I have a Savage 99 in .30-30 caliber but cannot find a serial # on the receiver but there is a number under both the butt plate and the forend. They match: 225XXX (supposedly 1920). The barrel is marked Utica, NY so it is a pre-1946 rifle.

Did Savage make rifles without serial #s back then? I saw a reference to a Savage 99 rifle w/o any numbers on the receiver.

Is it legal to own or sell a pre-1946 rifle w/o a serial # or does it fall under the Curios & Relics classification?

Do I have to have it renumbered to sell it? I had the police check the # and it was clean.

I don't know if I have an asset or a liability.

Could be an employee's lunch box gun.

It doesn't require a serial number to be legal.

It's illegal to own if the serial number was removed, no matter when it was made. It's perfectly legal if the serial number was never stamped and if it predates 1969.

Rick and Fug and I all looked at a 1950's 99R in 300 at Tulsa a couple weeks ago that had no serial number, and the bluing and case color condition was good enough that it sure didn't look like it ever had a serial number. But the barrel was stamped SP meaning it had been test fired, and the top of the receiver was stamped Savage Model 99. Just one of those guns that slipped through by all indications.

Seen a couple over the years.

I never saw one but obviously they do exist. There was no federal law stipulating that firearms had to be serial numbered before the 1960s. I suspect serial numbers originally were just a way for factories to keep inventories of their productivity and had absolutely nothing to do with tracking firearms.

It looks like someone has carefully filed off and polished the frame where the serial # ought to be. Does that man I need to surrender it, toss it or try to get it renumbered?

I've got a little note here in my rolodex saying the stamper was down in 1947.

Wouldn't have anything to do with your gun but I wonder if they just stock piled the receivers till it was fixed or just kept on shipping them. Considering very few of them are found with no serial number I'd say they held onto the guns till they were numbered.

Did you buy it off of a dealer? If so, how did they process the transaction? Guns were made without serial numbers before the 60s and have been sold since then. I guess the problem you have is proving that the serial number wasn't tampered with - if you think that is the situation with your 99.

It was from an estate many years ago.

See no evil speak no evil see no numbers
Do y'all get the drift .
More than one Savage left the factory with no numbers honestly.
Pre GCA of 68 Which the buzz word was " Saturday night Special " and now is " Assualt weapon high capacity " Lots of firearms legitimately had no numbers

I would not worry about it unless I planned on getting caught committing a crime with it.

There is still a serial on the wood. If it really bugged you you could have the number stamped on the receiver. Most non-Savage people would not even know if or where the serial would be on the rifle.

That gun is a liability! It needs to be sent back to NY where it was manufactured, and quick! I'll give you an address in Utica where you can send it back.