A friend has a 1911 that was issued to his father in law. It's a 1917 gun, in rather sad shape after two wars and long-time service. As a family heirloom he wants it professionally restored to as new condition to pass on to future generations.
The owner wants it restored, keeping in existing condition isn't what he wants. Even though it may reduce the market value of the gun, SO WHAT???
Yes, collectors want, and pay for the highest degree of original finish left, and a worn damaged gun with provenance can be worth more than a pristine gun without.
If you were to have that for the gun, BEYOND what unit, when and where your father in law had it issued to him, that would increase the "as is" value hugely. If you had proof what units the gun had passed through during those two wars, up to when your Father in law got it, it would absolutely be a foolish thing to do to have it refinished in any way.
Guns with that level of provable history are ultra rare, and should be preserved as is, in my opinion. That being said, if you only know (and can prove) the history of the gun after it was issued to your FIL, then a professional restoration of a WW I 1911 in "sad shape" makes sense to me.
Turnbull is the only one I know of, and as others have mentions, its not cheap. I have seen a couple of their guns, they do excellent work.
But they are human, too. A friend of mine has a Turnbull 1911, one of the reproduction WW I guns that they sell. He paid a pretty penny for it (check their web site for the price) he got it year before last. Then he sent it right back.
Because it wasn't what he ordered, in fact, it wasn't "complete". The gun he ordered was supposed to be an exact reproduction, including all the period correct markings (and Turnbull's logo, so it couldn't be passed off as original).
The gun arrived looking PERFECT, except the period correct markings weren't there. To say the least, he was a bit put out. Called them, sent the gun back the next day. It came back in a week (almost to the day) looking PERFECT, with a sincere apology. All shipping on Turnbull's dime.
BUT, that not the end of the story. It wasn't a total safe queen, my friend took it to the range a couple times, over the next 6 months. Both times, he fired 2 mags of ball, (flawless function, good accuracy) went home, cleaned it, and then put it away.
I was visiting him, and he showed me the gun. Beautiful piece, but something seemed wrong, to me. I thought it had the wrong ejector in it. My friend was a bit skeptical, but since I have been familiar with 1911 variations since the early 70s and was a Small Arms Repairman (MOS 45B20) in the Army, we did a little testing.
The gun had functioned flawlessly, when fired. Every time he had fired it, he did the same thing, fired the mag empty, reloaded, then fired the second mag empty. Worked perfectly.
Chambered an A Zoom Snap Cap (same size as ball ammo). Ejected it, worked perfectly. Chambered a JHP round, ejected it. Worked perfectly.
Chambered an actual round of GI 230gr ball ammo. Tried to eject it, gun jammed. Jammed HARD. Bullet nose hard against the inside of the slide just below the ejection port, held fast by the slide, extractor and ejector.
Had to drop the mag, hold the slide against its spring tension and PRY the live round out. Repeated things a few times, with exactly the same results. Live rounds shorter than GI ball ejected ok. Snap cap same size as GI ball ejected ok. Figured the snap cap ejected because it was so light it came out just enough faster, and/or at a slightly different angle to avoid jamming.
that was Sunday. Monday he called Turnbull, and the response to his description of the problem was, basically, "WHAT????????????????, send it in right now!" Due to his work schedule he didn't ship the gun until Thursday, and it came back the following Thursday. Friend talked to Turnbull (I think he said he talked to a VP), and was told "We're very sorry, that gun never should have gotten out of the shop that way. Someone is not going to have a Merry Christmas."
I looked at the gun again that weekend, it had the right style ejector in it, and it ejected 230gr FMJ ammo flawlessly. Again, the shipping was paid for by Turnbull, both ways.
The fact that the mistakes were made bothered me a bit, for that kind of money, those things should not happen. The fact that Turnbull didn't argue, paid all shipping and fixed things fast was impressive. I doubt whoever signed off on that gun that first time is still doing that for Turnbull.
My friend also has a Turnbull restored 86 Winchester. I think it looks better than what Winchester originally sent out. Absolutely beautiful work.
My point is, that from what I have personally seen, they do great work, and if something isn't right, they fix it as fast as humanly possible, once they find out about it.
If I had an valuable old gun I wanted restored to look like new, I would send it to them, along with a good chunk of my disposable income.
