Complete refinish of antique weapon.

[Surfinator58]

There are some fine gunsmiths out there who can take your $500 Winchester and make it look beautiful unfortunately it's still a $500 Winchester the price doesn't change just because somebody did a nice job

 

[user 34300]

Scota@4570 said:
"Gunsmith" tends to be an attractive pursuit for people of below normal intelligence. There are extremely fine gunsmiths out there. I have seen my share or moron hacks too.

About as insulting as a person can get.

I have seen my share of share of fine folks here and morons here as well.

Gunsmiths are asked to do what you cannot do yourself.

First, short of very intricate engraving or rifling barrels, there is no gun work I can not do for myself.

I was going to let this slide, but I changed my mind. What I wrote reflects my observations of people who represent themselves as a "Gunsmith" in my 50 years observing and participating in the trade. Is my language a bit "salty"? sure...

The fact is I have observed many situations where self described "gunsmiths" vandalize nice guns. They were short on skills, experience, and judgement.

I also pointed out that there are many fine people out there working in the trade.

When anyone needs work done, choose the gunsmith carefully. Changing parts on modern guns is not a steep learning curve. Preserving valuable antiques is another level. You would not allow a handyman to clean your original Picasso oil painting, right? Same thing with valuable guns.

Gunsmith is trade that requires a tremendous breath of knowledge and experience. It does not pay commiserate to that level of skill. That is why I chose a more lucrative career and left gunsmithing as a serious hobby. IF you find a bargain gunsmith be skeptical. A good gunsmith charges good money. You are paying for more than the time he spent on your job.

That is all....

 

[springfield art]

Up until now, all of my firearms have been modern or reproduction black powder. I noticed that there are quite a few Springfield variations available at fairly reasonable prices. I am thinking about getting one and doing a complete refinish including the metal and wood work. I know as a rule, it is best to leave antiques as is and that this probably would affect the value. Because it is not a scarce item, will the value go up or down?

Yikes! Clean responsibly, refinishing will result in a shooter, with no collector value.

 

[springfield art]

I bought a little rolling Block 22 long rifle years ago and refinished it the stock was filthy the metal rust all over. One friend said you destroyed the value another friend said beautiful job it looks like an original I'm very proud of it and I saved it from destruction

Yes, there are instances where refinishing something is OK, simply because the item is not rare of is a total wreck. I'd say you did the right thing with your little .22.