Posted by Bill Hambidge on February 11, 2007, 6:16 am, in reply to "Restoration Guns"
Bob, you will get many, many different opinions from "leave it alone" to "fixer' up" to "upgrade". The choice is yours and usually governed by the depth of your pocket.Most folks agree with your general thoughts about what to "restore" and what to "upgrade". The hardest call for me are the higher grade guns with extensive engraving so I leave that to folks like Ken Hurst and Jack Jones-two of the best engravers in the SE. They work directly with the customer and his/her wishes. Wood is easier as most folks have good ideas as to what they like. Bluing and case coloring are again dictated by the customer and their wishes. Cost depends on just what you do. Most places use similar base prices and can be seen on the bigger places web sites,i.e. Briley, Turnbull, Wind River, etc. Time from start to finish is usually about 8-16 months depending on how busy the different specialists are. Hope that helps, Best, Dr. BILL