Since many of the posters to this forum make a living (or some degree thereof) repairing and restoring old guns, I find some of the advise herein a bit odd; but for whatever its worth, and knowing mine is in the minority, here's my opinion. Provided you're taking care of the needs of your wife and kids, and paying you're bills, maintaining plenty of life insurance, and have a little extra "rat-hole" money squirreled away for hobbies and recreation; then heck yes, restore to your heart's content! Under those circumstances, and provided you don't intend to sell the gun soon thereafter; what does it matter that you'd be putting more money into a gun than it might certainly ever be worth? When you invest in a visit to Disney World, do you have anything other than memories and photos to show for your money? Not so with a restored gun; you at lease have something! And to be real practical, based on what we presently know of the here-after, you won't be taking either (money or gun) with you when it's your time to check out. And since we all spend more time looking at our guns than we actually have opportunities to use them, which is more fun to look at; a pretty (nicely restored) gun, or a pile of wrinkled-up smelly dollar bills (which pile, by the way, will purchase less next year that it can now)? The Scriptures admonish us to pause long enough to smell the roses along our way, which I interpret to mean that we each should make a point to take time to enjoy life's blessings and good things, and not be so concerned about the challenges of living that we fail to spend time (and a little money) doing and/or having things we enjoy. I like an untouched original fine gun as good as anyone; but most surviving examples are out of the rheum of possibility for me; so to me such a gun, properly restored, is one of those blessings that also provides great joy. I'm 65 now, and over the years (beginning in my early 30's), I've had a fair number of old double shotguns restored; and unfortunately, since I have a fickle heart, have since parted company with most of those guns (some I've regretted; but it is also said variety is the spice of life!). I've never paid stupid money for any work I had done and felt I got my money's worth in all but a couple of instances; and although I may have backed-up a little on some deals, have overall done very well on the restored guns I've sold because the guns I owned were equally desirable to other folks. In my case I've always tried to observe some basic "subject gun" rules such as 1)only buy guns with good barrels, 2)buy only guns that you know others would be interested in owning, 3)make sure to have any restoration work done as close to factory original as possible, and 4)when you buy a gun that requires restoration and repair, make sure you buy it right (low enough so that the cost of the actual restoration makes cents).
At my age now I may never have another gun restored because I have to consider the inevitable income reduction from the possibility of "being put out to pasture" in the near future; but I surely still have that desire, as I continue to own a few rare examples that are worthy of and deserve restoration, so who knows? The only thing I know for sure is that, at 65, I still take great pleasure and satisfaction in fooling with, and shooting old double guns! So give careful consideration to all your options and the free advice presented herein; and best wishes with whatever decision you make.
