decide to reblue, have a quality job done by a company who knows what they are doing.
A poor buffing and poor reblue job will make you cry....The poor jobs I have seen were worse than the old patina, dished out screw holes and obliterated lettering were just horrible.
Gary

 

[JSW]

As a general rule I'm against rebluing any gun that has some of the original finish left. If you refinish you will be losing money on the gun so you better make sure you really like it and want to keep it.