Restoring vs. Preserving Antique Guns: A Guide for Collectors

Your local Midwest Arms Collector Gun Show is a great place to find antique guns and the parts you need for a vintage gun restoration project. That doesn’t mean restoration is always the right course. Sometimes, preserving firearms is the better option for investment purposes, as it keeps historical firearms authentic and original. Choosing the proper care and upkeep for your antique guns will help you get the most out of your collection.

The Difference Between Restoring Vs. Preserving Antique Guns

While these two terms are often used interchangeably, they mean very different things. Whether you’re talking about maximizing the value of an antique gun collection or exploring a piece of history first-hand, using the right terminology helps make your intentions clear and better describe the guns you’re buying, selling, or trading.

• Preserving – Preserving firearms is about maintaining them in their current condition. This includes protecting them from the development or expansion of rust, keeping the furniture from drying or cracking, and protecting them from environmental hazards.
• Restoring – Gun restoration focuses on restoring a weapon to its functional condition. While this may include protecting it from rust and the environment, as you would with any firearm, its functional use is prioritized over maintaining its condition.
• Historically Accurate Restoration – This higher level of restoration is especially popular for antique guns that need a little TLC with an eye toward future value. Care is taken to use historically manufactured parts and maintenance processes that are contemporary to the weapon’s historical period.

Choosing Between Restoring Vs. Preserving Antique Guns

When it comes to how you handle the antique guns in your collection, a lot of the decisions hinge on the guns themselves and what you value them as. The ultimate goal is to ensure your handling supports the goals embodied by your vintage, rare, and historical firearm.  

When Preserving a Fiream is the Best Option

Preserving firearms with historical value and connections is necessary to maintain those connections. Whether it’s connected to a famous person or happens to be a rare historical gun with very few existing examples, authenticity and originality are where its value lies. In these cases, gun restoration is best avoided.

Instead, preservation should focus on preventing any or further damage. Research the chemicals, cleaners, and lubricants recommended by antique firearms experts or the gun’s historical manufacturers. In these cases, every bullet fired risks diminishing the gun’s value, so it is best cleaned and lubricated periodically before being returned to a controlled environment, such as a long-term storage safe.

Choosing Historically Accurate Restoration

If your gun has historical value but is neither associated with a historically relevant personage nor exceedingly rare, a historically accurate restoration can help you make sure the antique gun is in good working condition while maintaining its authenticity. This process involves sourcing original components. Some allowances for modern recreations made to the exact specification and standards may be allowed, but the further you go from authentic during gun restorations, the greater the risk you run of damaging your investment.

This method is most common with vintage guns or family heirlooms where spare parts are still readily available. Often, the gun owner is looking to have a closer connection with the family member or time period the gun came from. Shooting should still be done sparingly, and storage between these range trips should meet the same needs as your antique gun preservation storage protocols for long-term security and safety from the environment.

When Restoration vs. Preservation is the Right Choice 

Not every antique firearm is meant to be a safe queen. Sometimes, you have to let the gun live out its intended purpose for as long as possible. If you want to restore or maintain functionality in a firearm and original authenticity is a secondary consideration, then restoration with modern parts and materials is a great choice. 

There are plenty of older firearms rocking new hardware, modern spring compositions, and Cerakote finishes that protect them from the elements better than touching up 60-year-old blueing can accomplish. You still want to make sure you’re using quality gun parts to do the job yourself after plenty of thorough research, or only trust your firearm to a gunsmith who has worked with antique firearms in the past. While you may not be concerned about authenticity, you still don’t want your gun damaged by someone who doesn’t understand its obsolete materials or design. 

Antique Guns and Gun Shows

Gun shows are a great place to find antique guns, rare firearms, and the parts and accessories to help you restore or preserve them. We draw vendors from hundreds of miles to your local community for a weekend of buying, selling, and trading. That includes private and professional vendors who specialize or dabble in vintage firearms. 

You can find old guns and the parts to repair them, both sold by knowledgeable firearms dealers who usually love to talk shop. This is especially true with some of the most popular antique firearms, like older Colt 1911 models, vintage Smith & Wesson Revolvers, Old West “Cowboy-style” revolvers, lever-action rifles, and coach guns. Historical firearms associated with American military conflicts are also well-represented. Whatever the focus of your collection, you’re likely to find the perfect addition at a convention center, expo hall, or fairground in your neck of the woods.

Make sure you know the history of the guns you want to add to your collection or buy parts for. Something as small as a difference in maker’s marks can not only point to a different date or production factory but also change the price by hundreds or thousands of dollars. Taking the time to investigate and learn about vintage guns also prepares you to spot counterfeits and avoid getting ripped off.

Get Your Tickets Online

Take a look at our Gun Show Calendar and circle the date of your next local show. One of our events is coming to a community near you soon, and that means it’s time to start doing your research and get ready to buy. Order your tickets online to a MAC Shows Gun Show today.