Colt firearms and the original purchaser?

[Jackman]

Alright below is a cut and paste from a H&R thread , I wonder if what is said about Colt is true and how does one go about finding the original purchaser info? And how many years back does Colt have original purchaser info?


"Does H&R provide historical info based on serial number? I've heard that Colt is able to tell owners who the original purchaser was,"

[oscarmayer]

for 50 bucks and a letter or phone call to colt with the model number and serial number you can find out where the gun was shipped. sucks as acme hardware store in boise idaho etc.... or if it was a special order gun. i once had them send me a letter on a 1873 model saa made in 1902 and i found out it was sent to a general store in arizona.... but beyond that there is no way to track who bought it retail from the store. now some of the pocket models 1908 in 380 were special order or made for some general and they have records of that....

[Alpo]

Oscar, Smith charges 50 bucks. Colt's prices start at a hundred and go up, depending on which model (modern double actions are the cheapest to paper, cap and ball guns cost the most) and anything special about it. Factory engraved? That letter costs more. Sent to a celebrity (Jesse James, Bill Hickok, Omar Bradley)? That letter costs more too, and depending on who, can be outrageous.

Yes, Colt will tell you who the original purchaser was. Sometimes, while the original purchaser might be a person (It was ordered by Jim Smith of 123 Main Street, Boston, Massachusetts), more than likely it will be a store (It was one of a lot of seventeen, sent to Joe's Hardware, Dodge City, Kansas).

[oscarmayer]

opps you're right smith charges 50 , but i swear the last time i had tob get a letter from colt it was 50 too , but then again it's been a while thanks for correcting my mistake

[Jim K]

Colt, and other firearms companies, did sometimes sell directly to law officers and a few others (still legal today), but normally they sold through distributors as is the current practice in the firearms industry. So most of those letters will come back saying that the gun was part of a shipment of, say, 50 guns, to xxx Co. of St. Louis, or Omaha or Chicago. The chances of hitting on a sale to Wyatt Earp or someone famous, is low, but people taking a gamble add to Colt's income.

A sidelight on this is the racket that went on a while back. Most people think of the possibiity of forging a Colt letter in order to enhance the value of a gun. But one fellow had a better idea. He found out that SAA No. 123456 (or whatever) really was shipped to a celebrity. So he bought junker SAA's and had an "artist" alter the numbers to read 123456. Now the purchaser or prospective purchaser could write Colt and be told, correctly, that number 123456 had been shipped to the famous person. The scheme blew up when Colt wondered why one gun was being lettered so often and reported the situation to BATFE.

Jim

[Jackman]

Does anyone know if Winchester has a similar program to ID original source?

[Alpo]

Winchester records are in the Buffalo Bill Museum, in Cody, Wyoming. Some are missing (fire in the records?, I think).
http://www.bbhc.org/firearms/records/

[Jackman]

Thanks Alpo I will be calling the Buffalo Bill Museum tomorrow , I have a low number 22 that was bought new by my Grandfather from the factory would be cool to get a letter stating that he purchased it.