Here’s a reminder for everyone:
CFR › Title 27 › Chapter II › Subchapter B › Part 478 › Subpart C › Section 478.34:
§ 478.34 Removed, obliterated, or altered serial number.
No person shall knowingly transport, ship, or receive in interstate or foreign commerce any firearm which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number removed, obliterated, or altered, or possess or receive any firearm which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number removed, obliterated, or altered and has, at any time, been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
I mention this because someone tried to sell me a lovely military Colt 1911 (not an A1) that had been nickeled and in the process of nickeling had removed the entire serial number. The owner didn’t understand why it was a big deal.
(To be fair, its possible the gun was a ‘lunchbox special’ that left the plant before the serial number process but those are exceptionally rare. It’s also possible it was an unnumbered replacement frame from military stores…again, pretty rare. But, you know what….not worth the risk.)
Correct, Mr. Commander Zero. Like the phrase render unto Caesar, we must still abide by and follow the playground rules as codified in law. The law and order mechanisms are still in full force, are quite functionally effective, and as thus will meat grinder any muh freedoms adherants that want to go off the reservation. Play it straight and lawfull, thus advoiding a painful to the keister prison sentence term for ones self.
While it is legal to own a gun that has never had a serial number, transfers get a little questionable, especially a pistol since those have almost universally had serial numbers for over a century. Some longarms didn’t have serial numbers until the 1970’s, so it is much more likely one would encounter those.
I agree – in a case like this, it is better safe than sorry…
how does nickeling affect the value in this instance? I know that in many cases, and old gun is worth more with the original finish than refinished, especially a modern nickel or chrome job on an old gun.
I once had a guy offer me a nice L-frame at a bargain price. Maybe the guy was broke and desperately needed the cash, but I didn’t know him and was not about to take the chance.
Hell, He could have been an undercover ATFE agent or informant conducting a sting also!!!
Lets be blunt.
If the gov’t wants to “F” you over; you’re had.
Everyone of us commits some state or federal felony everyday without knowing it.
Best is to stay under their radar.
Remember the nail that sticks up; is the first one to get hammered down.
You have to wonder whether the pistol was plated because the original finish was so bad that the owner felt that he had nothing to lose. ATF issues aside, it may be the case that the gun was a worn out piece of trash.
Go look at it
https://photos.app.goo.gl/siYqZHFWYyuoDHGv8
Guilty I cut those tags off my pillows!! But seriously, I think the problem with post- manufacturing plating is a big problem. I have been in Gun shop where people come in wanting to sell/trade non-factory plated guns and the shop owner says no way. Couldn’t make out the numbers.
There is a youtube out there on how to recover a serial number that has been ground off. The stamping of the serial number “work hardens” the underlying steel and application of certain chemicals can bring this out. Don’t know how it would work if nickel coated though.
ATF policy is that a missing serial number should NOT be reapplied, even if it is known – the approved way is to contact your field office, they will take the gun, run checks on it, issue you a serial number, and return it (and no, I don’t know how long the process takes or how likely they are to claim a reason to keep the gun…).
I’ve seen acid-etching of this sort to recover serial numbers during investigations. But I think plating complicates the process and requires removing even more of the surface of the steel in order to get a usable image from the differential acid etching.
Been a while since I was involved with forensic matters. Went down the internet rabbit hole and it appears there are some new techniques that might work better with plated weapons. “Electron backscatter diffraction” is one, though it requires access to a scanning electron microscope. Another is “Infrared thermal imaging’ using heating and cooling of the questioned item and an infrared camera to capture the differences in the rate of heating and cooling.
Both are still experimental though it appears, and it’s unlikely the ATF will have access to this technology any time soon. Nor are they likely to do such testing except for guns involved in serious crimes.
I suspect the outcome here will be “Your pistol is contraband as the serial number has been removed in violation of federal law. Here’s the permission slip for you to voluntarily surrender this contraband to us.”
I had a young soldier come to me for advice about the M1911A1 he had inherited from a family member. Similar situation to CZ’s — no sign of a serial number, plated with something shiny. I advised him to contact ATF. They said bring it in to the federal building in town and that it was probably going to be considered contraband. Stripped all the parts off the frame and put them in a shoebox for him, in case they let him keep the frame in the end, and off he went to turn it over. They had no problem with it being just a stripped frame at that point.
Lost track of what happened to the frame. The young soldier never came back with the shoebox of parts to reassemble on either the original frame or a replacement. Probably sold at a yard sale by his ex-wife?