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Collectors firearms/WW II items to be refurbished
- Thread starter dpb44
- Start date
This should help.
Www.howtof***upanoldgun.com
Www.howtof***upanoldgun.com
76Too
NES Member
You’re cute.
I find your inclination to destroy historical artifacts as disturbing as finding a bandaid in my food at a restaurant.
May you never come into possession of anything historically significant for you to ruin.
greencobra
NES Member
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- Jul 2, 2011
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almost on topic...i bought a smith mod 10 38 sp revolver. love those things. under the grip was a gnarly bunch of white mold and rust. it was stubborn, no matter what i scrubbed it with, it came back in several weeks. i called s&w to make arraignments to send it back and be de-scunged and reblued. i knew it wouldn't be the old high lustre rust blue. i hated stripping it down and reblued, but we needed to stop the mold growth that no one seemed to know the origin of. no less than 2 people from smith got on the phone to tell me i'd f*** up collector value. i knew that, i already own several 10's, all with that beautiful old timey blue. i just wanted a shooter. a shooter that looked good and had no mold growth. just before my gun was entering the bluing queue, i got another call from springfield, again explaining the differences of now and then bluing processes, and was i sure i wanted to proceed. i was, but glad i got the chance to change my mind if i wanted. i never looked back and it shoots like a champ and i'm not breathing mold spores that probably went airborne under recoil. moral is...to each his own.
If it's your gun, it's your gun...do what you want...
I myself don't like goofing with history and patina much...
(And don't cry later when you can't get top dollar for your "I know what I got")...
I myself don't like goofing with history and patina much...
(And don't cry later when you can't get top dollar for your "I know what I got")...
EMTDAD
NES Member
I think one has to make the distinction on whether the item is "historically significant". I.e., restoring the gun that Hitler used to commit suicide would be a definite no-no. More value historically as-is, than refurbed.
a beat up, one in 5.4 Million Garand that has no documented history.... sure.. maybe put a nice new walnut stock on it, and a new barrel.. polish it up nice.. do what you want with it...
much like antique cars... often worth more restored than as-is, unless there's some documented historical significance.
Yessss... someone else who gets it.
tuna
NES Member
Makes me remember the barrels of milsurps that every gun shop had for practically nothing. And the articles in the old paper magazines that gave you tips on sporterizing them. Now everyone thinks everything is a collectible.
M1 Carbine, old Marlin 80, a Japanese Arisaka, plus some others. End of the day, just want to know whether or not its healthy to shoot or to just to mount.
I don't see him, do you have his contacts?
Had some work done at Dean’s Guns but he passed away.
Had some troubleshooting and repair done on a Carbine by CMP.
thecmp.org
Had some troubleshooting and repair done on a Carbine by CMP.
Custom Gunsmithing - Civilian Marksmanship Program
The CMP Custom Shop provides a variety of repair, upgrade and custom services for U.S. Military rifles, specifically those from early eras.
thecmp.org
Noah's Motors
Welcome! Click below to check out some of our inventory Inventory Noah's Motors, Established 1975 Manufacturer since 1989. Rebarreling (with proper fixtures) all military rifles and carbines. Drill and tapping for sights & milling, dovetails etc... All 1911 45 ACP pistols. NO 80% receiver work...
noahsmotors.com
76Too
NES Member
Who made you the expert on degrees of restoration?
Obviously not serious. If something is destroyed or not of particular historical significance, have at it.
I personally own a 1903a1 sniper clone that was made from a 900,000 Springfield receiver and retrofitted for the 8x scope.
If restoring means ‘modifying for the purpose of making it useful again’, I’m 100% on board. My 1903a1 is a tack driver and will give all of my modern rifles a run for their money.
Restoring by cleaning up all the rust, or restoring by doing that plus re-parkerizing or re-bluing, or welding parts, or filling cracks in stocks, or restoring by replacing stocks with new, or restoring by replacing other parts with new. Lots of different degrees of restoration.
I’m hesitant to do much with older items. Like, when restoring watches, I go out of the way to find independent shops that try to fix parts and only replace parts when necessary, vs sending to the manufacturer who will replace everything possible and get you back basically a new watch. Takes the history right out of it.
I treat firearms similarly. But lots of WWI/WWII firearms can be “restored” with minimal changes to the actual item. Maybe a revolutionary war musket wouldn’t be able to have much restoration done to it without removing history, but again, there are degrees.
If you have something actually collectable then proceed with caution.
You have a surplus rifle thats been through the arsenal god knows how many times then what ever.
My gut says JCG is a little sad everytime a M1 garand no longer shoots.
I have a 1903a4 clone and im thinking if it did not make it to the person who rebuilt it and then to me it would have been scrapped or forgotten in some badement/storage somewhere and lost that way.
Like all those classic cars that rotted away next to peoples garages because they where going to restore it.
So unless its something rare or hard to replace keeping every rifle in its current condition unless like new is not exactly the best thing.
You have a surplus rifle thats been through the arsenal god knows how many times then what ever.
My gut says JCG is a little sad everytime a M1 garand no longer shoots.
I have a 1903a4 clone and im thinking if it did not make it to the person who rebuilt it and then to me it would have been scrapped or forgotten in some badement/storage somewhere and lost that way.
Like all those classic cars that rotted away next to peoples garages because they where going to restore it.
So unless its something rare or hard to replace keeping every rifle in its current condition unless like new is not exactly the best thing.
This.
Wipe it down. Stop active rust. Oil the stock (using the right products, of course). Make sure it's safe to shoot, then open fire!
"Taking care of a rifle" is not the same as "destroying its history." We all draw the line in different places. I'd never reblue any milsurp, but that's just me... and chances are, I'd wait until I had enough money and inclination to buy one that didn't need rebluing.
But letting an SMLE stock dry out and crack just because it's somehow too precious for me to apply a few coats of BLO? That's just silly.
Restoration is different from conservation. Conservation is preventing any continuing deterioration. Restoration is trying to get it back as close as possible to its unissued state. Most WWII arms were issued in the millions, If you are trying to preserve the collector value you should probably tread lightly. If its a family heirloom that you will keep forever or shooter that you want to blast away with then do with it as you like.
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Chevy 2 65
NES Member
This all day
tuna
NES Member
Sometimes, Bubba does damn good work. These were made in the millions, I see no point in leaving them as is, when they can be improved to their owner's specifications. If you don't like it, leave yours alone.
Gorgeous M1 carbine.
Not a fan of the M1, but this one I could see enjoying, looks like they fixed all the stuff I don't like.
Then sometimes they should just stick to day drinking.
Not sure what happened here
And back to Earth.
Gorgeous M1 carbine.
Not a fan of the M1, but this one I could see enjoying, looks like they fixed all the stuff I don't like.
Then sometimes they should just stick to day drinking.
Not sure what happened here
And back to Earth.
45collector
NES Member
A molested 1917 Luger gets a little love...
As promised, here is the thread of my 1917 DWM Luger semi-restoration. The gun came into my hands years back for dirt cheap. All the accessories it came with are WWII era. Both magazines, the holster (no markings on it) and the takedown tool. When I first removed the gun from it's holster...
www.northeastshooters.com
Restoring is not destroying.
Re-finishing a mauser barrel, sanding the stock and re-staining it so it looks like new, it not destroying it.
I used to be of the school of the thought that old rifles shouldn't be touched. But some, there are so many examples in Museums they won't even take them, so now I lean towards - do whatever you want with it, enjoy it while you have time.
So I bought a beautiful re-finished Siamese 45/70 Mauser. Looks nicer than 99% of new manufactured rifles.
