I discovered this engraving under the left grip panel of an otherwise near mint ~1996 P220 I recently purchased. I suspect the code is too brief to be an evidence number and too generic to be a private owner's personal identification. Clearly some consideration was given to hide the engraving though a small portion of the letter A is still visible with the grip installed. With so little to work with, does anyone have any thoughts re: the origin of this type of engraving. Thanks for looking.

Factory rebuild ?

Just an owner marking their property

Looks like a previous owner's initials, perhaps an ID mark if the gun is stolen. (That seems superfluous when it already has serial numbers.) The 3-01 could be a date, either March 1st or March 2001. Date for what, no idea.

First name initial, last name initial, March, 2001. Date is the purchase date, when they bought the pistol used.

And it looks like the date stamp om the underside of the right grip is 94 with the arrow pointing at January or February. Gotta be replacement grips older than the pistol itself.

I’ll go with a prior owner’s initials. And date………………of incarceration.

quote:

Originally posted by snoris:
And it looks like the date stamp om the underside of the right grip is 94 with the arrow pointing at January or February. Gotta be replacement grips older than the pistol itself.

With the serial number dating the pistol to 1996, this particular P220 was manufactured during the transitional period when SIG began assembling pistols in the US but had not yet discontinued the serialization of the barrel and slide. Note the absence of proof marks on the slide chin as well as the over stamped 'W' in W. Germany. While it is rather unlikely the 1994 grips are original to this pistol, in my years of examining P220's I've learned to never to say never.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
First name initial, last name initial, March, 2001. Date is the purchase date, when they bought the pistol used.

Once again, the simple answer is the best answer. A bit of amateur detective work has confirmed the pistol once belonged to a gentlemen with the initials A.C. At some point ownership transferred from Mr. A.C. to his son prior to the pistol showing up on the local used market.

Too bad Mr AC is a moron, engraving where some of it shows
Gorgeous still!!