Ted is that a 2, 3 or 4 seller? Or semi clueless, clueless and painfully clueless?
If you want to look at "upgrades" take a look at Winchester 12's and 42's or 70's. When I was collecting Model 70's from the late 60's until about 1982 every year it seemed like the number of fakes increased until 60-70% of high grade or 90% of the rare examples were either upgraded, fakes or refinished trying to be sold for factory original.
A novice stood no chance of buying a decent gun other than by chance. I have deflated countless great buys by explaining why what they have is not what they thought they were buying. Tell a friend his 2-4K investment is not worth it or even a fraction of that amount.
As to rare they are some out there. I bought a very high condition Model 70 in 35 Remington which was the second or third rarest caliber they made. Sitting on a shelf in a gun shop in NJ. Low price on it because the dealer thought the .35 Remington was a dog of a caliber. It was. In the same month I bought a .300 Savage which was considered to be the rarest. That one did not come cheap at all. Later it was determined there were a few non catalog calibers even rarer. Best shooting Model 70 I ever had was a .300 H&H, one that gave me a life long flinch was a .458. I'd like to have the H&H back and wish I could get rid of the flinch forever. It comes back once and a while for a visit.
There are more pre'64 Model 70's now than there were in 1964. They just keep popping up. And don't even think about 42's. The demand creates the fakes or reason to make the fakes.
