I think the first question here is how much do you really care about what others think. The classical American rugged individualist these days is supposed to be totally unconcerned with anyone else's opinion, but since you did seek a group opinion I don't really think he's you. He's not me either, at least not entirely. So your concern is admirable.
That leads to a second question about which particular group concerns you most. It sounds like you're thinking about gun collectors.
Collectors value pieces in extremely good original condition. Guns are only original once.
They should by rights have no interest in a refinished or otherwise altered gun (with some exceptions). Yeah, you'll get an effete sniff from a few, but that's because some of them are also wealthy snobs. To a real collector, every altered example just makes the original condition survivors more valuable. Also there are collectors who are actually investors with little interest in shooting. For me, the opinions of snobs and investors are irrelevant.
If you spent big bucks for a full-on restoration by somebody like Turnbull, your gun would look and work great and be worth more than when you started, but as an investment you'd end up losing money. Same thing if you had Hamilton Bowen turn it into a custom masterpiece -- this kind of work costs big bucks. Almost everyone (there's always exceptions) would admire a firearm given this kind of care. The worst you might hear is, "I would have preferred it [blank], but that looks magnificent"
https://www.turnbullrestoration.com/
https://bowenclassicarms.com/
I'm guessing you're thinking along the lines of a more basic refinish job. Since you're starting with a gun that has serious flaws in the original factory finish, a real collector would know that the piece already has nothing to do with them.
I'll give you a real-world example that may help: long ago when Big-5 had Swiss K31s for under $200, I bought one specifically to trick out. I didn't finish the project until pretty recently, but I was happy with the results. I posted a photo of it to the Swiss Rifle Collectors FB group (along with the other Swiss arms I own, still in original condition)
I pointed out in the post that I didn't make a habit of doing this, plus the original rifle had already been altered. The replies from the other collectors in this group were overwhelmingly positive. And this from the same folks that once excoriated me for days on a chat thread for referring to a Swiss 'Luger' instead of using the correct term 'Parabellum'.
IMO, the only real crime is altering an
extremely rare piece, and that is a crime against history rather than collecting. I don't think any of us here are likely to handle one of J M Browning's shop prototypes and run right out to have it Magnaported and Cerakoted.
