John you hit a lot of nails on the head with what you wrote. 20, 10 even 5-years ago I would not take a second look at any classic rifle with problems. Twenty-five years ago I bought and sent back a Eric Johnson 1903 sporter made and marked "Eric Johnson Ardmore, OKL." because it was not perfect and the bluing had turned brown. Ten years later I bought it again after realizing I could not find another. Today, if the rifle is by a maker I have looked for a long time or there is some historical or interesting provenance with the rifle I jump on it.
My crusade of late is to try and STOP more of these rifles from having a scope mounted on them or other such improvements. One time I chased a Hoffman 300-Hoffman across Canada from one owner to the next, they were selling it because they could not find 300-Hoffman ammunition. I located it one day after a well known custom maker had re-chambered it to 300-Weatherby.
I'll have more, a lot more on the subject but would like to hear others opinions.
