My Uncle Bill passed away in 1986, and he was a PFC in the US Army during World War II. After his death, my Aunt Audrey gave my dad Uncle Bill's 1911 Colt 45, which my dad always affectionately referred to as "Sam". I was only 8 years old then, but I remember my dad grumbling about the paperwork he had to do to register "Sam" in Michigan. Getting Bill's death certificate, etc. I do recall my dad finally getting a little green "safety inspection certificate" for the gun. Years later, in 2006, my dad I and I started inventorying all the guns we had, and I recorded the serial number from "Sam" as 331261.
Sadly, my dad passed away unexpectedly in late July of this year. My dad wanted me to have Sam, so I took the 1911 to a gunsmith that is also an FFL. I've filled out the Michigan RI-060 form before, which is a firearm sales record and can be easily used for in-family transfers, especially when the recipient has a CPL (my dad, mom, and I all have valid Michigan CPLs). The gunsmith said I was wrong about the serial number and the 1's were actually hash marks, not 1's, so the serial number was really 3326.
In talking to another gunsmith, he told me the previous gunsmith was mistaken, and that the serial number is really 331261 as I originally suspected in 2006. When I look at it, I cannot tell. The "1" or "|" character appears to be in a different typeface/font than the other digits, and also not quite aligned with the other digits. My mom already turned in the RI-060 form to transfer my dad's guns to herself, so she can then legally transfer them to my brother and me. The form was turned in with 3326 as the serial number, not 331261. We cannot locate the green safety certificate my dad received in 1986/87, or we would've relied on that for the serial number's correctness because in those days, you had to take the gun to the police station to receive a "safety inspection". That is no longer required; you simply drop the RI-060 in the dropbox in your municipality's police station.
Attached are pictures of the 1911. Is anyone able to definitively confirm whether the serial is 3326 or 331261? If we need to make a correction with the Michigan State Police, I'd rather do it sooner than later, especially since the RI-060 form explicitly states making a materially false statement on the form is a felony, which is a rather serious matter and includes a lifetime ban on gun ownership.
I tried scouring Google for how to interpret marks in Colt serial numbers but found nothing definitive about the number "1" and how it may be written. When looking at the serial number the "1" or "|" appears to be punched much deeper than the other numbers, and is not consistent with how the number "1" appears on both sides of the slide (those pics also included below).
I just want to be sure we have the correct serial number so we can make the necessary corrections if we did it wrong.
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Sadly, my dad passed away unexpectedly in late July of this year. My dad wanted me to have Sam, so I took the 1911 to a gunsmith that is also an FFL. I've filled out the Michigan RI-060 form before, which is a firearm sales record and can be easily used for in-family transfers, especially when the recipient has a CPL (my dad, mom, and I all have valid Michigan CPLs). The gunsmith said I was wrong about the serial number and the 1's were actually hash marks, not 1's, so the serial number was really 3326.
In talking to another gunsmith, he told me the previous gunsmith was mistaken, and that the serial number is really 331261 as I originally suspected in 2006. When I look at it, I cannot tell. The "1" or "|" character appears to be in a different typeface/font than the other digits, and also not quite aligned with the other digits. My mom already turned in the RI-060 form to transfer my dad's guns to herself, so she can then legally transfer them to my brother and me. The form was turned in with 3326 as the serial number, not 331261. We cannot locate the green safety certificate my dad received in 1986/87, or we would've relied on that for the serial number's correctness because in those days, you had to take the gun to the police station to receive a "safety inspection". That is no longer required; you simply drop the RI-060 in the dropbox in your municipality's police station.
Attached are pictures of the 1911. Is anyone able to definitively confirm whether the serial is 3326 or 331261? If we need to make a correction with the Michigan State Police, I'd rather do it sooner than later, especially since the RI-060 form explicitly states making a materially false statement on the form is a felony, which is a rather serious matter and includes a lifetime ban on gun ownership.
I tried scouring Google for how to interpret marks in Colt serial numbers but found nothing definitive about the number "1" and how it may be written. When looking at the serial number the "1" or "|" appears to be punched much deeper than the other numbers, and is not consistent with how the number "1" appears on both sides of the slide (those pics also included below).
I just want to be sure we have the correct serial number so we can make the necessary corrections if we did it wrong.
