Serial numbers on civilian firearms were not required until 1968 when the Gun Safety Act was put in place. What about US Military firearms? Have US Military firearms always had serial numbers if not does anyone know when they started applying them?
Printable View
Serial numbers on civilian firearms were not required until 1968 when the Gun Safety Act was put in place. What about US Military firearms? Have US Military firearms always had serial numbers if not does anyone know when they started applying them?
I may be mistaken but I believe all rifles and handguns in the US had to have serial numbers. Shotguns were exempt until 1968. 1873 Springfields have serial numbers as do Civil war era revolvers. Earlier than that I don't know.
Did some checking and serial numbers were not mandatory on non NFA regulated firearms until 1968 but most manufacturers used them as control devices prior to that.
That's what I found as well, the question on Military arms is what did they use he serial numbers for, I found an article on the National Archives that said, " It is not possible for the Archives to locate a record by serial number for any weapon of any type. ...Frequently the lists of serial numbers will not identify the make or model of the arm, only the type (pistol or carbine). " Firearms Genealogy | National ArchivesQuote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
"...all rifles and handguns in the US had to have serial numbers..." .22 calibre rifles, for one, were not required to have serial numbers until the GCA of 1968. The military put 'em on for inventory control. TrapDoor Rifles and Carbines had 'em starting at least in 1873. However, that doesn't mean anybody kept records. Nobody, anywhere, kept records of who got what firearm issued to 'em. Those were local unit records only and were not kept.
Certainly not the National Archives. They're more about records about people than stuff.
I've only ever had two that didn't have a serial number. The first was a 20 gauge Mossberg shotgun which I traded for an Indian No III Enfield a couple years ago. The second is a Savage 24D over under 22/410 that I just got a couple of months ago. I always thought it strange the shotgun didn't have one but did learn about the 1968 change in the law.
A lot of Savage/Stevens didn't have serial numbers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
I suspect most US arms will have had serial numbers all the way back into the flintlock era. The reason being two fold. One inventory control as to what serial numbers were issued where, and secondly to ensure you got all the arms you bought from a contract. I know Civil War era arms have serial numbers, so your going to have to go pretty far back to find any without one.
There is a government 45 acp handgun made by the OSS that did not have serial numbers. Some of you made be familiar with it, the Liberator. These are pictures of mine.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...sjcmcgif-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo..._zpsd138-1.jpg
http://www.milsurps.com/images/impor..._zpsadaa-1.jpg
http://www.milsurps.com/images/impor...istol003-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...istol007-1.jpg
http://www.milsurps.com/images/impor...istol006-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...istol005-1.jpg
That is awesome! thanksQuote:
Originally Posted by JimF4M1s
Doesn't look like there are any markings at all on that. Could be they didn't want the Germans to know where they came from.
You are correct. No letters or numbers anywhere. This link has a bit of history about them.
FP-45 Liberator - Wikipedia
I had two, bought them in 1986 for $800 each. Decided to shoot one to see how it felt. Stove piped bullets. On shot 18 all the spot welds broke. I had a bags of parts. Sold the bag for $400 and have left this one alone since.
Guess they were only intended as a one shot deal, more or less...Quote:
Originally Posted by JimF4M1s
They came with ten rounds up the grip. I'm guessing that was considered the max.
I'll bet a bunch went to landfill because the family thought they were old toys. I would love to have one of those, never seen one before.
Civil war long guns generally did not have serial numbers (I say it that way for whoever comes up with an exception) Many longguns imported from Europe did not have serial numbers either. This one of the reasons guns are found with names and carvings, so that soldiers could identify their favorite musket.
Lots of different US made sporting firearms produced prior to 1968 are devoid of serial numbers. Especially the brand name rifles and shotguns sold under store brand names like Sears, Western Auto, Montgomery Ward, etc.. Many were produced by companies like Savage, Mossberg, Marlin and others.
Serialization numbering of US military firearms purpose was really two fold. First is local property accountability control, these generally down to the local commander. It was up to the local unit commander to further assign accountablity if he wished. If a soldier "lost" his weapon through neglect (sold revolver for whiskey), the commander could bring him a statement of charges to replace the revolver out of his pay. In wartime weapons and equipment could be written off if lost in combat, which a lot of commanders did. The second reason is being to identify weapons if a problem takes place and requires up-grade or re-build.
I found a bunch of blueprints/drawing for the Liberator. Could not figure out how to post it to the forum but here is a link to it on my Blog;Quote:
Originally Posted by JimF4M1s
https://usabaker.files.wordpress.com...rpistoldrw.pdf
I have those. Picked them up five or six years ago. Add to the total package for me.