doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Refurbished shotguns.....

I think there is a market for refinished/restored American doubles.If well done, who would not want and Original Elsie compared to the new one. People want a piece of history for their family. With the limited supply of old Quality American doubles, it is also a charitable endevor. The key is it must be Well Done. If the Quality is there, the buyer will be also, and if he perseives value, the prices will continue to rise.
Craig

Don, I have other L.C.'s where the cc is worn and it doesn't look like this. If it was polished, the engraving is still sharp. Also Hunter Arms had a process to weatherprooof the receivers, I don't think anybody knows what it looks like.
Chuck, earlier in my career we had a small plating set up and I did some plating, zinc, nichol, etc. and I nichol plated some parts and yes the nichol does have a yellowish cast, but after 80 years, what would it look like?
The dark spot is just a shadow.

There's a market for restored guns as there is for aircraft and cars.The premium is always on professional, consummate skills. Restoration and nurturing of history and old skills is more important than reproductions any day.

Bill,

I buy a used hammer double or two every year. I look for good, solid shooters. I will and do look at refurbished guns BUT, I give them even closer scruteny than ones that have no indication of having been refurbished. Reason is simple -- some refurbishing makes the gun less safe as a shooter -- too much reaming of bores to remove pits, lengthing chambers, removing dents, poor "repairs" to locking lugs, hinge pins, etc. Some refurbished and/or repaired guns get a solid approval because the work was done well -- I am considering one such gun now, one made in 1890.

I have also seen guns with really poorly done repairs, so poorly as to decrease the margin of safety, or so inapproprate to the gun as to make it undesirable to me (such as recutting net checkering to diamond checkering). Guns with case hardening redone are avoided entirely, mostly because I don't like case colors and partly because I don't want to take the time to assess possible warping or loss of strength caused by inapproprate recasing.

Niklas

Bill, I have no idea what the market will bear, but it does seem that at any given time, prices can swing at least a factor of 2 if not more based on the whims of whomever happens to be shopping.

What I might suggest is selling them for whatever you think is a fair price given what you have put into them in time and materials. That is something a whole lot easier for you to calculate.

Brent

"Guns with case hardening redone are avoided entirely, mostly because I don't like case colors and partly because I don't want to take the time to assess possible warping or loss of strength caused by inapproprate recasing."

My sentiments, too. When I lost my benchmark SW in capsize and retrived it from six fathoms of salt water six months later, I sent it to a consummate gunsmith to restore it except for case-colouring.The gun was no longer original anyway.

When it's passed down to my gunning nephew sans cc, it's part of the story we share of the time we went under in a tide-rip an hour before daylight during a snow squall 200 metres from a rocky North Atlantic Shore

JDW,
The gun in the picture looks exactly like my FWE Ideal. Very shiny, obviously polished very well before engraving and casehardening. Mine is not plated for sure. Nickel 80 yrs old will still be yellow. I can't conclusively tell it's not yellow in the pics, but it sure looks like bare polished casehardened steel just like my gun. Shiny finish doesn't mean plating necessarily. Nor does a plated surface necessarily end up shiny. Shiny, whether plated or not requires polishing. With plating, it can be done before somewhat and if a really mirror finish is needed, polishing after plating may be needed. I'm still of the opinion yours is not plated.

Bill,
I'm of the opinion that a restocked gun with either new metal finishes or old will be a crap-shoot as to whether or not it will be able to bring the ROI to be worth the investment (money/time). The exceptions to that can be found in some cases, but not one that I can think of if you are paying the likes of Turnbull, SDH or others of equal. Now if you are doing the work and you don't plan to sell them, that's a different story.

I'm going to have about $3700 in a completely resto'd Parker 12g #1 framed, GH damascus. It will be as nice or nicer than when new. Will it be worth it? To me, yes. Could I sell it for that to one of our members? I doubt it. But then I doubt anyone could find one as nice with original everything, let alone could I afford it, nor could I shoot it well with the 3" drop.

Each of these has <$1500 invested in them.........you don't suppose any would sell for that?

Those sure would!

But what would have have to sell the for if you were making a living doing it? 3x that much? 5x?

Nice work there.
Brent