Removing Engraving

[carlson1]

I am looking at buying a S&W M49 that is nickel plated. The old owner engraved his social security number on the grip. I guess he was thinking he would live for ever and always own the gun.

My question is there a way to polish that engraving out? Is there anything you can do to get rid of it? Is there a gunsmith in DFW that could remove it?

[puma guy]

To completely eliminate the engraving would require removing metal deep enough to get to the depth of the engraving and finishing the surface to match the rest of the gun's finish. It would be probably be very obvious that had taken place. I don't think there's any way to fill it in except with than some welding procedure that would also require some finishing to match the rest of the grip.

[carlson1]

My thought is even though it is a great piece of history for S&W I am not a collector and so it places the gun low enough when I sale my python I can buy it and still pay the anesthesiologist. I will put grips on that will cover the front strap.

[Tex1961]

Owing a few of those older guns with the SS number engraved I feel your pain. I asked around as well on one of the collector forums I belong to and most agree that it doesn't detract really from any value. Antiques, curio and relics all have a story to tell. The fact that someone did that just adds to the guns history. But to answer your question, I have to agree with some of the above posts, unless your willing to grind down and then do a full refinish on the gun , there isn't much you can do.

[mayor]

That must have been a thing, back in the day. I have a nice Winchester model 37 20ga with the same characteristic. Doesn't bother me.

[carlson1]

Owing a few of those older guns with the SS number engraved I feel your pain. I asked around as well on one of the collector forums I belong to and most agree that it doesn't detract really from any value. Antiques, curio and relics all have a story to tell. The fact that someone did that just adds to the guns history. But to answer your question, I have to agree with some of the above posts, unless your willing to grind down and then do a full refinish on the gun , there isn't much you can do.

My understanding everyone put their SSN on everything including their TV’s. I guess the same that folks do with their catalytic converters now.

[03Lightningrocks]

Owing a few of those older guns with the SS number engraved I feel your pain. I asked around as well on one of the collector forums I belong to and most agree that it doesn't detract really from any value. Antiques, curio and relics all have a story to tell. The fact that someone did that just adds to the guns history. But to answer your question, I have to agree with some of the above posts, unless your willing to grind down and then do a full refinish on the gun , there isn't much you can do.

My understanding everyone put their SSN on everything including their TV’s. I guess the same that folks do with their catalytic converters now.

I never considered engraving my identity on any firearm. I would be concerned with destroying the value. It also seems like it would forever expose your social security number to anyone who might steal the weapon.A social security number is more of an identity risk in my mind than even my DL number.

[The Annoyed Man]

Owing a few of those older guns with the SS number engraved I feel your pain. I asked around as well on one of the collector forums I belong to and most agree that it doesn't detract really from any value. Antiques, curio and relics all have a story to tell. The fact that someone did that just adds to the guns history. But to answer your question, I have to agree with some of the above posts, unless your willing to grind down and then do a full refinish on the gun , there isn't much you can do.

My understanding everyone put their SSN on everything including their TV’s. I guess the same that folks do with their catalytic converters now.

I never considered engraving my identity on any firearm. I would be concerned with destroying the value. It also seems like it would forever expose your social security number to anyone who might steal the weapon.A social security number is more of an identity risk in my mind than even my DL number.

My guess is that engraving SSNs on guns was mainly a thing before the digital world made identity theft so prevalent. Back then, a SSN was probably thought of as a good way to definitively prove something was yours. In the early 2000s, I was a victim of identity theft by someone who got into me for $48,000, because they had access to my SSN. I had to jump through some hoops to reverse the damage, but I was ultimately cleared of any liability. There’s more to the story than those bare bones details, but during the process, police informed me that the thief had most probably gotten my SSN in the following manner…

Back in the day, medical insurance companies used your SSN as your personal identifier on your medical insurance policy. There were essentially 2 numbers associated with you: one identifying the policy group number, and one identifying you as a member of that group. The SSN was used as that latter number. Before the process became more automated and digitized, the insurance companies had armies of data entry personnel whose job it was to manually enter insurance claims into the company's databases for coverage and billing purposes. Those data entry jobs were pretty low paying. Since each record being entered contained the claimant's name, SSN, and address, a lot of these low paid data entry operators would hand record lists of these names and their information, and sell those lists on the black market to identity theft "clearing houses", who would in turn sell the information to individual scammers.

That’s how the thief who tried to swindle me got ahold of my information. She was a resident of a housing project in New Orleans. Using my info, and much to the displeasure of The Annoyed Woman, she claimed to be my wife and set up multiple accounts with various creditors and ran up some significant bills—the largest of which, $24,500, was with Bell South for mobile phones and services. Through the credit reporting agencies, I was able to find out her exact name and address, but when I told NOPD that I would gladly fly down there to testify once they had arrested her, they told me they weren't going to bother because $48,000 wasn’t a large enough theft to be worth their precious time.

Be that as it may, because of the rampant fraud, medical insurance providers discontinued the practice of using SSNs as personal identifiers, as did many other industries. But Americans commonly regarded their SSN as a secure identifier for a good long while, so it’s no surprise that they were engraved onto a lot of firearms.

[puma guy]

The refinery I worked for used SS numbers on time cards and it was discovered in the late 80's that some employee's SS numbers were stolen by contract janitorial staff, who were illegal aliens who were paid in cash as it turned out. They used the SS# and names for ID to get employment to higher paying jobs. They got away with it until the refinery employees whose names and numbers were used got unwelcome notices from the IRS about wages that weren't theirs. The time cards were left in plain sight in the offices of supervisors who had to make rounds to various operating units during their shifts. The practice of using SS for plant ID ended, but it took the employees a lot of time to get the government straight on what had occurred. They did get some assistance from the company's lawyers. The ridiculous part is every employee upon being hired since 1917 was issued a company ID badge and number. That was ultimately used on time cards instead of SS#.