Guns get scratched and dinks Its a fact of life. One of the reason that oil finishes are preferred over synthetic finishes is that minor scratches can be fairly easily repaired on the oil finishes. If you get enough dinks or even DENTS in a stock, you can refinish the wood- steam out the dents, and return the stock to looking like new!
However, most shooters don't do this. Scratches, dents, and dinks show HONEST USE, and often they do result in good TRUE stories. They are like scars you EARN during your life. Carry the gun with pride.
Years ago, now, I bought an old, original Lever Action rifle all of gun table at a gun show. The price on the gun was lower than that on similar guns on display. I looked the gun over, and the only thing "wrong " with it I could see was normal wear, and some scratches, dinks, dents, and wear to the original finish on the metal.
The seller offered his comment that " That gun is priced less because of its appearance". I talked him down a bit more on the price and bought the gun. The inside of the gun was fine- only a bit of pitting in the bore from neglect. The gun's butt stock appeared more dinged up than its forestock, indicating it had been carried in a rifle Scabbard on a horse for years.
I was looking for a " Shooter", not a display piece, and it proved to be a very accurate rifle. When friends get to shoot it, they want to steal it! And they all like the "Honest wear" that the stock shows. There is clear evidence that the Gun once sported a tang peep site. I only wish the sight was still with the gun when I bought it. Now, That would have been a " Deal" to buy!
Over the years, other shooters have encouraged me to have the gun refinished- new case hardening, new bluing, and a new stock. I don't want it. It would take away the gun's Character, and the " Surprise" factor that the gun works so well, even if it looks like its been dragged over the Burma Road behind a half track.
I join the others in encouraging you to take the gun out and shoot it. Don't worry about the scratches and dinks, and dents. They are going to happen. Its like owning anything new- car, clothes, shoes, etc. Its never a question of IF its going to happen, but when. The others are right: The first scratch or dink is the hardest.
My wife and I bought a new car early in our marriage, and we did everything to keep that new car from being dented. We even parked way in the back of grocery store parking lots- taking two slots, in hopes of keeping other cars from scratching or denting the new car. It didn't work. We came out a grocery store not a week after buying the car- I still had remainders of the tape that held the sticker to the car window to remove--- and someone had Creased the Right side passenger door panel by driving a bumper into it. My wife panicked when she saw it- calling me around to that side of the car, to have me look at the long "dent". No paint removed, but a long crease was there none-the-less. I had last looked at that side of the car in the morning when I walked passed it in the garage to open the garage door and back the car out. There was no crease then. She had not seen any crease when I picked her up at work, so the only place it could have happened was in that parking lot. :cursing:
We survived. I owned and drove that car for about 12 years. I had the dent removed when I was involved in a car accident and had to do other body work on the car. Since the Deductible was going to be used on the new damage, the adjuster had them fix this old damage too.
A ML gun I bought back in 1982 and has been hunting with me ever since was re-finished a year ago, along with some other work done on it. It just doesn't look the same without the dents, and dinks, and scratches it once wore so proudly. I guess I will have to get back in the woods and give it a new set of scratches, dents, and dinks. :shocked2: :blah: :hatsoff:
