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*Last edited by revdocdrew on Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:14 am; edited 7 times in total*

Thought I'd document sources for manufacture dates by serial # since it seems to be a frequent question:

High grade British and American SxSs:
http://www.doublegunshop.com/dgsnos.htm

www.oldguns.net Scroll down to Manufacture dates and also Markings
Includes Winchester, Remington, and Ruger

Winchester:
www.armscollectors.com/sn/windates.htm

Browning:
www.browning.com/services/dategun/index.asp

Remington (thanks 662)
http://www.remington.com/library/history/firearm_models/shotguns.asp

Member Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 358 Location: Houston

Thank YOU, Revdoc. Great idea, and glad to have the Browning reference--Sweet Sixteen due to arrive any day now.

Member Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 22

Ithaca Gun Repair. Email them with model and serial number for date of manufacture and other historical info.

http://www.diamondgunsmithing.com/index.html

Member Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 743

The Blue Book lists the Italian date codes, Browning date codes, and some others. If you get your hands on a Galazan catalog, there are SN lists for all the American "classics", plus a number of Brit and European-made doubles.

Member Joined: 18 Aug 2005 Posts: 4 Location: PA

Here's the site for LC Smiths http://www.lcsmith.org/serial.php

662 came up with another site which shows the serialization listed in Blue Book as mentioned by Larry:

http://store.bluebookinc.com/Info/PDF/Firearm/Serialize.pdf

In 1953 Browning changed the Ser. No. alphabetic
character to differentiate between Lightweight
(Sweet 16) & Standard weight guns.

Year Std.16 Sweet 16
1953 R1-R3100 S1-S3700
1954 R3100-R20800 S3701-S24850
1955 R20801-R48750 S24851-S49350
1956 R48751-R74700 S49350-S72300
1957 R74701-R99999 S72301-S99908

1957-58 Prefix "T" for Standardweight and Prefix
"A" for Sweet 16 numbers mixed, but range from
1-10900.
1958-1976 Ser. No. sequence changed to
include a one or two digit numeral followed by an
alpha character.

Year Std.16 Sweet 16
1958 8R 8S
1959 9R 9S
1960 0R 0S
1961 1R 1S
1962 2R 2S
1963 3R 3S
1964 Disc. 4S
1965 Disc. 5S
1966 Disc. 6S
1967 Disc. 7S
1968 Disc. 8S
1969 Disc. 69S
1970 Disc. 70S

The formatting is a little rough, but I think you can see the pattern. To answer your question, a '58 Sweet Sixteen would start with "8S."

Member Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 602 Location: western pa

The back four or five pages of Galazan's catalog also list a bunch of mfg. dates by serial nos. for American and some English double guns.

*Last edited by revdocdrew on Mon Jun 05, 2006 8:07 pm; edited 6 times in total*

See the following link:
http://www.9mmlargo.com./year_codes.htm

Another line on interpreting proof dates of Spanish guns:
http://personales.jet.es/rafa/b_punzones_eibar_fecha.html

http://web.jet.es/rafa/b_punzones.html gets you to the page with dates, proof marks, and maker's marks. includes makers no longer in business(extintos).

(BTW: fecha is 'date')

Some more infro on Italian guns:

Italian year of manufacture

: FAQ When was my gun produced? All the Italian firearms and the foreign firearms produced in Countries that do not have a Proof House recognized in Italy, should be prooved at the Proof House of Gardone Val Trompia, before being sold. The Proof House performs a series of tests and controls of safety, to ascertain the operational qualities of the firearm and the absence of risks for the shooter. Proof of the fact that the controls of safety were performed is represented by stamps, deliberately put on the action or on the barrel. Among these, is (especially on rifled barrel guns) the date in which the arm was proofed. In the period included between 1922 and 1953, the date was indicated "in clear", with a stamp stating the entire year including the four figures.Starting from 1954, however, it began to indicate the year with a Roman number: 1954 corresponds to the X, 1955 to the XI, and so on. As the years went by, however, they realized that if Roman Numerals continued to be used they would require a very lengthy stamp: so, instead to indicate 1971 with the figure XXVII it was determined to indicate it with a mixed one of Roman numbers and Arabs: XX7. It follows XX8 for 1972 and XX9 for 1973, to end with XXX in 1974. From 1975, the Roman numbers were abolished and it was decided to indicate the year with a code of two letters. 1975 corresponds to AA, 1976 to AB, and so on. The problem is that some letters were skipped, therefore only having the entire list of the codes or proof marks you can determine with certainty the year of construction of the arm. Here is the entire list of the codes:

X = 1954 XX7 = 1971 AT = 1988
XI = 1955 XX8 = 1972 AU = 1989
XII = 1956 XX9 = 1973 AZ = 1990
XIII = 1957 XXX = 1974 BA = 1991
XIV = 1958 AA = 1975 BB = 1992
XV = 1959 AB = 1976 BC = 1993
XVI = 1960 AC = 1977 BD = 1994
XVII = 1961 AD = 1978 BF = 1995
XVIII = 1962 AE = 1979 BH = 1996
XIX = 1963 AF = 1980 BI = 1997
XX = 1964 AH = 1981 BL = 1998
XXI = 1965 AI = 1982 BM = 1999
XXII = 1966 AL = 1983 BN = 2000
XXIII = 1967 AM = 1984 BP =2001
XXIV = 1968 AN = 1985 BS = 2002
XXV = 1969 AP = 1986
XXVI = 1970 AS = 1987

Website for infro re: LeFever guns
(not the Ithaca Lefevers)

http://www.phpbbforfree.com/forums/laca.html

Member Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 743

Rev, the info posted above on Italian date codes isn't accurate. The Roman numeral code began with I in either 44 or 45 (seems to be some dispute there) and goes forward from there to the changeover to two letters.

Thanks Larry-I pasted your original formula:
Beretta (per Larry Brown)
marked on brl flat: 1944 + the Roman numeral
If I is 45' then wouldn't X be 54'?

And an interesting link listing all CURRENT gun makers:
http://members.tripod.com/~shotgunning/index.htm

Infro on German guns: www.germanguns.com

*Last edited by revdocdrew on Thu May 24, 2007 1:56 pm; edited 1 time in total*

Infro on Belgium guns:
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/a%20a%20artisans%20identifies%20gb.htm