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As a technical note, folks should know that merely grinding off the surface impressions is not enough. The original dies stamp the number deeply into the metal's crystalline structure, and so the number can often be recovered. If one lived in a dangerous police state, (not a free country like the USA, obviously)(sarc?), one should first ruin the numbers with a center punch, and then grind the mess off.

Anyway, center punches are great tools to have. 1. If you want to drill a very accurately placed hole in hard steel, use a punch to give your first small drill bit a home. Otherwise, the drill bit tip may skate around before randomly biting into the steel, off your desired mark.

2. Sometimes in order to disassemble some tight metal pieces, even after soaking in penetrating oil, you will need to give a part a sharp rap with a hammer. The hardened tip of the center punch will bite into the piece you are trying to dislodge, so you can give it a major impact with your hammer.

Frankly, I can't imagine any tool bench without a center punch. Super useful tool. I just mentioned a few reasons to own them. Just a couple bucks at the hardware store.

Addendum to above. It should go without saying, but I will say it, before whacking your serial number with a hammer and center punch, that part of the disassembled pistol must be carefully backed up with a hard wood or soft metal shim or wedge, so you don’t damage the functioning of the pistol or rifle by compressing the overall width of the receiver. IOW, don’t bend your gun when you hammer the serial number.

Obviously this advice is for people living in dangerous police states, not a free country like America.

Those little brass spring loaded center punchs are great for breaking car windows. Place the point about 1-2 inches from the corner of the window and watch the Spider effect. Of course if you are a fire fighter or emergence rescue person, you might add an ice pick for penetrating the sidewall of tires, just to make sure a vehicle doesn’t roll.

Some of my favorite tools when I was on the fire department;)

The center punch can also be used to remove broken bolts. I remember working on a car with a friend and we broke the head off a large bolt. The bolt was broken flush. An engineering student happened by and said to put the point of the punch on the edge of the bolt, and imagine it was the size of a manhole cover and by tapping, turn the thing.

I was amazed when it worked.

I agree a law making unserialized guns illegal is unconstitutional. But I question why I would want to remove the serial numbers from guns I legally purchased.

The only reason I can think of is for selling or transferring to someone else without going through an FFL, which should also be legal. But the downside of damaging the gun, ruining the finish, reducing the resell value, etc, seems unnecessary.

For new guns or gun builds, unserialized from the start would be good. That’s the way 80% builds are already. I think manufacturers would still want to serialize, for purposes of recalling defects, etc, like automobiles.