Skip to main content
Help Center Community Shop

How do you de-value a ?refinished gun? ??

jayefsee
I know that refinishing any collectable firearm is a "NO NO". But when it has already been done, what is the best way to calculate a value reduction? I have gone through a Blue Book and didn't find anything that would help me. An acquaintance has a (previously) very collectible octagon-barreled Winchester. He's in his 60's and it was his Dad's rifle. He had it refinished (re-blued and refinished wood) and says, "it looks nice". Others have already told him that he "destroyed its collectibility" so I didn't have to do that. He wants to sell it. I have no idea of how to help him determine what it might be worth on the open market. So where do you begin? I know it's worth "whatever someone wants to pay for it", but I am looking to give him a more specific number. At this point I haven't seen the gun, so I don't have a serial number or even know if it has any special features. I'm looking for a "ballpark percentage" from the Blue Book to use to help him out. Advice appreciated.
JFC
0

Comments

4 comments

Date Votes
  • nmyers
    A refinished gun is considered to have "no original finish". So, look up the gun in the Blue Book & find the lowest % of finish (sometimes 0%). That price may be a good point to start an auction.

    Neal
    0
  • only winchesters
    Good afternoon jayefsee: There are several points of view here. One, a gun is only original once. So yes a "refinished" gun will never have the value it once had. Then again, most people don't, go out and "refinish a gun in 80% condition or better either. Who did the refinish, was it the same as the factory, or something else. Meaning Winchester used two main bluing metheds, they rust blued barrels, and hot blued the rest of the parts, using the "dilute" process. Stocks were oiled. Some gunsmiths use a buffing wheel as opposed to hand polishing. If a person is looking for a good shooter, this is what they get with a "refinished" gun. A lot depends on exactly what the gun is, meaning if it's just a standard old run of the mill Md 94, 30-30, probably about half of what an original one would go for. If it's something a little rarer such as a Md 70 chambered in a .257 Roberts, you could still expect to get in the neighborhood 50-80%. Again it just depends on the gun itself. The best way to find a value, is to put it up for auction here at GB.

    If you could give us a Model number, caliber, and aprox. serial number, in this fashion, 432,xxx. That would go a long way in trying to establish a price. Also if you know who did the refinish. If it was "refinished at the Factory, (Winchester) then there would be just a little difference in value, if any.
    Regards Dave
    0
  • cussedemgun
    jayefsee;
    first, welcome to the forum, hope we can help!

    "what's it worth" questions such as this are really hard to answer.
    if what you are referring to is within the "cowboy shooting sports" class, the value will depend mostly on it's shooting potential & refinishing will detract less from saleability than if it is a "collector only" type gun. some newer old guns have another market for shooters only or parts for building a custom.
    please repost with as accurate a discription (pictures prefered) as possible & we will have a better chance to give you an accurate figure.

    "all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten" Robert Fulghum


    anyone who says "nobody needs a full auto" has never been in front of a brown bear charge
    0
  • Rafter-S
    quote: Others have already told him that he "destroyed its collectibility" so I didn't have to do that. He wants to sell it. I have no idea of how to help him determine what it might be worth on the open market. So where do you begin?

    First of all, if he is a friend, I would try to get someone else (who is reputable) to help him. Being his dad's gun, and being in the family for such a long time, will always make it worth more in his mind than the gun really is. You getting too involved in the selling of it most likely will turn out less than what you hope for.

    Second, there are very few exceptions where collectors will want a refinished gun. One example: the only gun in my collection that doesn't have the original finish is a "KI" Luger. They are extremely rare, and to have one, in any condition, in your collection is good. I took it because it is the best one I could find for sale. But short of a situation like that, refinished guns have little value to collectors.

    My humble 2.5-cents worth,
    Rafter-S

    "What is truth? No wonder jesting Pilate turned away. The truth, it has a thousand faces -- show only one of them, and the whole truth flies away! But how to show the whole? That is the question."
    --Thomas Wolfe, "You Can't Go Home Again" (1934)
    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Recent Activity