Detective Special Rehab - Need Counseling

[Olympus]

Well something can only be original once bug can be restored many times. Therefore I would go find an original high grade ds and keep that as an investment / BBQ gun and just use what you have now as a shooter addressing any mechanical issues you find with it as needed.

Not to poo poo colt but i see many people talk as if a colt refinish will not hurt their guns value and that is unfortunate. A refinished gun always will be just that and have it's value starting in the second tier of pricing for condition, not the first. Folks may try and get more but in the end an original is always going to price out higher than a refinish. Does colt do a nice job and not mess up your gun? Absolutely but it's still a refinish.

This is true IF a person knows that it's been refinished. I cringe at the thought of how many Pythons on GB have been refinished by Colt and are being sold as original finish.

The fact is that a Colt refinish and rollmarks redone will look exactly like original. Colt makes no indication of a refinish when they do the job. So unless the seller is honest and admits to a refinish, I doubt there are a handful of people in America that could pick out a Colt refinish job. Definitely the average Joe will never be able to tell, especially if all the rollmarks are redone at the same time.

That's one of the reasons why I stopped buying Pythons. Colt has a 6 month wait on refinish jobs. Why do you think that is? Tells me that a bunch of people are capitalizing on the service. And with the ever increasing price of Pythons and D-backs, doesn't take much to see that people are probably sending their rough guns back to Colt for a refinish so they can advertise them as 99% guns in original condition and get more money for them.

 

[22-rimfire]

I would keep it as is if you want to continue to carry it. All that said... my Dad had an old Ithaca M37 shotgun that he absolutely loved. There was little finish left on it (maybe 50% gun at the time). He had it re-reblued and loved it. But it was not because he hoped to make money. He just loved the shotgun. This is pretty much the way I would approach the issue.... the money becomes irrevalent.