Here's the specifics:
BKH-34, Flattop, Micro rear sight
s/n 19030 (1959)
4 5/8 bbl
Black rubber grips
Has NOT been converted
VERY slight wear at the left front of the barrel and the left rear of the frame (by the cylinder)
Some wear on the cylinder, if you rotate it it matches up with the wear on the barrel and frame. I'm guessing holster wear.
My bad, I did not look closely at the front sight or the ejector rod and housing.
I would rate it, using the BBGV, 95-98%
He brought it to me today to "evaluate" whether he should have it color cased or reblued. My first thoughts
I told him that it is his gun, he can do anything he wants with it but if it were mine I'd leave it alone.
About my customer:
He is a professor at Penn State, he is Chinese (but a green card holder) and he wants his guns, new or old to not have any wear marks, etc. on them. An example, he bought a HK VP9 Long Slide from a person that I had had Cerakoted 2 months prior. It had some marks on the slide and grip (I would consider very minor normal wear and tear) and he wanted me to reCerakote (same colors). Tried to talk him out of it but no luck, so I Cerakoted it again and charged him full price.
1. He wanted to know how much it is worth.
I tried to explain that it depends on the people who might want to buy it, be they Ruger collectors, just shooters, location in the US, etc.
2. What would the cost be to color case it or reblue - I used Bobby Tyler and Turnbull to give him estimates
3. Would rebluing or color casing affect the selling price
Tried to explain that it would again depend on the buyer - are they knowledgeable about Rugers, can they spot something that has been reblued, where it was being sold, etc.
Now that the preliminaries are done, here's what I told him:
The Blue Book says value of $600 - $850. I said with the amount of wear (very little) probably $750-$800
YES - NO? Was I too far off either way? Remember I'm a DA kind of guy so I'm still learning the SA trade
Thanks for any/all inputs. I am considering making him an offer, this is just not the kind of gun he normally buys/collects, if fact I think this is the only SA revolver he has. He gravitates toward S&W revolvers.
