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Old February 21, 2019, 09:24 PM   #1
Roamin_Wade
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Serial Numbers on Hardware Store Guns

I’m trying to run down some dates of manufacture of two Western Field (Mossberg) pump shotguns. Would Mossberg have put their serial numbers on them or would Montgomery Ward serial mark them?
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Old February 21, 2019, 09:43 PM   #2
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If they were made post 1968 then the actual manufacturer would have put them on there. Before 1968 (when serial numbers were first required), it could have been either or neither.
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Old February 22, 2019, 01:47 PM   #3
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Montgomery Ward did nothing to anything they sold. They were/are a department store.
Mossberg put 'em on and probably used a specific range of numbers for MW.
Then it gets worse. The 'Western Field' brand name was used by more than just MW. And Mossberg wasn't the only company making stuff for MW. Which Western Field model they are matters too. They may or may not be Mossberg's at all.
Stole this fair and square from another post on another forum.
"Since it has a serial number, it is probably 1968 or later. If it has one action bar, it is older than about 1970. Two action bars is newer than about 1970."
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Old February 22, 2019, 02:44 PM   #4
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http://proofhouse.com/cm/house_brand.htm

maybe that will help a little.
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Old February 25, 2019, 01:14 PM   #5
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Well, I too saw the thing about a single action bar so I thought they were pre-1970 because both have single bars but the serial numbers are from the mid-70's IF the numbers were stamped by Mossberg.
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Old February 25, 2019, 02:23 PM   #6
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If it left Mossberg's shop, they stamped the numbers. Monkey Wards would not be stamping serial numbers. Now, Mossberg might have used a certain number range for each store brand, I don't know that for certain, but there were certain model numbers.
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Old February 25, 2019, 02:52 PM   #7
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You can find some in the Blue Book for guns
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Old February 25, 2019, 10:09 PM   #8
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Roger that FITASC. After this thread and the searching around I’ve done, I think they were made in the mid-late 70’s and they have single-bar pump bars so I’ll bet you a cold Coca-Cola that Mossberg had some left over stuff from before 1970 and made those the shotguns that they built and sold to Montgomery Ward’s. They both start with “H” so that’s late 70’s Mossberg 500 numbers. Thanks for y’all’s input.

Last edited by Roamin_Wade; February 27, 2019 at 02:40 PM.
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Old March 10, 2019, 04:27 PM   #9
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http://www.nramuseum.org/media/94093...ver%20list.pdf

If you have model #. This may help.
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