Now I am confused. This gun has 90% case colors but has been rebarreled. The case coloring is claimed to be original. How can a gun from 1892 still have 90% case colors but the need for new barrels? Does this sound strange?
Ken
Maybe not strange but certainly worthy of follow up. In the first place, rebarreled is not always good--depends on who did it and the quality of the job. Second, the barrels may have been damaged in any number of ways that would not necessarily have hurt the action and stock--unclean barrels after black powder shells? Third, I am starting to smell renovation which may be how the case colors are so fresh. This was very popular in the 1980s and 1990s with otherwise good guns. Reference also what Atkin Grant and Lang are doing...they take a worthy gun and "redo" it including restock or rebarrel as necessary. Guns then typically sell for half to three quarters of original value.
I typically dislike rebarrels as the weight distribution very rarely survives as intended by the maker. There are exceptions, of course, so you'd have to look at the gun.
