Beretta S3

[rpanicus]

My uncle passed and I am inheriting two guns they both have some rust and haven’t been fired in my lifetime. One of the guns is a Beretta that my uncle bought while he was in Italy around the late 50s-early 60s. I can tell under the dust and rusting on the barrel that it’s a really beautiful gun and it has a lot of intricate engraving. Is there anybody that does really good restoration work on this type of gun in the Los Angeles area?

[Ducky's Dad]

Call Pacific Sporting Arms, out around Azuza. They will probably suggest sending it the Cole's in Maine or Midwest in Missouri. Cole's is the place for high end Berettas.

[rpanicus]

Thanks, I just sent Cole's an email, will also call Pacific Sporting. I'll post some photos when I pick it up next weekend.

[Revoman]

I believe that Bolsa is the west coast Beretta factory repair facility. You might try there along with Ducky's most excellent suggestions.

[JagerDog]

Always sad to see an abused higher end gun. That said, a bit of rust doesn't preclude it from being a shooter.

Hopefully it can be salvaged, but one-off repair of engraved surfaces can be quite costly.

[rpanicus]

There was also a Winchester 63 but I am going to focus on the Beretta first. Hoping this restore can be done for under 2k.

[rpanicus]

Picked them up today the Beretta isn't as bad as I thought the rust on it is like a very thin patina that I can hardly feel. Most of the inside looks shiney and new.

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[HUTCH 7.62]

Geta pre 1982 penny and some oil and start rubbing. Did this to a swedish mauser and it came out beautiful

[rpanicus]

Took an old sock and some oil and a lot of the rust came off, every part outside of the barrels is engraved. Found the date code its older than I thought 1949.

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[rpanicus]

Cleaned it up some more doesn't look nearly as bad as when I got it, rubbed the barrel with fine copper wool now it looks a 100x better, but I can still feel tiny pin size spots.

If I did send it out to be restored would it impact its value and would it be worth spending about $2.5k on getting it done?

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[Ducky's Dad]

From what I can see, that gun does not need to be restored. It probably needs to have the barrels and maybe a few small parts polished and properly blued, and then the rest of the metal cleaned and oiled. If you have a competent gunsmith completely strip the gun down to its components, he may recommend an ultrasonic cleaning on everything that does not need to be reblued. The engraved parts look like they may have been case hardened and colored, but it was probably a coin finish. If there is case color under the crud, the metal can be lacquered to protect remaining color after a thorough cleaning. A wood guy could clean up the checkering (if needed) and re-oil the wood. The buttstock is probably a different color under that lace-on pad, so that area will need to be blended anyway. I am not suggesting that you refinish the wood, just refresh it. That gun is special, so don't screw it up.

[rpanicus]

The quote I got was from Cole's in Maine from a ton of photos I sent him. Figure they work on a lot of these guns, he said restore would include the wood would be refinished and checkers recut. In this case with doing so much isn't it getting restored, does 2.5k sound right? I'l post some more pics.

I just want to bring it back to looking really nice but don't want to negatively effect its value.

[rpanicus]

The quote I got was from Cole's in Maine from a ton of photos I sent him. Figure they work on a lot of these guns, he said restore would include the wood would be refinished and checkers recut. In this case with doing so much isn't it getting restored, does 2.5k sound right? I'l post some more pics.

I just want to bring it back to looking really nice but don't want to negatively effect its value.

Pics

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[rpanicus]

Pics

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[JagerDog]

Shame it got improperly stored. Looks like it was carried more than fired (hunting gun). The jeweling on the block is barely worn.

I'd certainly polish and reblue the barrels. They prolly have some tricks for cleaning up the engraving cuts too. The highs loo pretty good as is. Wood deserves a refinish.

Value? A collector would spot any reblue and discount accordingly, but it wouldn't be worth less reblued than it is currently with it's mottling/pitting if done right. Would value increase by $2500? Prolly not. Would your satisfaction to own increase by $2500? most likely.

If $2500 isn't a burden, I think you'll be happy with Cole's work. Heck, he can sell you woodsets for $2500.