comments:
This is the answer pretty much. The amount of documentation available for identifying firearms varies wildly based on manufacturer and model. Sometimes the exact date of manufacture becomes rather important since the production date range might fall on either end of the 50 year requirement (assuming the make model isn't named on the C&R list). CA DOJ has never set a standard as to how much homework is enough homework, so at the end of the day it depends on how your dealer feels about the transfer and if it meets the C&R requirement. If the site you're buying from says its C&R, then perhaps that's enough for your dealer. Perhaps it's enough that you find a forum post on some gun board talking about what the theoretical manufacture date is. Perhaps your dealer wants you to have a more well-sourced book, though honestly that can be a pain in the butt because like, if you wanted a Zastava M57, The Complete Tokarev is a book that was released in 2020 for $40 but now you can only find it used for ~$213. At the end of the day the strongest determining factor is your dealer, and then the second strongest determining factor is trying your reasonable best to identify the manufacturing year based on the resources available. what is your guys go to way or tips and tricks for getting a good age on stuff you’re not familiar with Short Answer: Google Longer Answer: Looking through various specialty gun board where collectors, who may or may not have collector books, talk about specifics. This really varies by make and model though. From there they might reference their sources, whether they be official manufacturer databases, books, or otherwise. Sidenote: Collector Books? Have that as part of your collection purchases. Particularly when they're in print. $40 or $60 might seem like money better spent elsewhere but once a book falls out of print it becomes a real pain in the butt to get that book anymore, often times digital versions aren't made, and reprints long after the initial print run are almost unheard of for gun books. And when I say "collector book", I mean books that are specifically made to aid in identifying particular firearms, as opposed to just a coffee book that looks nice on your coffee table.