The insurance adjuster wants a complete inventory with serial numbers and descriptions. The estate attorney wants the same. You have seventeen firearms, some of which you've owned for thirty years, and the serial numbers are on the receivers of rifles currently stored in three different cases in two different locations. Some were documented in a spreadsheet you made in 2014 that you may or may not have on a backup drive somewhere.
A firearms collection without a current, accurate inventory is a liability — legally, financially, and practically.
Make, Model, Action: The Three Fields That ID a Firearm
Make and Model together uniquely identify most commercial firearms: Remington 700, Winchester Model 70, Glock 19, Ruger 10/22. For older or custom pieces where the Make is the primary identifier, the Model field carries the variant designation — Pre-64 Model 70, Woodsmaster Model 742, Featherweight.
Action type — bolt, semi-auto, lever, pump, single-shot, revolver — is the functional descriptor that matters for storage, transport, and regulatory classification in many jurisdictions. Sorting your collection by Action gives you a practical grouping for cleaning kit management: bolt-action rifles share cleaning rod requirements, revolvers need a different cylinder brush than semi-auto pistols.
Type classifies the firearm category — rifle, handgun, shotgun, rimfire — for the broader organizational layer. Combined with Caliber/Gauge, the record describes exactly what ammunition the firearm chambers, which matters for both safety documentation and inventory cross-referencing when you're sourcing components.
Serial Number as the Legal Foundation
Serial Number is not optional data. It's the field that connects a physical firearm to its transfer history, its Form 4473 record at the transferring FFL, and its standing under the NFA if applicable. For a collection that changes through acquisition and disposition, serial numbers are the audit trail that demonstrates legal ownership chain.
For blue book valuation, insurance replacement cost, and estate documentation, the serial number combined with make, model, and condition description is the minimum viable record. Every firearm in the collection should have this data current, verified against the physical receiver, before any other documentation effort.
The Three-Photo Standard
Image 1, Image 2, Image 3 support three photographs per firearm. The standard documentation for insurance and appraisal purposes covers: overall left side profile, receiver closeup showing serial number, and any distinguishing features (custom stock, scope mount, unusual markings). Three photos is enough to document a standard production firearm completely.
For collectible or historically significant pieces — pre-war commercial Mausers, engraved presentation firearms, NFA items with documented transfer history — the photos document provenance indicators that text descriptions can't fully capture. A matched numbered set or a cartouche mark on a military surplus rifle is worth photographing specifically.
Description is the free-text field for everything that doesn't fit a structured field: provenance notes, condition details, modifications, appraisal history, or any information relevant to valuation or legal standing.