Refinishing affects purist collector value. But I wouldn’t even think twice. Whether it’s pre-Garcia, spotter, finnbear, deluxe, etc matters much more. But since you’re going to hang onto it forever, irrelevant. There was a time when wood just wouldn’t have the accuracy of fiberglass, but with stabilized stocks, alum bedding, and others, that’s no longer the case. I don’t disagree with Shank that it’s not the “important” part of the equation, but there’s a hell of a difference between holding a gorgeous piece of hand carved wood. I’m sure H&H and Westley Richards could nail the fiberglass thing, but…
As far as dents and dings telling a story. Not untrue. But exterior surface rust doesn’t hurt accuracy or function either, and no one not wiping their bluing down after a wet jaunt. Would say that’s just personal preference. I would never fix the dents and dings in the guns my G-G-grandfather passed down. But I’ve certainly fixed the checkering I dinged on one of mine, and had some dents pulled after an unfortunate accident (not mine ) when I let someone check one out for a min. I’m not advocating dragging a Blaser onto a mountain trip, but to and from the blind isn’t that hard to keep them unscathed imo.