If you want to take a shooter, and make it look like a much nicer gun, why worry about what others think? You will be lucky to recover a small fraction of the money it cost you to do it. But if it makes you happy, and you have it done right, there is no possible harm. In fact you will be giving work to skilled craftsman so they can earn a living and be available to others to use in the future.
For a decade I hunted over a set of hand craved decoys, once a year. It was my tribute to those who made them, used them and passed them on to me. If I had the right set of circumstances to use them even now I would. The set is worth tens of thousands of dollars. I felt then, and still do, that a collection should be used gently instead of put on display like fragile china. Guns are the same way.
A dealer tried top buy my decoys and told me they should be displayed in a "direct light" free room, in controlled humidity. Like a closet I asked. He thought that was the perfect place. Nice safe, dark, protected and just waiting for the next owner. What is the point of that. These decoys are about 75 years old and need to be gently cared for. But fine china they are not. Guns were made to be used and enjoyed not kept in a closet of others.
