Cartouche and Serial Number

[vibraphonusrex]

A rifle I’m looking at online has a second oval style ESA with date cartouche, but the serial number puts the date in the year 1890 range. Is this viable, or has something been fiddled with?

[John S.]

Two possible explanations:
1- Gun has original parts as assembled but at some point the cartouche was removed (common in post SAW "clean and repair" refinishing) and Bubba got a stamp off eBay and "fixed" it, not knowing that different cartouches were used at different times.

2- Cartouche is original to the stock, but stock got switched on to a newer action at some point.

But, there is NO WAY an early cartouche would have been armory applied on a rifle assembled with a much later serial number.

Remember, it IS POSSIBLE for early serial number receivers to show up on rifles assembled much later, and quite a few of those are known and accepted as anomalies, but legitimate.

[vibraphonusrex]

Yeah, the cartouche shown is not very legible, and that is a concern, too. Bummer.

[Dick Hosmer]

Well, if it's not very legible, I'd put my money on John's number two. After 55 years of trying to sort the wheat from the chaff, I can say, with conviction, that the 90% interchangeability of trapdoor parts is at once both the blessing and the curse of collecting them!

[vibraphonusrex]

So, all that being said, and thank you, should I consider this one? I’m not a “collector” per se, I want to shoot it—but I do want one that’s not just tossed together and/or faked. The rifle, as a whole, looks to be in very good shape.

[carlsr]

Should you only want it to shoot and not for collectors value than go for it, as long as the price reflects that it's a parts rifle.
Myself, I'd rather have a rifle that's correct even if I plan on shooting it.
Just my 2 pennies