I thought it worthwhile to start a new thread about restorations. Does not have to be all about older custom bolt guns, there are many restoration projects involving single-shot rifles and others going on all the time.
Each person has to decide the why and how of what they want to accomplish. A fine firearm can be ruined by an unknowledgeable person with good intentions as fast as “Bubba” with a file and hammer. You might want to spent more money than normal on a firearm because it’s a family heirloom or it has historical importance. Most of the restorations I get involved with are trying to get a rifle back to how it left the custom maker in the first place. For each project that I am working on there must be a couple dozen others in the works and I’m trying to help with historical information.
Colt, Winchester or Bob Owen you have to know how they made the gun in order to properly restore it. On a Colt you need to know the direction of how each part was polished to even get close to factory. A Bob Owen you would need to know that his early stocks were french polished. In a miscommunication on my part one time I got a damascus barrel back that was brown & white instead of black & white. I spent too much time on the phone telling the smith why it sound not be brown & white ;-).
