hi all,
i came into 2 old guns and need some advice. the first one is a winchester 1894 - by the serial number, it was built around 1920 - and it shows. i have not fired it yet, but want to. the reciever is only 20-30% blue, the bbl and tube are about 70-80%, also, the wood is worn, rounded, chipped and scarred. i looked into the bore and found some light pitting.
the second one is a colt 1871-72 open top ?? converted to .38 centerfire. it has no blue (if it ever has) the grips look original (guess) and have been re-stained long ago (guess). the bore is filthy, dusty and i can't see the metal.
my questions are:
1) should i clean the revolver?
2) should i fire the rifle?
and
3) would the rifle be worth more in this "original" state? or should i send it to winchester for a re-furb, make it look good, but possibly lower the value????
thank you all in advance!