I think I agree about not refinishing the lower. I have an old Colt too, which is not really a collectors item probably, but I wouldn't refinish it. I do want to find a factory aluminum stock in good shape though to switch with the scratched up one on it. I wouldn't even worry about that if it were minor scratches, but someone had a cherokee cheek piece on it and apparently used a screwdriver to remove it several times... argh.