Buying a gun without a serial number

[jbbear6002]

I just ran into this kind of thing with a Savage 1907 pistol I bought off Gunbroker. I'm trying to get a collection of these together, and this one was a good example at a good price. I won the auction and had it shipped to me on my C&R.

When I went to put it in my bound book, I couldn't find the serial number in it's usual spot under the barrel. Looking at the paperwork the seller had listed it as 'no serial number' in the bill of sale. I broke out a magnifying glass and found I could just see a little bit of two numerals in the standard location, and a lot of file marks.

I called the seller and he honestly thought it was too early to have a serial number so he sold it to me that way. Interestingly, he was selling it for a widow of a member of his gun club, and the owner always carried this pistol when he flew as an airline pilot (pre-9/11 I'm guessing). The seller thought he'd purchased it as a young man (they were sold into the 30s) and probably removed the SN himself.

Anyway, I ended up doing some research on this, and as mentioned above, there's no need to add a serial number to a pre-68 gun that never had one and it's perfectly legal to own a gun without a serial number if it was before one was required.

However... If it had a serial number from the factory it's a felony to remove it, and also federal crime to posses a gun with a defaced or removed serial number.

I ended up getting a partial refund from the buyer, and keeping all the parts except the frame itself which I turned in to Smyrna PD for destruction. I figure the parts may come in handy as I get more of these old pistols, and at worst I can sell them to someone who may need them down the road.

This is exactly the situation I was asking about. Thankfully the FFL took back the pistol and are going to turn it over to the proper officials.

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[spencer60]

It does happen, especially with older pre-68 guns. There wasn't the same emphasis on serial numbers before that. It was illegal to deface a serial number since NFA, but since not all companies had them, it was more of a no harm, no foul thing.