antique Colt - no serial numbers

[Battis]

I looked at an 1862 Colt Police .36 today. The price was very low for the quality of the revolver. There were no serial numbers on the gun, at all, anywhere. The salesman said it might have been a "Confederate captured gun" and they removed the serial numbers so if they got caught with it by a Union soldier...bla bla bla.
I know it's an antique, and under federal law it's not even a gun, but those missing numbers made me walk away.

[BK7saum]

Lots of firearms prior to 68 didn't have serial numbers. I don't believe there was a federal requirement until then.

[Winger Ed.]

Lots of firearms prior to 68 didn't have serial numbers. I don't believe there was a federal requirement until then.

Not sure about that one, but----
I think required serial numbers goes back farther than GCA '68.

I'd read in a old 'Rifleman' about some wire frame looking .22 single shot from the early 1900s that was so cheap,
they went out of production when the serial number requirement became law.
The cost of serializing them, and keeping the records more than doubled their cost.

Off and on, there has been special runs of guns that weren't serialized.
Not counting the single shot Liberty pistols of WWII-
The govt. has bought some small Colt .38s for the CIA and other military orientated covert things in the not too distant past.

In modern times, I'd think that would make them even more traceable than if it had a serial number on it,
and was obviously ground off.

[Mk42gunner]

More likely it was a copy, and never stamped than having the serial numbers all removed. Unless you saw file marks.

[ReloaderFred]

I know that Colt at least serial numbered their handguns as far back as 1873, since I handled SAA #2 at the Great Western Gun Show at the Pomona Fairgrounds about 1985 or so, just before it went up for auction. A guy I worked with was a Colt collector and was working the booth at the show.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Petrol & Powder]

More likely it was a copy, and never stamped than having the serial numbers all removed. Unless you saw file marks.

/\ This /\

And serial numbers were not required on firearms made in the U.S. or imported into the U.S. prior to the 1968 GCA. Many companies did stamp serial numbers on their products but it wasn't federal law.

[M-Tecs]

To the best of my knowledge Colt always number their guns.

http://www.american-firearms.com/american-firearms/z-html/company-C/Colt/Colt-1848.html

Serial numbers where not required until 1968

https://www.pennlago.com/are-firearms-without-serial-numbers-illegal/#:~:text=The%20firearm%20did%20have%20a%20serial%2 0number%2C%20as,aesthetic%20or%20other%20reasons%2 0AFTER%20October%2022%2C%201968.

[elmacgyver0]

I recently bought a pristine Model 24 Savage .22LR / .410 that was never serialized from an FFL gun store, perfectly legal.
That kid's guns is a lot newer than the Colt you passed up though ignorance.
A lot of older guns were never serialized as nobody thought twice about it, they were just viewed as the tools they are.

[Petrol & Powder]

.....
I know it's an antique, and under federal law it's not even a gun, but those missing numbers made me walk away.


You were wise to walk away. Because it's likely a fake.

And it IS a gun, it's just not a firearm that falls within the scope of the 1968 Gun Control Act. There's a very real legal distinction.

A device original designed and intended to expel a projectile by explosive means is a FIREARM by the definition of most state codes. So just because it is a pre 1899 gun doesn't mean it isn't a GUN.

A convicted felon that knowingly and intentionally possesses a firearm might* escape prosecution under federal law but could still be prosecuted under some state law that prohibits felons from possessing firearms.

* There are numerous federal codes that do not rely upon the definitions set forth in the 1968 GCA, so even that's no guarantee. For example, a violation of the 1934 National Firearms Act would not require the government to show a machine gun was made after 1898.

[rintinglen]

Even the Colt Patersons were serial numbered. Colt 1862 police were certainly serialized.

[Battis]

I collect antique cap and ball revolvers - Colt, Remington, Bacon, Warner, etc. Every one has a serial number. I haven't been to this store in a long time and, as I remember, they had a cap and ball revolver that I looked at, and it didn't have a serial number. I'm not sure, but I think it's the same one. At that time, I contacted James Julia auction house in Maine and they said they would have nothing to do with an unnumbered antique gun. There's stories of "lunchbox specials" where factory workers smuggled parts out to make guns at home (didn't Johnny Cash make a Cadillac that way?). Those guns usually weren't numbered. The store also had an 1849 Colt .31 with at least four different serial numbers - a true parts gun.
I didn't pass on the Colt out of ignorance, but caution. I could buy the gun tomorrow - the problem will be if and when I try to sell it.

[M-Tecs]

What are they asking for it?

[Battis]

The unnumbered Colt - $600. The more I think about it, the more I think it is the one from about ten years ago.

[M-Tecs]

That puts it in the shooter category.

[Battis]

It's a shooter but I think that if it had the serial numbers, it'd be more like $1500 (unless it is a fake). If it is the one from 10 years ago, no one wants to buy it. They had the 1849 .31 with four serial numbers for $400 (really rough shape - a project gun), and a pristine, numbered 1849 .31 for $2500.