Herr Bruder Gamswilde, I don't believe you would hurt that rifle's value much if you were to refinish it-at least the stock, using a good hand-rubbed oil finish! I don't think that recoil pad is an original, but from time to time I have seen somepre-64 M70 pads for sale in unused condition. Your metal finish doesn't look too bad.

The .375 is an excellent round, and don't let anyone tell you it is too powerful for deer and other "small game". In mine I use a cast bullet load consisting of a Lyman 375449 cascheck bullet driven by 60 grains of H4831, which gives a MV of 1850 FPS and is quite accurate in the two .375's I've shot it in - a 1949 M70 Super Grade, and a Ruger No. 1H. This load is about like the HV load of the old .38/55, and kills deer very handily out to 150 yards or so. In addition, some of the .375 300-grain factory bullets are very tough, and will kill deer without destroying a lot of meat (not as bad as a .270 Win., for example)!