Refinishing Firearms

[okietool]

How much does re-finishing firearms effect their value?
This is more along the lines of "satisfy my curiosity" than "I'm going to spend majors bucks based on this information".

 

[MFCEO]

what do you mean by refinishing?

like rattle can it, cerokete? etc?

I dont pay much attention to resale, if its a quality gun it should do fine, it may not appeal to as many people, but a gun is still a gun. I paint my guns for me and what I need to do with them.

 

[gaseous maximus]

IMO, There ain't no hard & fast answer. Some factors are Make, Model, Age, cond. before refinishing, who does the refinishing, and Who You Ask. I believe that in the case of most firearms,( Shooters not Colllectables), the cost of a professional refinish will seldom be realized in a sale. In many instances the value of a collectable will be substantially reduced.

 

[HMFIC]

There ain't no doubt in no-ones mind that original finish is the finest thing around.

That said, if you do have a shooter in less than 60% condition, in most cases it will not hurt the value to refinish it and in some cases can make the gun not only more serviceable but also more saleable as well.

Remember though... it depends on what it is too. If you refinish a rough old cobb of a Paterson, then you've all but destroyed it. If you refinish an old, rusty H&R single barrel, you've likely improved it's life.

 

[mr ed]

Depends not only the particular gun and its condition, but also who is doing the work.
Dished out screw holes,blurred lettering,rounded edges that are not supposed to be rounded all from somebody that got overzealous with a buffing wheel will look bad no matter have bad the gun was in the first place.
If you go for a refinish you may be best off with a person that specializes in the particular model you have.
Above all look at many examples of their work.
I've seen guys who are cheap and do fantastic work and some who are expensive and looks like crap.
Also I would go for a factory type finish if possible. What this means is if a H&R singleshot came from the factory with a240 grit sanded finish it will probably look like crap with a 1000 grit high gloss - glow in the dark blue job that belongs on a weatherby.
At the same time I would not want a cheap sandblast finish on a Perrazi $5000 shotgun.

 

[Swift]

It depends on the rarity of the firearm being refinished.

 

[Stan Upchurch]

I have a 1903 shotgun that my mother decided to "restore". She went to a man from her church to work on the gun. Beginning value was abot $2500. A rare shotgun. he took it "apart" to clean it and "forgot' or broke many of the parts. The he put it back together using wood screws and painted the barrell with black paint. The gun went from working to a wall hanger toy. She kept it for 40 years and then gives it to me. Very proud of what he did. It looked good to her. It has been reappraised at $150.00 for an ornament. Be very careful what you restore. It can turn out to be a disaster!

 

[Cedar Creek]

Advice about "depends on what it is" is spot on. My love is vintage rifles and rule #1 is "they're only original once". Often see old rifles that a well-intentioned person has 'cleaned up' and taken the patina off the metal or sanded the wood and put varnish on it. My opinon is that the value of a collectible rifle that has been altered drops about 40%. I'd much rather have an honest rifle showing wear and battlescars from years of loving use than one that has been refinished. If I had a really nice family heirloom rifle that I wanted to be in better-than-new condition I would consider a Doug Turnbull restoration.

Cedar Creek

 

[criticalbass]

If it's a "collector" weapon, almost always the best approach is "don't refinish." With other guns, it's similar to sprucing up a house you are trying to sell. No amount of sprucing is likely to raise the value of the house, but it can make the house much easier to sell.

If it's a shooter you intend to keep, it depends on how nice you want it to look. Some of my shooters don't have much blue left, but work fine, and I would never bother to refinish. YMMV. CB

 

[Honeybee]

I have my own opinions but many of them have been experssed here, check out my website for more information since I do that for a living.

www.fransonfirearms.com