prices

A small sampling of some of the kinds of guns we regularly work on:

Colt: percussion revolvers, conversions, single actions, side-swing double actions, semi-automatic pistols & AR-series weapons

A. Fox: shotguns

Hi-Standard: semi-automatic pistols

Lugers

Mannlicher-Schoenauer: rifles

Mauser: rifles and semi-automatic pistols

Marlin: lever rifles (including Ballard single shot) and shotguns

Military: bolt action, revolvers and semi auto rifles and handguns of many nations

Parker: shotguns

Remington: from antique percussion revolvers to semi-automatic pistols, rifles and shotguns (also 870 and 1100 combat work)

Savage: older rifles and shotguns

Sharps: rifles and pistols

SIG: pistols

L.C. Smith: shotguns

Smith & Wesson: all revolvers and semi-automatic pistols

Stevens rifles; pre-1900

Steyr

Uberti, Pietta, Pedersoli: revolvers and rifles

Walther: semi-automatic pistols

Whitney: pistols and revolvers

Winchester: lever, single shot, bolt rifles and shotguns (also 1200 and 1300 combat work)

If you would like to send a firearm in for an estimate, e-mail us first for a shipping address dave@oldwestgunsmith.com

The prices shown below are minimal approximations of costs for similar work; they are not price quotations for your gun.

There are great differences between a factory-like refinishing (or refurbishment) and a full-scale restoration and this is a point to clarify. Most of the work we do is the former (factory-like refinish.) In other words, refinishing the weapon just like the factory would have if you returned it to them some time after the gun was made, say for example, an 1890 production gun returned to the factory in the early 1930's.

What's the difference between a factory-like refinish (let's call it plan A) and a restoration (we'll call that plan B)?

plan A; the factory-like refurbishment resurfaces the metal to a state that is similar to what it was when the gun was new with the proviso. . ."as best as is possible/practical, given the starting condition or state of the gun we are working on" and finishes it in a manner consumate with factory service department practice from the old days. That means keeping the edges square, lettering sharp and surfaces flat and on plane. When they did this, the factory did not recut or restamp markings and you can see many good examples of this by examining guns that were factory refinished by any of the the major manufacturers (a good example would be S&W's "star prefix" serial guns) from the 19-teens through the 1960s.

This kind of rework or refurbishment allows that the bottoms of damages (deep pitting or dents) will also remain, the markings and factory logo are often thinned out, if not even partially obliterated. The factories took a "what you start with determines what you end up with - we are not building you a new gun here" attitude and if the markings had to be lost to give the gun a proper refinish, then so be it. Normally, we are able to go much further than the factory with this since we are doing it one gun at a time but there are still limitations based on what we have to start with.

We are also able to take this a step further than the factory would have on many occasions by having an engraver hand re-cut some markings to the point where they are legible and clear, but again, normally this is not a re-stamp so the edges of letters and logos will never have the slightly raised corners (like you will see on some new guns that have never been refinished.)

Why are we or the factory not restamping markings? There are exceptions, as we can occassionally have some small markings correctly restamped, but as a rule the engraver is the only practical way. The reasons are manifold: To restamp like the factory did it initially requires;

In addition, no attempts are or were made by the factory to resurface areas that are not easily accessed, examples of this would include the inside of the frame in the cylinder opening on a revolver, steel under the stock or grips and etc.

Because our work so closely duplicates factory work, as a rule we mark all our refinishing and restoration work with our initials and a date on the frame; up under the grip (where S&W used to mark refinished guns) or under the stock wood, so a serious collector could find it easily.

The worst kinds of guns to refurbish are guns that have been previously and poorly refinished. I am talking about the kind of work we see so often where someone has taken a loose buff to the gun, knocking out and rounding edges and markings, hogging out screw holes and/or polishing a frame without the sideplate on. This kind of work is the most expensive to repair and there are times when we will outright refuse the work. If we do refuse it or recommend against doing the work, it's because the job will never come out right and from an economical perspective we are trying to do you, the owner, a favor by telling you not to bother. We are giving you the benefit of our experience in judging that such a gun won't come out well, thus we won't have to present you with a job that we know will be less than saftisfactory that everyone is unhappy with.

For some informative reading on this subject, refer to my book Smith & Wesson Sixguns of the Old West (2004, Mowbray Publishing), pages 165-172.

plan B; The full-on restoration and we do very little of this. Resurfaces and restores all the metal to a state that appears like it was when the gun was new. .period, no matter what it takes.

That would include re-cutting any and all markings to maintain consistent and deep markings throughout the re-surfacing process. Often this actually means cutting and then re-cutting markings or logos several times, depending on how much resurfacing is required so the engraver charges themselves can get pretty steep, pretty fast.

Plan B would also address any and all areas that had been damaged (rounded-off, broken corners and edges, deep pitting, dents or whatever) often involving welding, resurfacing and sometimes even an expensive re-heat treating of the the steel. On top of that, the work also includes preparing any areas that would not normally be seen except on a very close examination.

In short, the effort here would be to re-produce the gun as it was when it was new with no effort or expense spared. One of the big differences between plan B and plan A is that the sheer amount of work and the costs to perform such work (for plan B) are far greater than the amount of work required a factory-like refurbishment. Jobs like these are always priced individually but normally, full-on restorations hover roughly in the $3000-10,000 range, even more for older guns with serious age damages. Now, it should be said that not every gun will be good enough to start with to warrent a restoration (we shy away from previously, poorly refinished guns and won't touch fire damaged guns at all) and more than that, still fewer firearms are worth enough in any state to be worthy of this kind of expense and labor.