Mistake to to repark M1s?

[REHRIFLE]

The mantra of people buying old weapons has always been to leave the weapon in the condition as found, except for fixes out of safety concerns. This would include no reblueing or reparking. Old Winchester rifles and shotguns and 1911 pistol are downgraded in price when this happens and generally attributed to some idiot not knowing what he was doing.

I have M1s with both the army finish and civilian repark and am still undecided on the issue. It appears the M1 community is the only one that has no problem reparking just to make the weapon prettier (i.e. the repark was not needed to stop deterioration).

Do you believe that in the distant future people will be saying we effed things up because we reparked the M1s?

[paid4c4]

I'm sure there will be many difference "opinions" to your question. I do have some weapons which I keep original rifles and pistols due to their value or rareness. Run of the mill M1 Garands I think are better off parkerized correct to the finish on the rifle at time of manufacture. I can tell you if I take several rifles to the gun clubs range the nicest looking rifles always get looked and shot first. Garands are like girls at the prom, the pretty ones get ask to dance first. On the rare occasion when I've a Garand the ones parkerized and in nice stocks sell first. I think it up to you own opinion and what you want, as to what future people may think isn't of much concern. A Shufflin Parkerized rifle is a happy rifle!
Bill

[Prince Humperdink]

I think just as with other "Possesions"it is a Personal choice.M1's were routinely refinished while in service,and so many were built from parts that in My opinion it shouldn't matter.Truly collectible M1's shouldn't be refinished as I believe it ruins collector value,but most M1's out there fall in the"shooter"catagory,therefore Their value is just as a shootable Rifle.I personally don't refinish Mine,but I'm definitely not against it,I just don't need it as I'm Happy with the Used look.

In 100 years(If anyone is still here and You can own a firearm)I believe that They can as now have the "unmolested collector pieces",and the useable refinished specimens,just as We have the same with 92's,94's and such...IMHO
Ryan

[Orlando]

If it was a original rifle with all correct original parts I wouldnt touch it no matter how worn
JMO

[smc51]

I happen to like the looks of a freshly Reparkerized (shuffed) M1

[paid4c4]

I happen to like the looks of a freshly Reparkerized (shuffed) M1
I've lost count of how many rifles I've had Shufferized but they've all looked great. I generally go over the new park with a mixture of Outers gun oil and RIG, it really finishes off the metal, IMHO of course.

[mac9990]

In the Army we would occasionally clean weapons en masse, two or three guys would clean 10-15 weapons sometimes, parts were just put together as they pulled from the solvent tank or pile. This happened a lot with most of our M1s, not to mention rebuilds, repairs and factories supplying parts to each other to keep production going. I would love to have an original battle worn rifle as it was used, but they all need a home, even the purty ones.

[wilko]

I'm with Orlando. If it's special, it doesn't get touched. Otherwise, whatever. The only other thing is that a freshly reparked rifle on dinged up original wood just looks wrong.

[mixmaster]

If the rifle needs to be refinished it is probably out of the "collector" grade anyhow. Most collector grade M1s are actually correct grade as the parts are not original to the rifle. Just the correct time frame. There is no way to prove the rifle is all original as say a Colt SA or a fire arm where all the parts are numbered to the serial number. So with all that. I would re park as the military did when they rebuilt them.

[llurpirate]

It's yours and you should do what you want to it. I can go either way depending on the way I intend to use it. To use as and example of period I would leave it alone. It maintains it's history that way.

[seaninmich]

The truth of the matter is that there were 5.5 million of them made. They've nearly all been overhauled, rebuilt, and repaired repeatedly in the last 70 years. VERY, VERY, VERY FEW are truly "collectible. In fact, most of us don't own one that is "collectible". They are good shooters. They are fun toys. If a park job makes it look better and provides a level of protection that increases it's useful life, by all means - PARK AWAY!

[Dave Waits]

If you stumble onto an early Winchester that's 100% in some old deceased Vets' closet that is thin on park but still has Normandy sand in the Butt, that's one thing.But, it seems on SOME forums if a noob shows up with a FG with a WWII serial number and parts from all four manufacturers, some 'old-timer' in the bunch will say "Don't do anything to it!" and six more Camp-followers will mouth the same thing like it's some 'Sanctified-Object'.

As for collectible, here's one that hasn't seen 100 rounds since it was built.
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii180/retmsgt123/IMG_0034-1.jpg
It's a greek AF Return, I actually cleaned Cosmoline out of the internals, not the Greek stuff either. Problems was, it was resting in a ratty SA Buttstock. It's in Deans' wood now. TE<1,ME<1.
Oh, it's a 5.66 HRA, 100% with a IHC-NHC Gas-screw.

[The Garand Guy]

The rules against reparking a firearm originates from custom, and is codified in the NRA rules that a firearm loses its value when it is refinished. This is well & good for civilian firearms, where the owner uses it (usually not in the rain or other adverse conditions), cleans & oils it, and puts it away in a nice dry closet or safe. Military weapons, on the other hand, are used under extremely adverse conditions of rain, snow, mud, trainees, foreign troops unskilled in the care of machinery, etc., & are exposed to these conditions for long periods of time. It is my opinion that collector grade military firearms should be left "as is", and rebuilds (shooters) can be reparked. I rebuild my M1's for sale with all reparkerized metal, and new Dupage wood. My customers report "ooh's" & "aah's" & "Where did you get that M1?" One customer was stopped 7 times before he left the dealer's shop by guys wanting to see it. And as paid4C4 said "The prettiest girls are asked to dance first at the prom"

[LEAD POISON]

Then you can always do "white lettering".

[herrmann]

Life truly IS too short to shoot an ugly gun !

(I don't see any pride of ownership on the junk that came from Denmark or Blue Sky.)

[timshufflin]

The difference between an original early Winchester lever action, or other collectable with worn finish and an original Garand with worn finish is zero. The problem comes when you try to compare an original Winchester lever action with a MIX MASTER Garand. HUGE diff and finish on the Garand aint going to help.

[KnickKnack]

What Sean said...