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“It was not uncommon to have NSN (no serial number) guns...right up to the 1968 GCA...Early A5 shotguns have every damn thing stamped with full or partial serial numbers (stocks, barrels, bolt, screw heads…) At least my 1914 does...”

The American military establishment did not bother to put serial numbers on government-arsenal-made issue long arms until after the American Civil War; the M1873 Trapdoor rifles were the first.

In contrast, makers of percussion revolvers affixed serial numbers to their arms well before 1861. Just why, I’ve never learned; perhaps it was a contract requirement, on arms sold to the government. Just what private companies did concerning internal control of materials and finished pieces probably varied greatly from firm to firm.

One assumes your Auto 5 was made by FN in Belgium. At the time, various European countries had laws requiring at least partial serial numbers to be stamped on every part possible. Rather a complex task; must have driven up labor costs considerably. Also, the stamping process probably ruined a fair percentage of small parts, where dimensional control and changes introduced by tempering are proportionately more critical.

Many low-end shotguns - single-shot and bolt-action models - were not required to have serial numbers, just as you have mentioned concerning many 22 rimfires, until GCA 68.

During the latter half of the 19th century, and through World War One in the 20th century, large numbers of small, low-powered, inexpensive revolvers were made and sold in the USA. Some of the larger manufacturers - Iver Johnson and Harrington & Richardson were two - put serial numbers on their products, but stamped the digits on parts of the frame covered by the grip panels. Remington did the same with its Model 95, the 41 Short Rimfire two-shot spur-trigger pocket pistol (sometimes mistermed “derringer”) it made from 1866 to 1935.

Just why anyone thought it important to hide serial numbers, I’ve never learned either.