To restore vs not to restore

[CATI1835]

Honestly, it's probably just strong opinions from folks who love to push strong opinions.

Give that man a cigar!!!

You see a lot of that here, and other places. Take it for what it is, just an opinion. I was told once, opinions are like 4$$h0les - everybody has one and everybody's stinks except mine.

Do what makes you happy and feels right to you.

 

[chief38]

I won't purposely purchase a firearm with restoration in mind as it makes little sense to me. I'd just rather spend a bit more and get a better finished example - a lot less hassles.

That said, I have restored a few guns that had just become so bad I could not bare to look at them like that anymore. Those I sent to be refinished and are now the pride of my collection. One was my Dad's that was over 70 years old at the time I refinished it and no matter what I tried, it would not stay rust free for very long. There was always a red hue and bare metal was always a problem. There were also a few SASS competition guns that I used hard for 20 years and that took a toll on them. Those went for refinishing as well.

Bottom line here is it's a personal decision. If you don't want an ugly gun - then refinish it! As far as retention of value goes and despite what hard core collectors go by, most "pretty" guns will sell for the same amount (maybe even more) than butt ugly ones do UNLESS it is an extremely rare or highly collectible firearm - at least that is what I have witnessed.

I'd bet that 99.5% of gun owners could not even pick out the 3 I have had refinished if I laid my collection out on a table. Two of them were done in the original Factory with the original finish. Even I see no difference between when they were new and now.

Do what you like - it's YOURS to enjoy! Don't worry about 30 years down the road - they might not even be legal then.

 

[H Richard]

I purchased a very nice condition K38 6" target model of early 50's vintage, but it had the rear sight removed and replaced by a red dot, (no, the frame wasn't drilled), and the front sight was filed to a ramp configuration. I assume this combination was used for some PPC competition?

The condition was otherwise very good and I proceeded to "hunt" a front and rear sight to "restore" the gun to it's originality. It took awhile and more $ than I thought it would, but I did obtain correct era sights and installed them. I consider this gun "restored", (but the finish wasn't touched).

 

[raljr1]

In another thread, some one posted about a refinished triple lock that sold for over $4000, and it wasn't even a good refinish. An original one sold for about a hundred dollars less in a similar time frame. Go figure. So the more I hear about refinishing and restoring, the more I think, "to each his own." And considering that I'll never sell it, I'm seriously considering sending the beat up K32 I own down to Fords so it'll look as nice as the K22 and K38 I have. My son probably won't cry over the diminished value after I'm dead either.

If you are a collector of high end originals, God bless you and I truly admire your collections whenever you share them. For the rest of us who have an ugly gun and want it to look pretty, especially with fairly common pieces, forgive us our blasphemy.

Robert

 

[TomkinsSP]

A mental health professional might look into my gun safe and disagree, but I have not set out to 'collect' collectable Smith & Wessons. I enjoy shooting them, and have simply accumulated many which I have shot. I would not pay a 'premium' for a NIB firearm or for a provenance connecting the firearm to a prominent person or for the patina that many 'all original' firearms acquire. So while by happenstance I have acquired a formerly NIB, and a professionally restored piece, and several pieces with earned patina, I would not hesitate to replace a part on any of these to return functionality.

 

[AZretired]

Let's say you acquire and Tripple lock with 95% original blue, looks perfect but it's out of time with a weak mainstream that somewhere along the line was thinned to make it lighter. Question: Do you have the lock work repaired? I think most of us would say yes. If you do and later down the line you decide to sell it, do you tell the potential buyer that it's been "restored"?

 

[bjrjar]

The highly restored classic cars that you see sell at Barrett-Jackson for big $$$, The seller seldom, if ever, recovers the cost of a 1st class restoration.

A good friend of mine who has a nice ‘57 Chevy says you can build one for $60k or buy one for $30k...

Bob

 

[RGVshooter]

I recently purchased a 4" heavy barrel model 10 police trade in and I sent it in to S&W for a complete refurbish/reblue & polish. Cost me an additional $247 bux

Some people said it was a waste of money
Some people said I would destroy any value it had.
Still, I had people telling me that it was a waste of money on a revolver so common that I would never get any return out of it.

But why do I care what others think? I"m the one who's gonna be shooting it and enjoying it for what it's intended purpose was for the next 30 years.

Meanwhile all you guys can sit back with your safe queens and rub & polish your guns that you'll never shoot because you're scared it would ruin it's value...

 

[TomkinsSP]

In another thread, some one posted about a refinished triple lock that sold for over $4000, and it wasn't even a good refinish. An original one sold for about a hundred dollars less in a similar time frame. Go figure. So the more I hear about refinishing and restoring, the more I think, "to each his own." And considering that I'll never sell it, I'm seriously considering sending the beat up K32 I own down to Fords so it'll look as nice as the K22 and K38 I have. My son probably won't cry over the diminished value after I'm dead either.

If you are a collector of high end originals, God bless you and I truly admire your collections whenever you share them. For the rest of us who have an ugly gun and want it to look pretty, especially with fairly common pieces, forgive us our blasphemy.

Robert

The way I see it, its your Triple Lock, if you want to send it to Ford's, its your choice. Everyone wins, a piece of history is preserved, your son gets a beautiful piece. AND the guy who fervently beleives that you should never ever restore a gun, if he is right, his unrestored original is now worth MORE because you restored yours.

 

[Sevens]

I recently purchased a 4" heavy barrel model 10 police trade in and I sent it in to S&W for a complete refurbish/reblue & polish. Cost me an additional $247 bux

Some people said it was a waste of money
Some people said I would destroy any value it had.
Still, I had people telling me that it was a waste of money on a revolver so common that I would never get any return out of it.

But why do I care what others think? I"m the one who's gonna be shooting it and enjoying it for what it's intended purpose was for the next 30 years.

Meanwhile all you guys can sit back with your safe queens and rub & polish your guns that you'll never shoot because you're scared it would ruin it's value...

Okay, sincere apologies up front if it seems like I'm targeting YOU because I quoted your post, but I will try to make my point.

Your entire post here is fantastic all the way up to the very last paragraph. Everything you say leading up to it makes total sense for you and I love it. In the last paragraph... you throw out a caustic nugget that is no different whatsoever than all the folks who you believe think you were nuts for paying money to refinish a "one of six million" K-38's.

All of your thinking makes sense to me right up until the bit where you jab folks who choose to love a particular revolver for the mechanical art, who wish to preserve it's fine condition.

I suppose I believe that we'd all be most happy when we can all simply agree that there are no strict rules and more so -- that one's perspective can (and often does) evolve over time.

"bah, guns were made to shoot"
"I won't own a gun that I won't shoot!"
"No safe queens!"

^This crowd is the most judgemental crowd that I come across in the world of guns. Having an opinion is natural but when you sell it like it's law (as so many folks painfully do ad nauseum) then you become the noise that obscures the signal.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I would not restore the finish unless it was necessary to preserve the functionality of the handgun. I would not do so for purely aesthetic reasons. FWIW

 

[Golddollar]

I have a Luger that has matching numbers except for the magazine. I had one with the original bluing that I had to sell when I lost my job. The one I have now has been chrome plated and I purposely bought it because I wanted something I could shoot and I like bling guns. I'm sure after the war there was a cottage industry of chrome plating war souvenirs. The price was right, it fulfills my interest and hopefully the one I had before is resting in a good home where the owner is happy with it. I've had suggestions to have the chrome stripped and re-blue my current piece but I'm perfectly happy with what I have.

 

[rwsmith]

It's all opinions......

It's all opinions that change with every gun and every owner. The owner can be anything from a novice shooter to a museum collector. I'm somewhere in the middle. And where ever you are in that spectrum.

This is like people who were encouraged to buy big diamonds for their wedding rings as an 'investment'. I appreciate big nice diamonds as much as the next guy, but my mindset on what a wedding ring is is something completely different.

If I had an old gun that was worth something to a collector, I'd leave it alone and sell it to a collector and get something I wanted to keep and shoot.

 

[chief38]

Restoration "stories" pro and con are a dime a dozen. For many many years guys would pay premiums for cars that still retained their original finish. Now that some of these collectibles are 50, 60 and 70 years old, it's almost impossible to find one in really great shape and so a high quality refinishing and restoration is not frowned upon as it use to be a few years ago. The old cars were simply never intended to last that long without rusting out. If one wants a 1940's, 50's or 60's car and it had a respectable and high quality restoration true to its lineage - I see nothing wrong with that.

I see the same ideology with guns. If one were to seek out a 120 year old black powder SAA revolver I could see demanding it be in its original state, but for a somewhat more modern forearm that will be carried, used and shot, I don't have a problem with a quality Factory refinish as long as it is done as the original was.

 

[BigBill]

I won’t touch any gun for a restoration. I buy unfinished bubba guns to finish for hunting rifles. I did woodworking when I was younger. I learned how to clean wood so the square edges are still present. You can’t tell it’s been redone.i have removed so many bubba poly slob jobs too.
I purchased a military rifle that had been refinished three times bubba applied three coats of different finish one on top of another. By the time I cleaned the stock the orginal wood grain looked awesome. I try to save what I can even if it goes beyond the orginal value.

 

[Golddollar]

This gun started out as a 1917 Smith & Wesson for the Brazilian contract back in 1937. As you can see from the pictures, it had a complete overhaul. I have no provenance or idea who did the work. But whoever did the work did a good job because the gun locks up like a bank vault and shoots like a dream. My best guess and my hope is that somebody took a gun that had a shot out barrel from corrosive ammunition and got it put back into shape as a great carry piece.

 

[Onomea]

I think in a thread on this topic it is easy to conflate what are essentially three different things: Restoration, refinishing, and customization.

As examples, restoration is what Dave Chicoine used to do, and Doug Turnbull still does.

Refinishing is what Ford’s does.

Customization is what Hamilton Bowen does.

I have had each of these services performed on guns of mine, and have been quite happy with the results.

And I have also owned highly collectable classic safe queens.

In recent years I have sold off or given away most of my collection. It was fun, but I’ve moved on.

Of the five I have kept, one (M10) is a well used “as is,” one (M65) is customized and tuned (an action job), two (Colt DS and Colt 357) are refinished and tuned, and one (M640-1) is just tuned.

It’s personal preference, of course, but what seems to suit me, at this point in my life, is guns that I have set up to my liking.

I would agree, however, that if making a profit, or even getting your money back, is a motivation in your ownership, generally it is best to leave guns as you find them.

 

[jcelect]

Forgot one category!

Hey Onomea, I believe you forgot one category in your post, REFURBISH!
I have made a hobby, that has turned into a business, of "refurbishing" the S&W presentation cases! I do not restore the liners as the covering of these liners is not like the original! I use as many of the original pieces as I can find in the process but the new covering is more durable! My definition of "refurbish" is to make something usable that is otherwise unusable or just plain ugly! If a gun and/or case has some historical provenance or sentimental value then leave it alone, if not, make it the way YOU want it to be!
IMHO, jcelect

 

[tlawler]

I recently sent off my first gun to Ford’s for their master blue refinish. It’s a 14-1 that is a birth year gun for me. It’s in great mechanical shape, but had some bluing loss from holster wear and I wanted it looking new. I plan on keeping it, so the issue of value versus refinishing for me is moot.

 

[Chubbo]

Penmon:
You will be better satisfied by doing what "Flops Your Mop", not what flops the other guys mop. Most of the time, the condition that your gun is in, whether restored or not restored, is going to be used to lower the value of the gun that you have for sale, by the "sharp" gun buyer, that wants to buy the one that you want to sell, as cheep as it can be bought. There are exceptions to that, but, as they say, they are "few and Far Between".
just my 2¢ worth.

Chubbo