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No serial # 1911A1

5K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  69charger 
#1 · (Edited)
1911A1 no serial #,good or bad?

Dick


The gun don`t belong to me,it is for sale at a auction.
it sold for over $2000.00.

Dick
 
#2 ·
Very bad. All Colt 1911s were serialized, and a pistol missing one means the number was removed, which makes it illegal to possess. Is it a commercial or military?
 
#5 ·
Correct.
 
#7 ·
Just thinking out loud - not being qualified to offer any legal advice, but - does it show any sign of having a serial number removed - or does it appear to be a factory, unaltered gun with no serial?

Sometimes people would weld over the original serial of a stolen gun, or grind the serial - both usually quite visible. Those can sometimes be lifted with acid, then restamped. If no serial and no evidence of either, sounds like a possible "lunchbox special" - factory finished and "stolen" back in WWII! If it had NO markings it could be a "sterile" weapon, but I have never heard of one from the WWII period.

Either way, you have a problem. If the defaced number could be "raised" and restored, problem solved (except it might be on someone's stolen list) - but I'm not sure about the legality of any of that. If no number? I know that right after the 1968 Gun Control Law went into effect, they allowed Dealers (!) to stamp serials on .22s and shotguns that did not have them. But in this case, well, you'd need an opinion from a BATF literate attorney. And if you turn it in, they will want to know how you got it, as no dealer will touch a non-serialized pistol, etc, etc. Not pretty. Best wishes.
 
#8 ·
If you have a gun with no serial, the BATF will assign and stamp a new serial number.
These are usually "ATF" followed by numbers.
Contact the ATF for details on how to have it done.

A gun without a serial that originally did or should have had one is illegal and a felony to possess everywhere.

The "lunch box" firearm is really extremely rare.
Companies didn't think too much of employees stealing guns, especially in a time of war.
Lunch box guns do exist, but are surpassingly rare.

From the number of "suspected" lunch box guns, its surprising the manufacturers were able to ship any at all to consumers or the military due to supposedly tens of thousands being stolen by the people making them.

Following the principle of the most obvious situation probably being the truth, almost all guns with no serial number had the numbers removed by someone hoping to conceal the fact that it was a stolen gun, usually from the military.
 
#9 ·
ATF will assign a new serial number only under special circumstances. Finding a cheap gun show special with no number on it isn't one of them.
 
#11 ·
My very first handgun was purchased the day I turned 21 back in 1991. I bought a nickel-plated Remington-Rand 1911-A1 from a local pawn shop. Where the serial number should have been, there was only a shallow depression, covered by the nickel plating. Back then in Tennessee, one had to take the purchase paperwork to the local police dept. to have a quick local criminal history check done before a handgun purchase could go through. The records clerk at the police station was flabbergasted to find no serial number entry on the paperwork. When I informed her that the pistol I was interested in had no serial number, she replied "Nonsense, all pistols have serial numbers!". Finally she exclaimed "Oh, here it is; those idiots listed it in the wrong line on the form." The transaction was completed with the local police department's paperwork listing the pistol's serial number as "M1911A1"!!!

I was too naive back then to be in fear of getting in trouble for having a non-serial-numbered pistol. Obviously, that pistol was a GI bringback from WWII, and the GI had obliterated the serial number intentionally and then had the piece nickel-plated. I eventually sold that pistol to a gunstore and regretted the transaction for years. Some time after WWII, the U.S. Army instituted an amnesty for all Army-issued pistols from WWII, but before then, a soldier bringing back a "US Property"-marked pistol was committing a crime--hence the obliterated serial numbers encountered on some WWII-era M1911's.
 
#14 ·
Was at one of my local gun spots and a woman came in with an assortment of long guns and pistols to see what the value of them would be. All old, well used but for this 1 shiny High polished Colt Government 45. My eyes lit up as I watched the gun store owner pick it up into the light and eye it real hard. I would of loved to meet this gal outside and make her an offer but when I heard "This gun has no serial number" my heart fell to the floor. He told her all about the legal stuff involved in a gun with no #. Not a good thang. I wish I could of held it and taken off the grips to see if a serial # may have been engraved there, during a refinish but I missed my chance. I thought about that one for a long time. GEE, I guess I still think about it. :bawling:
 
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