Written by Steve Felgenhauer
As a gunsmith I am often asked about refurbishing a gun, making an old gun look like new. While I make my living in part by refurbishing guns, there is a mindset I use to determine whether a particular gun should be refurbished at all.
What Makes a Gun a Good Candidate for Refurbishing?
It may be easier to explain which guns do not make a good candidate. The process of refurbishing a gun will remove all the original finish from it. This will drastically slash the value of the gun. I have seen many cases where a gun owner wanted to refurbish a piece that was worth much more left as is. Take the ’98 Mauser. Not so long ago, ok, maybe 30 years ago, surplus Mausers were still very common and could be picked up for under 100 bucks. I am guilty of buying many of them and sporterizing them; bending the bolt to accept a scope, drilling and tapping for scope mounts. In many cases, installing a new barrel and fitting it with a new stock was common practice. Today, those same rifles if left in their original state can fetch 10 times what I had bought them for and much more. Some models can be worth thousands.
Not so long ago a friend asked me to look at a couple of rifles he had in his barn. They were his grandfather’s and they were in rough shape. The metal was rusted and deeply pitted. The stock looked to have been carved out by a family of angry beavers.
“These were Grandpa’s,” the owner exclaimed proudly, “I remember seeing these in the barn when I was a kid. He used them when we butchered hogs. Can you make them look new?”
I told him I could. I ended up rebluing the rifles and installing a new stock on one of them. One of the rifles had his grandfather’s social security number scratched on the side of the receiver.
“Can you leave this?” The owner asked.
“Of course.”
I was able to fulfill his wishes and to my knowledge he is still using the rifles today. But now they have a special place in his gun collection instead of the barn and while these rifles are not the most expensive guns he owns, to him they are priceless. And his children have already called dibs on them.
Call Them Sentimental
Just the other day I had a semi auto rifle come through the door to refurb. The price tag for the quote was significantly higher than what he could buy a comparable rifle to his, but he had been given the rifle by his now deceased brother and wanted this rifle to look like it did when he received it from him.
If you have a gun, you are contemplating refurbishing, the best advice is to have it appraised. This does not need to be an official appraisal. Many shops who deal in used firearms can give you a ballpark figure of what your gun is worth.
A bit of research on sites like GunBroker or Guns International can also give you an estimate of your gun’s worth. In many instances, condition is secondary to the actual historical value of the gun.
will drastically reduce the value, but for many gun owners’ money is not the only factor of owning a gun; especially an heirloom.
Refurbishing Your Gun
Gun refurbishing is perhaps the most requested job I encounter. Many times, but not always, the gun in question is not expensive, valuable or even a historical gun. So by all means, make it look like new again. This consists of completely disassembling the gun, polishing the metal either by hand using sandpaper or the aid of a buffing wheel with a buffing compound designed to polish steel. Care must be used to ensure the engraving or lettering on the barrel and receiver are not disturbed. It is difficult to assign a time limit on how long this might take as the condition and complexity of the gun will determine how long I spend getting ready to blue.
Once the metal is prepped and polished it is ready for bluing. There are several methods of bluing. Most gun shops use a hot blue method. This consists of special chemicals put into a tank with water and heated above 280 degrees and the parts are submerged in this solution where they are oxidized in a controlled manner. This bluing method is rather expensive to set up and maintain and it’s better to let a gunsmith handle this part.
Wood
The wood on older firearms is often in need of a bit of TLC to get it to look new. I have seen home gunsmiths do a good job and on the other end of the spectrum I have seen some bad refinish jobs complete with varnish drips or stains that did not look pleasing.
I seldom use any chemical stripper when removing the old finish. Instead, I prefer a scraper or sandpaper. Again, great care must be taken to ensure not too much of the wood is removed. If the stock is oil soaked, a chemical may be used in the contaminated area before any finish is applied. As far as finishes goes, I use my best judgment. A decent wood spar urethane does a good job if it is applied properly. I prefer to apply finish and let it dry completely and then sand between coats before applying another coat. This is repeated many times until the desired result is achieved.
If you own an heirloom firearm you intend to hand down through the generations then refurbishing the gun makes sense. Just be sure to have it looked at to ensure you aren’t ruining a piece of history.
