New FN owner looking for information and advice

[Heronfish]

Hopefully I can properly describe this rifle and the knowledgeable members can pass along some information.

I recently bought this gunew after reading about them in the past.
It has a plain jacketed barrel without the raised rib.
When i purchased it, it has not been shot for years and years and took a little oil to get the internals moving freely again, but I quickly had it firing and rattled off ten rounds.
The condition is as a working gun of the period. There is a few very small hair cracks at the tang and another at the front of the receiver when an auto 5 would crack.
The wood has some wear but only from honest carry, with some of the checkering worn flat.
The metal work has some of its bluing left but has freckling from old rust. There is only one small part of what I would call pitting near the end of the barrel jacket.
The bore is in very nice shape for its age with very defined rifled.
The buttplate remains as it came.
The rifle is missing the front sling swivel.

Now can anyone advice what I should do with this old rifle? Is it worth sending for a professional refinish or best to leave it alone?

And as it sits what could it be worth?

[Hardrada55]

Pictures please! Not going to be able to give you an opinion on worth without pictures. Even giving a value from pictures is dicey. What I have always heard is that if the gun is so worn and ugly and messed up that you can't really enjoy owning it, then you are justified in having the gun restored. Not "refinished", but "restored", which is a lot harder to get done. Just "refinishing" your gun will destroy whatever collector value your gun has. Most collector's will tell you to leave it alone. Looking forward to seeing the pix as I always like FN 1900s.

[Roger]

Sir,
Please do not refinish an FN1900 rifle!!! I would consider that move as sacreligious. These guns are far too rare to screw with them at all. But these are just my opinions.(thirty -five +yrs.) of collecting JMBROWNING designed guns.
Ultimately it's your decision.
Thanks for your time,
Roger

[ranman]

I think these are best left as is if they still function. The metal sounds to be in good condition and should no be "fixed" . Stocks could be recut if too far worn but again this is only my two cents -Canadian at that . Pictures,picture,and more pictures are essential for us fn and 8/81 nuts.

[Bandersnatch]

Pictures, yes indeed.

[81police]

did someone say pictures? ummm....please!

Restoration involves a considerable investment and unless the rifle is already substantially valuable, the owner will not regain that investment. Maintaining original condition usually holds the best value. But photos we like

[Sarge756]

Pichers !!!!

[Heronfish]

As you can tell, this is an honest hunter, not a safe queen.

[Roger]

My opinion,such as it is, would be to leave it alone. It's been there and done that. Way cool in my book.
Roger

[Bandersnatch]

My grand and glorious opinion is thus: just give it a good cleaning, inside and out. If you're unsure of take down procedures there is scads of helpful advice around here. Being an all steel gun, it makes nothing of harsh cleaners like gun scrubber, to get the old gunk out of the action, and then some very fine steel wool, with oil, to remove the surface freckling. Gently clean the worst of the dirt and old oil from the wood and reassemble. With a light coat of oil it will glow with that wonderful light only steel and wood from a hundred years ago has. Beauty.

[curdog]

You certainly have a neat old rifle there.

If you can disassemble it and put the metal parts in an ultrasonic cleaning tank, this will clean it the best.
I would do that and put it back together and have fun.
Please do not send it to a "refinisher". It will be ruined. There are workmen out there that can restore a rifle looking
like this one, so that it would look almost like new.
And also like no one had ever touched it. But work of such quality is very expensive, and it takes quite a valuable
gun to make it worthwhile.

[81police]

that is a fine looking FN. The guys over at S&S do wonders with bringing 8's, 81's, and FN's back to life without refinish/restoration. Maybe they can chime in!

[Heronfish]

As for value would this rifle be worth about tge same as a similar model 8?
I tend to bore easily so it's often a revolving door of rifles.

[jack1653]

Hey Heronfish,

The value of the FN is much greater than the model 8 & 81's. The condition obviously will effect the value as to higher price, but if the file functions properly you should expect a fair value for the rifle.

If you get bored to the point of parting with it, please contact me. I would make room for it in the "Dirty Dozen plus one" in my stable of FN's.

Regards,

jack1653

[Heronfish]

After trading a few pms with Jack, if there are any fellow Canadians here interested in this rifle please contact me. This should go to a collector who appreciates it more than I will.

[ranman]

Heronfish, I have sent you a pm
Thanks
Randy

[Phyrbird]

Curses Foiled again by Canadians

[ranman]

update: we have made an exchange and this fn is now on my workbench getting cleaned and ready for the range. Thanks Heronfish.

[jack1653]

Hey ranman,

Glad to hear that you were able to get the rifle. I know you will welcome it to your stable of FN's. I hope that we will be able to view the rifle after you have cleaned it up.

Regards,

jack1653