Refinishing handguns

[10-Ring]

Will the value of a handgun decrease or stay the same if it has been refinished?

[Leatherneck]

10,
Most collector's items will be worth less, and sometimes much less, after any refinishing--just like all antiques. A shooter might gain a little value if it really was skanky beforehand, but in general, I doubt you'd get your money back after a professional refinishing. If you know how to do it properly yourself, you might realize a little gain in value for a fair amount of (pleasurable, IMHO) work. I would only refinish a gun I enjoyed shooting/having, and was ashamed of how bad it looked.

TC
TFL Survivor

[Old Fuff]

"Leatherneck" is correct in that refinishing an antique will often, if not always reduce it's value. However "restoration," which means fixing it up without removing anything of consequence, is O.K. For example if you found an old Colt cap & ball revolver that was missing some lockwork, doing nothing more then replacing the broken parts would probably increase the value - so long as the parts were correct for the period or age of the gun.

Refinishing a modern gun may increase it's value somewhat, but the cost of the work will likely exceed the increase.

That said, if it's a favorite gun that you intend to keep, getting it refinished may not be cost effective, but it might still be worth it to you.

Also you may chose less expensive options on a "working gun." For example a recent double-action revolver that had lost most of it's high-blue and was slightly pitted could be sand-blasted and Parkerized rather then going to the substantial cost of having it polished and reblued.

[10-Ring]

How about if it's not really a collector? Let's say it's a gun like a P7M8 that someone wants hard chromed or a 92fs or P226 that the owner would like a camo finish on?

[Dr.Rob]

According to one source I've seen.. take a 95% pistol made a few years ago, touch it up = no problem.

Take a 50 year old pistol, re-blue it (even if there is NO rust) you can't rate it higher than 90% because its a re-blue.

If its a shooter, keep it shooting.

[Al Thompson]

Yep. Saxon has it right. BTDT. I love hard chrome and plan to refinish several of my guns as funds allow. But - these are keepers and the cost is not an issue.

Think carefully about the cost/benefits ratio, what ever you decide. :)

[Teufelhunden]

But - these are keepers and the cost is not an issue.

That's pretty much how I decide if I'm going to re-finish. Granted, I don't have any collector's pieces, so 'antique' value is not a consideration for me, but when I weighed whether or not to refinish my Springfield XD, it was the fact that I never intend to let this pistol go that finally pushed me to get it done.

-Teuf

[Sean Smith]

As a general rule guns lose value with customizing. Fewer people want modified guns. You can take a $500 gun and $1,000 worth of work on it and end up with a $300 gun.

Only if you have a no-name loser do the work... otherwise, you are wrong. I had $1,200 of work done by a well-known 'smith to a $800 gun and sold it for about... $2,000. I found a buyer in 24 hours. The work of good pistolsmiths is always in demand, and no-name chumps working out of the corner strip mall aren't.

Bottom line is, unless you have Short Bus Gunsmithing do the work, your "formula" is laughable. Go to Pistolsmith.com and you will often see expensive used hardware change hands relatively quickly.

GOOD refinishing tends to raise the value of new guns (though not necessarily as much as the cost of the new finish), and trash the value of truly "collectable" guns. There are some exceptions, e.g. hard chromed Bren Tens don't lose value, and hard chromed Swenson custom jobs on old Colts often sell for over triple the value of the unmodified Colt.

[Al Thompson]

Or to put it yet another way, you can pay 1500 bucks for 500 bucks worth of work and as long as a name is involved, you'll get your money back with no enhancement of the investment. :neener:

Ya know, my first custom gun was done by a "no-name loser" in a strip mall named Jim Stroh. :) These days, he's not in a strip mall. Was then, though.

Sean, if you don't have a smith that will sign his work or access to a resource like the web/pistolsmith.com, the average smart gun buyer will not pay you for the custom work. 98% of the HG buyers out there will not pay for a Powers revolver or a Heinie 1911. I don't know about you, but I stand a lot better chance of selling to that 98% than the 2% who appreciate the craftsmanship.

[Tommy Gunn]

Collector's value? :rolleyes:

You can put all your guns under glass, but then whats the point of having them if you can't use them? If you are looking for investments, then go see a stockbroker.

I use my guns and will refinish them as necessary to keep them in good working order.

[Sean Smith]

Or to put it yet another way, you can pay 1500 bucks for 500 bucks worth of work and as long as a name is involved, you'll get your money back with no enhancement of the investment.

Great insight, based on your total non-knowledge of the work in question. ;)

Handguns aren't a way to make money, generally. Of course, I never claimed they were. But have someone well-known do the work, and if you have to sell it for some reason, you won't get hosed like some folks claim.

Oh, by the way, I may not always be right but I am never wrong.

LOL... that statement makes about as much sense as your comment about spending $1,000 on a $500 gun and only being able to sell it for $300. Yeah, you'd have a point... if it was built on a Llama or something. :D