The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gunsmithing Dating a Sears Model 53 by serial number?Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Dating a Sears Model 53 by serial number? | Login/Join |
one of us |
I've been offered a Sears Model 53 in .30-'06. I would like to find out what year it was made. Does anyone have a way to tell? I The s/n is 29501. | ||
|
One of Us |
I don't think I have ever seen production dates for Sears House Guns. But, when it was made maters little. If it shoots good and nothings broke, buy it. A Sears 53 is simply a model 70 Winchester which is a better gun than 90% of the bargain basement guns being made today. If it does not shoot or needs parts get an estimate for repair and govern yourself accordingly. Sears & Roebuck production runs: https://gun-data.com/sears_roebuck_guns.html When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
|
| one of us |
Well...that makes a lot of sense. I'll go check it out. Thanks. | |||
|
one of us |
The Model 53A was only made after 1964 so it's a pushfeed model. I think that Sears continued to sell house brand guns until the early 1980's when most department stores stopped selling them. I think my last department store gun buy was in 1984 when I bought a S&W K-38 masterpiece from Montgomery Ward. Frank "I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953 NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite | |||
|
| one of us |
A little off subject, but I bought a Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt/ACP convertible at K-Mart in the 1970's. But even more surprising was a Browning Safari with fantastic wood from J.C Penney (J.C. Penney also had their own line of proprietary guns for a while). My father-in-law bought a Browning BAR .270 from Dillards, an Arkansas-based department store chain which is no longer in business. Also not longer in business is TG&Y (a "variety" or "five and dime" store) where I bought a Ruger Mini-14. An acquaintance from Midland, Texas tells me that he bought many guns, including some high grade Sakos, at the local Walgreens! Now, only about a third of the Walmarts still sell guns. | |||
|
| One of Us |
We used to buy guns mail order out of the Sears and Eatons catalogs all of the time Stonecreek. I remember going through the Sears Christmas Wishbook as a kid looking at toys and then a few years later looking at 22s in the same catalogue. I actually have an original Webley & Scott Model 700 in 96% condition that was sold by Army & Navy Stores of London in 1955. It still has all of the paperwork and the case is even labeled Army & Navy Stores. Unlike its American cousins the gun is only stamped Webley & Scott. In the USA all of those guns were engraved: "Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Agents." How the world changes.  1 Webley & Scott 700 by Rod Henrickson, on FlickrWhen I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
|
| one of us |
I'm getting the Sears. I went to the shop and ran some brass through it. Of course the case mouth hung up on the feed ramp, but otherwise cycled smoothly. Did Montgomery Ward have rifles with their name engraved on them? I read that private label guns have no collector market, but I think it would be cool to have a few. I'll bet many Americans got their first gun from the local department store...whenthat was still a thing. | |||
|
| One of Us |
Actually, the House Brand guns are sometimes worth more money depending on the gun. Of course a Mossberg or Savage will probably always be Mossbergs and Savages excluding some of the ones that came out of their custom shops. But as in the case of the Webley & Scott guns House Branded by Abercrombie & Fitch, they still trade for around $3,500 when in 90% condition. The same goes for the Perazzi TM1s and MX8s that were branded by Ithica and Stoger. Very much the same price as the un-branded ones. It just depends on the quality of the firearm to begin with.  When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
|
| One of Us |
Most of my first guns came from Oshman's. . | |||
|
| One of Us |
Weren't they Ted Williams? | |||
|
| one of us |
Some were. Not sure about all of them. | |||
|
| One of Us |
Friend has a monkey wards marked Fn 30-06. Nice little rifle and quite a good shooter too with what must have been a $10 barrel in the day. | |||
|
| One of Us |
Sears had Sears, Ted Williams, and J.C. Higgins Montgomery Wards had Hawthorne, Ward's Westernfield, and another one or two. J.C. Penney had Foremost???? Western Auto had Revelation and possibly Westernfield. My brain is reaching back to the 1960's!!! I may be confused/dead wrong on some! Numrich catalogs have store brand cross reference charts. These guns were made my Marlin, Mossberg, Winchester, High Standard and others PA Bear Hunter, NRA Benefactor | |||
|
| One of Us |
Westernfield that was what I was thinking of. Don | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gunsmithing Dating a Sears Model 53 by serial number?
Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia