By the time you finish either a restock or a refinish job you will have enough time and money to make a decent custom gun. Figure fifty or a hundred hours of effort or a like amount of money for a complete restock and metal refinish. For that much money or time you better make it suit your needs a much as you can. Engraving is beyond all but one or two who post here but many here can finish a stock, prep metal or make a sows ear into a silk purse.
I think too many get caught up in this factory original condition. The guns we restock and refinish are no more factory original than a Ford with 200,000 mile on the odometer or a rust out Ford coupe. If it is fair to make a old car into a street rod it should be fair to make a well worn field gun into a fine looking tool for our enjoyment. Maskers made field grade guns because there was never enough demand for higher grade guns. They made them plain because they wanted the extra sales not because plain has even been that great to look at or shoot.
