Should I....

[jimmyraythomason]

I have a 1909 Arggie Carbine made in Argentina by F.A.M.P.in 1949. The carbine has all matching numbers. The stock in not the original but is the correct one made in Argentina. I want to refinish this stock and blue all the metal normally blued from the factory. Considering the rarity of this carbine(only about 19,000 made) should I refinish it or just leave it alone?

 

[Vaarok]

Absolutely not, unless you want to ruin it.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Do you mean as a collector piece? Please explain "ruin". How much will redoing this piece diminish it's value(pricewise)?

 

[davera]

In general rebluing the metal, sanding and refinishing the stock will reduce collector value .... but this is your rifle to do with as you please. Personally, I try to clean them up as much as possible and enjoy them "beauty marks" and all.

On my own rifles, I am not opposed to some cold bluing as a touch up or some light sanding on a stock. A friend of mine has taken a couple of old milsurps and returned them to "parade rifle" appearance. It surely hurt their collector value but they really do look nice.

 

[doc2rn]

You could see a drastic reduction from refinishing it. I saw a vitage Garand that needed serious work done to make it safe to fire selling for $600 as a parts gun. The one he refinished was priced at $450. So you are looking at, at least a 25-30% decrease in value, even if it looks better. However a mint Garand is easily worth over $1000 now.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I will either do a total refurbishing or nothing at all. My thinking at this point is ,that since it is somewhat rare, not to do anything at all. If the stock was in the condition that the metal is in it wouldn't even be a concern. I paid $15.00 for the stock plus shipping and is worth every penny that I paid for it but I'll keep looking for a better stock. Thanks for the imput.