Restoring/Upgrading an old pistol

[CapnMac]

That wear is pretty 'honest' for the age of the thing; the grip damage kind of "fits," too.

So, for my 2¢ I'd leave it as is. Arrest any further decay, obviously, but, keep that look. To where anyone seeing that would immediately know it had earned its years.

But, it's not mine, you want to get it to factory new, I'll not say against you, either.

I'd probably start with a stone rather than a wire whee, to better preserve the flats and engraving. And steel wool the curvy bits (with a lot of patience and 0000)--but, that's me.

 

[Monac]

A friend of mine took a beat up Colt 1903, had it cleaned up and hard chromed and put Novak (I think) sights on it. It is a very nice shooter now. I can see CapnMac's point of view, but it's not like this gun is a museum piece, so if Ivy Mike want's a good shooter, well, that's just another chapter in this gun's history.

 

[Johnm1]

Are those British proof Mark's on it? I see a Crown over PV. Maybe Belgian. FN is in Belgium.

 

[wiscoaster]

Are those British proof Mark's on it? I see a Crown over PV. Maybe Belgian. FN is in Belgium.

I think the closest match is probably a lion over P.V for Belgium, about a third of the way down the page:

http://www.nramuseum.org/media/940944/proofmarks.pdf

 

[Coyote3855]

Depends on sentimentality. I inherited my Dad's Colt Woodsman. He carried it everywhere, all the time. Wearing those plastic fake stag grips that were the rage back in the 50's, Franzites I think, when I received it. I found a pair of correct checkered wood grips, but took them off and put the plastic back. With the wood grips, it just wasn't his gun anymore. YMMV.

 

[S. Kelly]

I'd leave it as-is. It looks like it has Jap proof marks, so it's probably an officer's sidearm purchase. Have it appraised. You may be very surprised.
The holster may be original to it as well. Purchased with the gun at an officers supply store..
Don't refinish it. It's a piece of history. Kinda like welding up the crack in the Liberty Bell and then painting it with enamel paint.

 

[jmorris]

I look at restoring as putting back to original condition, sometimes that involves removing “upgrades”.

What to do is personal, personally I wouldn’t mess with it the same reason I wouldn’t take the first Ford model T produced, paint it white, change the frame and put a V8 in it. It would loose value to me not being in the original condition with honest wear.

That’s the sentimental value part for me though, erasing any signs of use and turning it into something they never held, much less used, is lost.

 

[doubleh]

I'll throw in my two cents and that's exactly what it's worth. If I wanted to shoot the gun I would do or have done the work it requires to make it safe to shoot and stop there. It's an old gun so there is nothing wrong with it looking old and it was your grandpa's gun. Grandpa is gone but not his gun and that is reason enough to me to leave it as it is is except for the safety. I just posted about finding an old Iver Johnson revolver. I have no personal connection to it except for owning it's small cousin for a few years a long time ago. I considered rebluing it but after cleaning it I decided that it should look its age and left it alone.