No serial number - how to ID for insurance?

About all you can do is take pictures of it and describe it as fully as possible including whatever information is on it. Check with your agent to see if that will suffice or if they need more. Different policies have different requirements. That said, since it's not actually worth that much, I don't think it will be a big deal either way.

Take the butt-plate off, or the action out of the stock and write your name & address under there on the wood with a lead pencil.
Crack-head burglers aren't smart enough to even look under there.

If it is stolen, you can tell the cops how to ID it if it is recovered.

From a collector standpoint, the markings can be easily removed from the wood if necessary.

rc

last 4" and initials under the buttplate

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Name & address contact info might be better.

You are in FL, and a cop in TX who might recover it wouldn't have a clue who the last four and initials belong too.

rc

I'm not sure if its actually cheap guns, but a lot of firearms before 1968 didn't have serial numbers. I also have an old Stevens single shot that applies, along with a few others. I believe a law/act was passed to start serial numbering all firearms after that specific year.

I didn't supply serial numbers to insurance for additional coverage. I just gave them a list of my firearms and their replacement values.

Photos are great, but be sure to note any definitive scratches, dents, or other marks that could be used to positively ID the weapon. Without a serial number, a listing in NCIC is pretty hard to connect.

rcmodel said:

Take the butt-plate off, or the action out of the stock and write your name & address under there on the wood with a lead pencil.
Crack-head burglers aren't smart enough to even look under there.

If it is stolen, you can tell the cops how to ID it if it is recovered.

From a collector standpoint, the markings can be easily removed from the wood if necessary.

rc

Click to expand...

I do close to this...but use a sharpie and white medical tape....there are also other places to hids stuff on different guns.

I put a number on mine.............

Electropencil

I use a handheld engraver to put my name or at least initials in an out of sight spot... Magazine floor plates, receiver interiors etc. I tried to stay away from areas under any major stress. I practiced on scrap metal a lot before touching anything that mattered. I like the electropencil idea too.

Uhhh... I've seen some otherwise very expensive guns offered real cheap because someone engraved his DL number in the barrel or receiver. That's a very good way to absolutely ruin the value of any firearm. Whoever invented the engraving pen should have a very special place in Hell.

I've tried to decide what to do with a similar gun, after my older brother passed away in Dec. 2010, his widow gave me an old Springfield .22 semi auto that belonged to my father, and my brother inherited it when Dad passed away in 1977.

I has no serial number, and since it's an Heirloom gun that has no chance of ever being sold outside the family, and pretty much zero collector value, and will for sure go to my great-nephew when I go, I've considered wood burning our last name into the stock or something similar.

Where I worked we used a device that I called an electro etch. Used a stencil that you type the info on serial no,part no. then a pad was soaked in an mild acid solution and an electric current etched the info on the part. Much neater and professional looking than an engraving pencil and the only way to remove it is to grind it off. Check some of the local machine shops they may have the machine and will put your name and other info for short money or free

I have the same theory as BCCL. I wouldn't do it to a collector grade firearm. All of mine are "working guns" not show pieces.