Winchester Model 1887 (Model 87) serial numbers by year
Winchester’s first shotgun, a lever action designed by John Browning in 10 and 12 gauge. The factory records date it from May 1887 to March 1899; Madis assigns the whole 1–64,855 sequence by the end of 1898.
- Produced:
- 1887–1899
- Action:
- lever-action
What year was your Model 87 made?
Where the serial number is
Bottom of the receiver, forward of the lever.
Why the sources give different years
Nobody kept one official list of which Winchester Model 1887 serial numbers were made in which year. The dates come from the original factory record books, now held by the Cody Firearms Museum, the tables in George Madis's Winchester books, compiled decades after the guns were made, and a list typed up by Winchester's customer-service desk, which mixes real records with estimates. For some serial numbers these sources are years apart, so this page shows what each one says instead of picking one.
Madis vs. factory dates lists every model where the sources part ways, with a real serial number from each.
Sources for this model: Legacy Winchester/Madis SN (Up To) · CFM/Polishing Room · Winchester customer-service list (2012)
How accurate are these tables?
A factory letter from the Cody Firearms Museum gives the exact date a serial number was stamped. We collected Model 1887 letters that have been published in auction catalogs and checked each one against the tables on this page. A table is checked only against the letters whose serials it covers, so the counts differ from table to table. A table earns trust when the letters land in the year it gives:
- George Madis's published tables: 1 of 5 letters land in the year it assigns (3 within a year).
- Winchester's own customer-service list (2012): 4 of 5 letters land in the year it assigns (5 within a year).
Winchester did not always stamp serial numbers in order, so an occasional one-year miss is normal even for a table built from the original factory books. Consistent misses are not.
Winchester Model 1887 serial numbers by year
The full Model 1887 serial number chart, one table for each published source. Each row gives the serial numbers that source assigns to a year. Find the row your number falls in.
A row marked “sources differ” is a serial range that another table on this page dates to a different year. For the Model 1887 that is true of most of the run, so treat any single year as an estimate and read the notes below the tables.
George Madis's published tables
From George Madis's Winchester books, a collector reference compiled decades after production. The figures are year-end estimates, not counts from the factory books.
Cited as: Legacy Winchester/Madis SN (Up To)
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1887sources differ | 1 – 7,431 |
| 1890sources differ | 7,432 – 29,105 |
| 1895sources differ | 29,106 – 58,289 |
| 1898sources differ | 58,290 – 64,855 |
- 1887: This was the first year of production.
- 1898: This year comes from the older published tables. It is not the legal pre-1899 antique cutoff, the line federal law uses to treat a gun as an antique. The older Winchester and George Madis table assigns the whole Model 1887 range through serial 64,855 to 1898. The original factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum place serials 64,843 to 64,855 in 1899.
Factory records (Cody Firearms Museum)
The original Winchester factory ledgers, now held at the Cody Firearms Museum. They record the day each serial number was stamped, which is usually close to when the gun was finished.
Cited as: CFM/Polishing Room
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1898sources differ | 1 – 64,842 |
| 1899sources differ | 64,843 – 64,855 |
- 1898: The pre-1899 antique cutoff, the line federal law uses to treat a gun as an antique, falls at 64,842 and below according to the original factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum. George Madis's tables in effect treat 64,855 as the cutoff. The Cody records give 64,842.
- 1899: The original factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum place serials 64,843 to 64,855 in 1899. The Winchester collectors' association dates the last Model 1887 production to March 1899. Before you treat a gun in this range as an antique, order a factory letter or a serial-number search from the Cody Firearms Records Office to settle the actual date of manufacture.
Winchester's own customer-service list (2012)
A year-by-year list Winchester's customer-service desk typed up to answer owners' letters. Partly real records and partly estimates, as the list itself says.
Cited as: Winchester customer-service list (2012)
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1887sources differ | 1 – 7,431 |
| 1888sources differ | 7,432 – 22,408 |
| 1889sources differ | 22,409 – 25,673 |
| 1890sources differ | 25,674 – 29,105 |
| 1891sources differ | 29,106 – 38,541 |
| 1892sources differ | 38,542 – 49,763 |
| 1893sources differ | 49,764 – 54,367 |
| 1894sources differ | 54,368 – 56,849 |
| 1895sources differ | 56,850 – 58,289 |
| 1896sources differ | 58,290 – 60,175 |
| 1897sources differ | 60,176 – 63,952 |
| 1898 | 63,953 – 64,855 |
What to know about Model 1887 serial numbers
- The Winchester collectors' association reports that Model 1887 production continued until March 1899, even though the yearly table in George Madis's tables assigns the whole 1 to 64,855 range by the end of 1898.
- George Madis's tables in effect treat 64,855 as falling before 1899. The factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum give 64,842 instead. Under those original records the last 13 Model 1887 serials, 64,843 to 64,855, come after 1898.
- Numbers above 64,855 belong mainly to the Model 1901, the model that followed. The combined coverage in the factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum is not a Model 1887 total.
- The Model 1901 carries the sequence on from 64,856. The older published tables report a little overlap around the changeover.
- Winchester's own customer-service list is a retyped compilation, not the original records. The list itself says that no complete original serial record from 1866 onward is known to exist, and that some of its figures are estimates.
- Winchester's own customer-service list says that no guns were made during the last few years of this model, and that it was therefore discontinued in 1901.
Related models, and why
Shared serial sequences, successors, and look-alikes — each link says why it is here, straight from the record notes.
Other Winchester shotguns
Winchester shotguns that never had a serial number
These have no serial number to look up. Their pages explain why, and how to date one from its features.
Want proof on paper? Order a factory letter
The Cody Firearms Museum holds Winchester’s original records and, for a fee, will search them for your serial number and send you a letter with the recorded dates and details. It is the closest thing to the original factory entry you can own, and it is what auction houses and appraisers accept.
Its records cover Model 1887 serial numbers: 1–78,356 (shared with the Model 1901). A number outside that coverage cannot be lettered.
Order a factory letter from the Cody Firearms Museum →What a factory letter shows, and when one is worth ordering →