weird question

[blacknwhite]

A guy brought a rifle to work the other day because he was looking to sell it. Of course all the guys went out and looked at it and it was a pretty nice rifle,.308). Now for the weird part...the action on the rifle didn't have any markings at all??? No number no name? The barrel was a custom after market that I didn't recognize,but another guy said he had heard of the maker). Anyway I think it was a savage, but couldn't say for sure. Why would the action not have any markings? It looked like maybe it had been re-blued,although if it had been they did a really good job) so I thought maybe some one sanded markings off. But again if they did they did a very good job. Anyone ever seen anything like that? Any gun makers that don't mark their actions? I thought this was really weird.

 

[nonliberal]

All actions that I have ever seen at least have #s on them. It might be nothing but normally when you find a rifle with all the #s removed it is a red flag for being stolen at one time or another,not saying your friend stole it or altered it). At least around here it is against the law to remove the #s because thats how BATF keeps track of it.

A Savage is normally pretty easy to spot because it will have the barrel nut unless that was altered as well.

 

[blacknwhite]

Thats kind of what I was thinking... The guy that showed it to us is no friend just a co-worker. Thats an interesting thought...Thanks nonliberal

 

[Exercion]

While it is true that no serial number could mean a stolen rifle, there is another possibility. However, usually, removal of numbers is visible I'd think, because what thief is going to bother re-bluing a gun?

Apparently though, before 1968 it wasn't legally required to serialize rifles. I have a nifty little .22 that was made prior and has no markings at all on the receiver. The barrel is marked, but nothing else. It was one of the rifles made by Marlin for Sears. Entirely possible that the rifle in question started life thusly, and was rebarreled.

Eric

 

[ollie]

I have to agree that not all guns have S/N's. I have 2 guns a 22 and a 300sav the 22 is marked only 22short and the 300 has only letters as a s/n.

 

[blacknwhite]

You know, the rifle did look old and that would explain why it had been re-blued. Thanks Exercion I bet thats it. I had just never seen one with no markings. So it is legal for it to not have any because its old? I just got out all my old guns to look and they all have numbers, so it must just be a select few that dont.

 

[FBecigneul]

One explanation:
Had the action been sleeved? It may have been a Remington action with a sleeve fitted over it. A good job will look as though it is a custom action. It is not legal to sleeve an action and not leave a cutout so that you can still see the maker and the serial number. That is legal in the U.S.; I don't know about other countries.