I was thinking about a previous thread and the merits or otherwise of “doing up” tired collectable guns, and it occurred to me what a great language English is for subtlety. I could think of no less than five “R” words that apply to the subject (there may be more):

Reclamation

Resurrection

Regeneration

Renovation

Restoration

I wonder how you would define these terms when they are applied to “improving” a truly collectable gun (as opposed to a gun that is intended for regular use)? And under what circumstance would any of these different approaches be justifiable?

I will start the ball rolling by saying that “reclamation” and “resurrection” are probably much the same thing and would apply to a total wreck that was destined for the skip (or may even already be in it). In which case, IMO, anything you did to it to get it working would be justifiable. I think the other terms need more thinking about though.