I recently picked up an M91/30. On top of paying way too much I apparently got the last one at the bottom of the crate, as there was no hand pick fee when ordering unless you emailed them (which I only found out about AFTER I ordered). On the plus side it is a 1926 Hex with a super clean bore, though I don't like to call it matching when it is obviously renumbered, including the old serial being lazily struck on the magazine plate/trigger guard; I prefer "arsenal renumbered" which every part on the gun is.

Problem is I get this thing out of the box and it has the worst refinish I've seen on one in awhile.





The stock is really bad. I think the person who did this one had a little much vodka for lunch as the front of the rifle and handguard have this really poorly applied, completely different color shellac on it that is flaking and very uneven. In addition they obviously did some of this work with the rifle assembled as it is on the barrel bands and magazine. This is most obvious with the slop in front of the hand grips.





The metal work is crappy too. Randomly on the metal is this awful black paint. On the butt plate it's covering up some rust and where the original serial was ground, but they didn't completely cover the part leaving some of the original bluing too. On the barrel and receiver it's just randomly slopped on in blobs in odd spots, like it just kind of fell there, not that it was actually applied on purpose. Most of this hides under the wood but near the muzzle and sight there is some spillage as well that looks bad. During the mineral spirit bath to clean the rifle a bit flaked off and on the barrel/receiver it's not hiding anything like the butt plate.

So what should I do with this gun? Collector wise it has very little value since it's been refurbed at least twice. Once when it was converted to M91/30 spec and again post WWII judging by the replacement stock (dovetail toe, pressed in sling bushings). I've never considered refinishing a vintage gun before as I'm of the mind it should be left as it is. But despite this refinish work technically being original it was either done by someone who didn't know what they were doing or didn't care, and for a fairly common rifle that is renumbered (and thus not truly original anyway) I don't think it would really hurt the value if done right.

Basically the options I have are stripping the shellac and refinishing, or trying to soften it up and blend it but given the very different tones and flaking I don't know if it is possible. When on the metal should I clean up the random splotches of black paint or leave it all alone? I think I'm being overly critical on the gun because I regret buying it for the price I paid but this is the roughest one cosmetically I've seen in awhile.
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