Which Serial Number?

[taloft]

I picked up a 91/30 mosin today after the 10 day wait. I need to enter it into my bound book but, I'm not sure which number is the correct serial number. Atop the receiver is a number that corresponds with the numbers on the magazine, and the bolt. However, there is a laser roll mark from Century Arms that reads "C.A.I. Georgia VT" followed by a 10 digit number on the left side of the receiver. I don't want to enter the wrong number and I can't find anything using search or on the Century Arms website. I tried Surplusrifle.com but, they didn't have any info. regarding this. Does anyone know for certain?

[Mssr. Eleganté]

ATF started requiring importers to make up a new serial number for any firearms they imported that had "non-standard" characters in them. I believe that some or all Mosin-Nagants have cyrillic characters in the serial number, so Century gives them all new serial numbers to make things easy (for them).

So as far as ATF is concerned, the new Century serial number is what you use from now on.

[taloft]

Amendment II, thanks for the heads up

That's what I figured. Funny thing is the gunshop put the last four digits of the Russian serial on my receipt. I don't think he realized that the cyrillic characters in front of those numbers are actually part of the original Russian serial number. I will call him in the morning to make sure his bound book reflects the import mark serial number.

[Nodda Duma]

+1 what Amendment II said, though I tend to record the original serial # to maintain consistency with recording of my non-import rifles. In any case I retain the receipts in my bound book so the new #'s are also there. Another thing, I also jot down serial number for bolt, floorplate, and (sometimes) barrel if they are inconsistent...ie if the rifle is a mixmaster.

-Jason

[Mssr. Eleganté]

That's what I figured. Funny thing is the gunshop put the last four digits of the Russian serial on my receipt. I don't think he realized that the cyrillic characters in front of those numbers are actually part of the original Russian serial number. I will call him in the morning to make sure his bound book reflects the import mark serial number.

That's a good idea to call him. If he still has his invoice from Century or whatever middle man he bought the rifle from it should have the serial number on it so he can see how they logged it out to him. He may have logged it into his bound book using the original number and that might cause a problem for him if he gets an audit.

[thefifthspeed]

I always put both to be safe. The # on the receiver and the importers #.