Is it refinished?

[hogan]

I inherited a Winchester 62a from my Dad, and I remember that every time he came home from squirrel hunting he would clean it and take shoe polish to the stock. He was meticulous with this rifle. He bought this rifle in 1954 and according to my Dad he never refinished this gun.
I have shown my inheritance to friends of mine and they say that it cannot be factory finish.
Is there any way to tell if it is refinished?

 

[6gun]

If your dad took as good of care of the rifle as you say I would believe it has never been refinished, I have a Winchester model 94 from 1952 the original bluing is in excellent condition.

 

[coach]

If he bought it and said he never refinished it and took care of it like you saw, I would take his word.

 

[opos]

I have a 62A that was my first rifle ...dated 1953 (yep, I'm that old)..it was cared for like a baby and is easily a 95-98% gun (only the minimum wear points on the pump slide arms show any wear at all). The wood was carefully wiped with a high grade of oil (no not gun oil...wood preservation oil) and wiped down after every use...always stored in a climate controled area in our home....If your rifle was handled in a similar manner it's probably in similar condtion..there were many that had been steel wooled on the wood and then rubbed with a "dye finish" that made them look really nice but eventually it caused a blotchy look to the wood...My guess is if your gun has one owner all that time and that person is the only one that would have done any refinish work and says no..then it's probably original.

There is a huge difference between say a 90% rifle and a 95% rifle..most folks "over grade" their guns or use terms like "minty" or "almost unfired"..but the real collectors grade with an eagle eye and again the differences in value for just a few % points is dramatic.

 

[Precision32]

Check the breech/chamber area. Most original finishes were not applied to these areas.