In for sale, a member has a fairly nice low wall with excellent barrel that has been tapped for scope blocks.  Comment that too bad was tapped, several others say it adds value to the rifle.  Apparently, from the lack of sale, it hasn't; the rifle unaltered would bring maybe $1600, he's asking $1700 with holes, and it hasn't sold.  I'd guess it'll have to discount $150 or so to sell because of holes.

I have never seen that add value, no matter to whom.  

Every "shooter" that I have seen taking a collectible original that has been damaged by holes has said "I don't care that it's been drilled, because I want to shoot it and that saves me money".  I've never seen one say "Wow, that one has holes in it, I'll pay $50 more per hole for it over undamaged collectible value".

The owner that drilled that barrel decided to prioritize usefulness over value, probably recognized it was costing them, but made the rifle better for their use.  It may have been when the rifle wasn't particularly collectible and valuable, so the loss at that time may have been minimal.  

Rarity that cannot be duplicated or created makes for value.  Once tapped, that is one less original rifle that is available, and the value of the undamaged ones goes up.  You can always take an undamaged one and convert it to a drilled one, so no extra value to a drilled one.  

I've taken apart and rebuilt collectible rifles, knowing I'm destroying the collectible value.  But, that makes more sense than working with something poor.  I've offered on here several times to trade an original rifle that I was going to break down for a new action, quality barrel, and a new semi-inletted stock set.  Never had a taker.

The reality for a gun builder is that starting with a nice 75% condition rifle is much more cost effective than putting in the labor to start with a worn to hell relic original.  Just a quick re-polish and re-finish on the 75% one, many hours or even days of labor to rebuild a junker. 

Same with the guy that has a rifle, wants to shoot it, but needs scope for his eyes.  He could sell his rifle, buy back one already tapped, and shoot it.  But, he's taking a chance on bore being good, on action working, etc.  Plus having to work up loads for it.  Better to just drill his rifle and use it instead of going to a lot of bother to find that he doesn't end up with a usable rifle anyway.  So, even if he loses value, he's ahead.

Thought I'd bring it up here to discuss.  I'll post some examples below.

I have three Winchester High Walls that are good examples of this in my safe at the moment, all bought for the actions.

#1 is a double set trigger in .25-20SS.  Excellent bore, 80% #3 barrel and stock finish, good action but only traces of case.  Tang sight and Beech front.  Nice action.  Will make excellent rifle; can sell original barrel, sights, and stocks for $1000+ on ebay.  I'd guess at $1750 value for the rifle as is.  So, can keep the action for $750 to build from.

#2 is a #1 .22 WCF single set.  Refinished throughout.  Junk bore.  Small shank.  Nice looking rifle, no originality.  Maybe a $1100 rifle.  Stocks, barrel and sights worth $450 on ebay.  Makes for a $650 action if it's stripped and sold.

#3 is a #2 .32-20 rifle.  20% barrel and action finish, good stocks untouched.  Small shank.  Nice looking rifle, all original, poor finish condition.  Maybe $1200 rifle.  Stocks, barrel and sights worth $500 on ebay.  Makes for a $700 action if it's stripped and sold.  The stocks switched onto another rifle that has been damaged or refinished would add greatly to the value of it.  

All three of these are fairly rare high wall configurations.  None are particularly desirable as a rifle, so value is low as a collectible.  Stripping them for parts makes economic sense.  I haven't done it so far because I've got somewhere between 6 and 10 high walls in my parts cabinet to use already.

I also have a #3 barrel, 28" long, in .22 short.  Bad bore, but near excellent externals, except someone chemically stripped the blue.  Rare configuration.

I also have a #1 barrel, half round/half oct, in .22 wcf.  Really rare configuration.  

Figuring out what to do with this kind of stuff is hard.  The .22 short #3 should be relined, and re-assembled.  I have an appropriate action, with a high serial # lower tang and coil spring I could use along with an original .22 high wall block.  I could re-assemble an unusual configuration rifle with restored finish and bore.  

The #1 half round barrel in .22 wcf I would like to line and re-assemble with the #2 high wall above, and switch in better wood.  Restore barrel and action finish to original.  But, I already have .22 hornets to use, and final rifle would be worth less than the parts.  A restoration using original barrel lined would be more appropriate so it would letter, but it's all refinished anyway, so doesn't matter.

Lots of dilemmas when you start talking about altered original rifles.

My last two walls *not counting the Amoskeag one that is NOT HERE YET were the only ones of the dozen that I have bought that had original wood and barrels.  Both were modified for scope blocks which suited me fine.  One is a LW in 32-20 that I picked up at auction for a decent price that had an excellent bore and is now sporting an old 10x Targetspot (not Jr or Super) and so far I have a load that shoots 1" at 50 yds consistently.  The other is a HW Winder in 22LR that I picked up at the Oregon Arms Colletors show that had a 4x scope and a very good bore.  It happens to be my only coil spring.  So far.
In both cases, I was looking for a good price and a shooter, not a collectible.   
My thinking now is to dispose of a couple of rifles that I no longer want and to save up for a well-researched original unmodified 32-40 HW.   

Jack

Stevens 44 1/2’s were also modified in the last century into mostly varmint rifles. I have four 44 1/2’s that were made into varmint guns, a .219 zipper, a .218 bee, a .222 magnum, which is a recent addition, and lastly from Amoskeag a 5 mm hornet.
The .219 zipper is now my .28-30, the .218 bee is now my .32-20.
I am not sure what I am going to do with the 5 mm hornet.
The .222 magnum kind of threw me because the top tang was shortened about a half an inch and the bottom tang was bent for a pistol grip. It also seemed strange in .222 magnum due to being a rimless case. The stock has very nice figure, and has a through bolt modification. With the shortened top tang I guess I will keep that stock rather than replacing it with a factory looking one. The rifle now has an original .25-21 barrel on it. I am sure the .25-21 barrel is a take off barrel from a rifle that was turned into a varmint gun.
I prefer to modify these varmint rifles back to more original configuration, is that wrong?
My .25-21, a work in progress.

Interesting thread – and one I have thought about some.  I have two 1885’s that sort of fit the bill, one a LW originally in .22 Long (pre LR) that may have been one of the first LW’s that left Winchester (#2879 – June 2, 1886) This one has special meaning to me; it was my great Grandpas rifle (although we suspect he wasn’t the original owner). I wanted to get it shooting again – it had a sewer for a bore, and a really pitted extractor, but didn’t want to lose the value or change the keepsake, so we found an original barrel that had been sleeved and a replacement extractor. We kept the transitional block in, and I have all the original parts to ‘restore’ the rifle if wanted. So, I felt okay with the changes. 

I was also lucky enough at an auction to pick up highwall #303 in original as shipped condition, which interestingly left Winchester a month after Grandpa’s rifle (so much for serial number sequence – I know the Winchester factory story). It was originally a 32 WCF, #1 barrel and the stock and outside metal looked like it spent 99% of its life in a scabbard.  Inside it was pristine with more than a trace of color! Again, we kept all the parts whole and original, but put another barrel and re-chambered to 25-35. With that I found the old-style firing pin was allowing the pressure of the ‘new’ chambering to blow primers. I did not want to convert/change the block to solve the problem, so I found a block (new MVA) we fitted to work. But I left that glorious old wood on her to tell her story as much as we can.

Changing an original for me has been okay – as long as I keep and preserve the original parts… we are just temporary keepers of this history, and I don’t want to be remember as ‘that-guy’ – but I do so enjoy shooting these great rifles!

To me, if the rifle is in 70-80% condition and is original I wouldn't mess with it in any way, just because they don't make 'em anymore, and most times modified rifles are screwed up in one way or another.

An example of something bad was a "takedown" highwall I saw on a collectors table recently.  I think he was just clearing out some non-original stuff or maybe he picked it up cheap to sell at a gun show.  The rifle was no longer a takedown, and had been restocked and turned into a 219 Wasp. 

Chris.

In the past it was always a point that buyers made note when looking at any collectible firearm if it had extra holes of any kind. So it wasn't uncommon for picky collectors to not want a gun with extra holes at all, or want a big discount for extra holes.
But in recent years I've seen a number of buyers happy to buy an old single shot with scope bases, especially if those rifles had period scopes on them. And if the guns were any made by the well known custom gunsmiths that are revered by many, it was even expected they'd have scope bases.
I've seen a number of old single shots with no dovetails in the barrels that were built specifically to be scoped. I own a Ballard with Stevens-Pope barrel that has no dovetails, and rollstamps are on the 45 degree flats, so obviously the owner intended it to be scoped, or he'd at least have had a front dovetail on the barrel.
I do agree that holes affect the value negatively, but not as much so as they did a couple decades ago. I've got a friend who only collects old single shot rifles with period scopes on them. He passes up most that don't have holes for scope bases, as they don't fit his collecting interest. And when one is too neat to pass up, he usually is disappointed he can't D&T it for a scope.

I see extra holes as merely a bargaining chip when agreeing on a price. At the end of the day scope block holes on a barrel don't bother me in the least. But, I'm strictly a shooter and not looking at redeemable value at a later date - what will I care, I'll be dead!

What does bother me is a recoil pad. For some reason I can't see past it even if the rest of the gun is a pristine original.