[Winchester_73]

Aaron, in my opinion the first buy, the $300 was a good deal. You got a quality arm there and its in the not often seen configuration. I'd say right now, its worth more than what you paid.

I don't think S&W rebluing it would kill the collector value. Thats debatable. They would surely do a good job. However, is it even worth the $220? Of course their work is, but really you gotta add it all together which makes for an investment of $520. $220 sounds pretty good for their work, but the cheapest option would be IMO to keep it as is, and wait for a better one, more to your standards. Then you could always sell yours to someone else. They would buy it for the same reason as you. I say this all because the model 36 is fairly common, and I imagine you will find a really nice one for a really fair price at some point.

I know you aren't the selling type, but you never know what the future holds. At $520 in, and its re-done, I don't see you breaking even. Of course some don't care about that, but there are tons of guns for sale due to the economy. Tons of deals to be found. If you have to have a 3 in sq butt like you have, that would take some degree of patience BUT I think its the wiser move to wait for another. You just don't know what the future holds...

In the end, the right answer is what makes you happy. I like to get that 'bang' for my buck is all. To some, that doesn't matter and thats fine. Good luck in whatever choice(s) you make.