SPF250 said:
I am out of state and really just want comments on whether a restoration would benefit or harm the gun.
Damascus? If it is, DON'T SHOOT it with modern ammo.
Secondly, I have a feeling the restoration costs would be more than the gun is worth. Now, if it's a family heirloom, it may be worth it. I just did that with my great grandfather's shotgun that I got from my uncle. Only gun on that side of the family that we still have and being the gun store owner, he personally brought it down to give to me. Will I ever shoot it? Unfortunately not. Did I spend (even at my cost) the same amount the gun is worth to get it "functional" again? Yeah and I think it was money well spent. For me, the gun is priceless and will never, ever be sold unless I don't have kids or the relatives from my mom's side end up all being a bunch of duds. It needs to stay in the family. Been here for 90 some odd years already so no reason to change that now. And it's not worth a lot. It's in really rough shape but... for a piece of family history.... it's, again, priceless to me.
We've done restore work on a lot of guns, though we don't specialize in restore work of the type you're wanting to do. There was a thread a while back I posted about a dude's mini-14 that he brought in. The gun was trashed and I wouldn't have given $100 for it. However, it was his grandfather's gun and the only one he still had. For him, it was worth spending $550 for us to cerakote the whole thing and put it into a new stock, plus do some work on it. What is the gun worth now? Probably about $550. But. He now has a link back to his grandfather that he can pass on to his kids.
