No serial number on Savage No4Mk1*?

[Six Star]

Deleted due to seller's comments via PM.

[Claven2]

That's unusual. If there is truely no serial number, it's been sanitized and refinished for some reason...?

Is it painted in black Suncorite? If so, perhaps the paint is obscuring some markings?

[Six Star]

Deleted due to seller's comments via PM.

[Doug]

I had a Longbranch with no serial number on it, and asked a few of the experts that I knew about it. Badger contacted another Longbranch expert, who gave his opinion that the rifle was likely made up from parts stolen from the factory.

I guarantee there was no serial number anywhere on that rifle, my smith had it into a zillion parts and photographed every last one of them.......

Maybe the same thing could have happened in the Savage factory???

Doug

[sdh1911]

Is the gun a very, very early model of the #4 mk1 and does it have any excessive tooling marks on it?-SDH

[Stevo]

I've got a "lunch box" Long Branch. No serials on it either.

[Cantom]

I've got a "lunch box" Long Branch. No serials on it either.

There is one like that for sale on the EE on CGNTZ- it's a very shiny 45 with no serials either.
I was trying to figure out whether the lack of numbers helped or hurt the value, but nobody answered. Personally, I'd rather have a matching numbered gun.

[Stevo]

There is one like that for sale on the EE on CGNTZ- it's a very shiny 45 with no serials either.
I was trying to figure out whether the lack of numbers helped or hurt the value, but nobody answered. Personally, I'd rather have a matching numbered gun.

IMO, if it's truly a lunch box rifle, it's worth less than an issued example with matching or mis-matching numbers.

It could be a scrubbed refurb as well.

[Cantom]

IMO, if it's truly a lunch box rifle, it's worth less than an issued example with matching or mis-matching numbers.

It could be a scrubbed refurb as well.

A lunch box rifle would have missed a few QC and inspection steps no? Plus the chance of any sexy C/|\ stamps is minimized...

[tiriaq]

If it is a "lunch box" gun, how did it turn up in Canada? There probably were some rifles that left the factory unofficially, but the odds of one making its way to Canada are pretty slim. It could well be assembled from parts, and the questions then are when, where, and by whom? I do not know at what stage in the production cycle the serial was applied to the receiver, but it is not impossible that there were unused unnumbered receivers.
As far as "lunchbox" guns go, there are two Mauser made Mk. II Sten type submachine guns in collections (of thousands made). One was dug up in Poland, and the other is in the Oberndorf Museum. It was taken home by a worker, and subsequently turned in.

[Six Star]

Deleted due to seller's comments via PM.

[Claven2]

I wonder if maybe the previous owner had the rifle restored and refinished and the serial was maybe eradiacted in the process?

[sdh1911]

We get 3 to 5 years in jail for owning one of those here in the U.S.. With my luck I'd be the first guy on my block to get canned for owning a piece of history, SDH

[limpetmine]

Serial numbers were not required by law on guns made in the USA until the GCA of 1968.

[Brian Dick]

3 to 5 years in jail? You must be kidding or maybe that's a state law in New Jersey which wouldn't surprise me. I've had many firearms with serial number "none". Unnumbered Savages do exist as do Long Branch and probably other manufacturers as well. I have a Savage here that has had a four digit number stamped on by a previous owner. It's in otherwise, "as new" condition. I have a lunch box Inglis No.2Mk.1* pistol and a couple of C No.7Mk.1 .22 trainers too. They are not that uncommon.