Hi All,

What are your thoughts on the debate between restoration and customization when someone is going to invest money in having a gun redone? I don't want to influence your answers by giving a lot of details about the rifle that I am thinking of having redone, but will discuss that once a few responses have piled up. All I'll say for now is that the rifle is a pre-64 M70. Any input appreciated.....

Thanks,
Bob

Well, not sure what you are wanting to know exactly, here is my take.

If you are going for maximum value, and the gun has not been modified/changed/damaged, then restoration is the route to go. If you are going for what you want most in the rig then of course customization is the way to go. I think that the end goal is what determines it. If the gun has been changed at all you need to look at what the restoration would cost in relation to what the end value of it would be.

Red

My only experience with this is with military rifles. My first winter in Canada was brutal, and I picked up an old military rifle for something to do to get through winter. It was a Swedish M96 in 6.5x55. I redid the metal and all the wood.
It came out looking so good, as well as shoot well, that I've now refinished 3 of them. There's going to come a day when these rifles are no longer so common, and they'll be valuable only in their original condition. Just one mans opinion. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I can only answer for me.....and it's like this...all my guns are shooters....no collectors here and if I have an older gun that don't seem to fill the shooter role I'll customize usually.

That said, some are just as well restored. There's no really right answers on this as it's purely up to you...it's your gun and your money...

If I had a P-64 M-70 .30-06 and wanted a 9.3 X 62 it'd be a done deal.....customize it. They really aren't that hard to find or that scarce.

It's only money....unless the gun was Dad's or Gramdpa's.....that's a gun to be saved "as-is".

Those only get redone after I'm dead!!!!

I agree, vapo. I redid my dad's 1945 M-70 to like-new condition and he didn't like it. It was scarred, scratched, dented and the bluing had almost totally worn off. I asked him why he didn't like it as-new and he said because I had taken all the history out of it. He bought it in 1950 and hunted all over Alaska with it during the early 1950s until he got married. It went pretty much retired for 30 years until I had it redone in 1984, then it went back into the gun cabinet until 2000 when we took it out and fired it about ten times. It's been back in the cabinet ever since. It still has the same sling on it from 1950 when my dad bought the gun used for $75.

as-is, if decent, is worth more as it is

retore.. worth less than some as-is (assuming normal wear)

custom.. well, there's a money pit.. assume "value" of 50% of what you have in it, if you are lucky..

imho, a worked over gun is nearly always that.. a worked over original.. though I've seen some (very few) that would then pass for new...

if the gun has zero senitmental value, then hack away... myself, I would sell it, buy a NEW clasic, and do whatever, not fearing the "gun gods" for hacking a pre-64

jeffe

I would hesitate to refinish any half decent collectable gun...Most m-70 are worth more as is then refinished, but that is not in stone.

There are exceptions to the rule, I bought a 375 Holland and Holland for $600, from Bob Francis at Westley Richards, It had a good bore but the rest was just horrible in every imaginable way, its history was a croc rifle that lay in the bottom of a canoe with the bore greased and pluged...

I and others worked on that gun for almost 3 years restoreing it to as new, and by the hour it wasn't a money making deal, only a labor of love....

I finally reluctantly traded it for a double rifle and Today that very gun is on the web at about $10,000. as I recall, by a very well known maker of fine arms company...so it was worth it for all involved...to save an old rifle like that is always brings joy to those who appreciate such things.

Thanks to all those who have replied so far.

The gun that I am talking about has some sentimental value. I took my first deer with it a few years back. The value issue following whatever work I might have done isn't really an issue for me as I don't have any intention to sell it. The debate that I keep having with myself is whether to keep the gun in the configuration that it was the day I took that deer with a little freshening up (i.e. restoration) or to have it customized into a configuration that might be more suitable to my hunting conditions (i.e. customization). It's not that it's bad or hard to hunt with now, but there are very few products that can't be improved upon. As you can probably tell from my description, the gun won't be tucked back in the safe when work is complete.

I realize that in the end I'm the only one who can decide what to do with the rifle and that there are probably no right or wrong answers, but am interested in other's takes on the options. Any more thoughts are welcome.....

Thanks,
Bob

If you aren't planning on getting rid of it so value doesn't matter to you then I would have done to it everything that you feel will make it a better tool for you. I am another one that doesn't have things just for value sake. the monetary value may be affected but the value to you will increase.

Red