Does refinishing or rebluing a revolver lessen its value? I have a model 15-2 I recently acquired and was thinking about sending it back to S&W to have it reblued.
Refinishing/rebluing a gun
- Thread starter smokycity
- Start date
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Yes it lessens it's value and the bluing now is not the same.
Unless the finish is incredibly bad and you are doing it solely for your own
enjoyment I would not do it.I like a gun with some character to it
Unless the finish is incredibly bad and you are doing it solely for your own
enjoyment I would not do it.I like a gun with some character to it
OP
What about just retouching spots? The gun (along with a couple others I have) have a couple spots that the finish is either thin or rubbed away. There no pitting or rust, the previous owner was, shall we say, a little aggressive in the cleaning realm. They rubbed some bluing off when cleaning the blast rings on they cylinder face, and under the top strap at the forcing cone. I know I'm being nit picky, as for the most part, the spots can't really be seen until you are right up on the gun. The guns are shooters, but seeing white metal on a blued gun bugs me at times. If it was just holster wear, that does add character.
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Those spots you mentioned can be touched up with cold blue and not look bad.
I see this from both sides and in some cases I think it's fine to have a old gun with a compromised finish re-blued. A gun with a very poor finish has little real collector interest - but it may be a great shooter. I have a hard time with the idea that the value of the refinished gun is now less than it's poor finish condition value after a top quality re-blue. At the same time I will concede the value of the re-blued gun will likely not be as much as the old value plus the cost of the refinishing. In other words, if an old revolver in good mechanical condition but poor cosmetic finish is worth $400 and the cost to have it re-blued is $300 (hypotheitical example numbers) I don't think the beautiful looking re-blued gun is now worth $350. But I also don't think it is worth $700 or more. You'll likely not recoup your investment but you may have a beautiful looking classic to enjoy.
I have been in your same shoes myself and on some of my old shooters I am happy with the honest holster wear that represents decades of enjoyment by previous owners. At the same I have a K22 one-liner at Ford's getting the full treatment right now and I don't care about the "before value" or the "after value" - I love this gun and intend to pass it down to my son someday and the cosmetics were very bad on this one.
I don't think there's one right answer on this. Depends on you, your desires, your budget and your goals. If it's a gun you love and enjoy shooting and don't mind investing more money in it than you'll likely get back out of it then why not? You're not trying to fool a collector or pass off a re-blued gun as new. "Life's too short to shoot an ugly gun" as they say.....
I have been in your same shoes myself and on some of my old shooters I am happy with the honest holster wear that represents decades of enjoyment by previous owners. At the same I have a K22 one-liner at Ford's getting the full treatment right now and I don't care about the "before value" or the "after value" - I love this gun and intend to pass it down to my son someday and the cosmetics were very bad on this one.
I don't think there's one right answer on this. Depends on you, your desires, your budget and your goals. If it's a gun you love and enjoy shooting and don't mind investing more money in it than you'll likely get back out of it then why not? You're not trying to fool a collector or pass off a re-blued gun as new. "Life's too short to shoot an ugly gun" as they say.....
had3nuf
Member
I would have to agree with saemetric if it is just small amounts of blueing loss, I would use cold blue, you will be surprised, it only needs to be on for about 60 seconds, but it may take a few applications to get dark enough results, just be sure to wipe it of with warm water after the 60 seconds.
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