Winchester Model 1892 (Model 92) serial numbers by year
The lever action Browning scaled down for pistol cartridges — .44-40, .38-40, .32-20 and .25-20 — and one of the most produced Winchesters, at over a million.
- Produced:
- 1892–1941
- Action:
- lever-action
- Most common caliber:
- 44 WCF
What year was your Model 92 made?
Winchester Model 92 value: what it sells for at auction
340 Winchester Model 1892s sold one gun to a lot at Rock Island Auction Company (241) and Morphy Auctions (99) between Sep 2023 and Sep 2026. The table groups them the way the auction house coded each lot: antique, curio and relic, or modern. Half of the guns in each row sold inside the “most sell between” range; a quarter sold below it and a quarter above. Eight in ten sold inside the wider “nearly all between” range.
Standard guns only. Left out: deluxe and special-order guns (checkered or fancy wood, pistol grips, odd barrel lengths, special sights), engraved, inscribed, presentation, and commemorative pieces, and lots of two or more guns. A deluxe or special-order gun sells for more than these figures, often several times more. Condition and originality drive most of the spread inside a row. How much is a 44 WCF Model 92 worth? The rows include every chambering, so a 44 WCF is worth what its era row shows.
Enter your serial number above and this section picks out the row for your gun’s era and lists the most recent sales like it.
| Era | Sales | Most sell between | Typical | Nearly all between |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antiquemade before 1899 | 79 | $1,862 – $4,112 | $2,337 | $1,530 – $5,992 |
| Curio & Relicat least 50 years old at the time of sale | 261 | $1,175 – $4,406 | $1,998 | $940 – $11,162 |
By configuration
The same sales split by what the lot title called the gun, all eras together.
| Configuration | Sales | Most sell between | Typical | Nearly all between |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle | 203 | $1,286 – $3,231 | $1,880 | $987 – $5,875 |
| Carbine | 132 | $1,410 – $6,462 | $2,644 | $1,001 – $13,172 |
These are sold prices for standard guns, not an appraisal. Prices realized as published by each house after the sale; both houses' figures include the buyer's premium. A dealer buying for resale will offer less than these figures; a private sale between collectors often lands near the typical price for the gun’s condition. If your gun has factory upgrades, a factory letter that confirms them is what moves it above these numbers. Updated after each major sale. The full picture, model by model →
Where the serial number is
Bottom front of receiver, toward the forearm.
Why the sources give different years
Nobody kept one official list of which Winchester Model 1892 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: WACA-reported CFM/Polishing Room SNA year end · Legacy Madis/Pirkle year end · 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 1892 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:
- Winchester's own customer-service list (2012): 12 of 35 letters land in the year it assigns (25 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 1892 serial numbers by year
The full Model 1892 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. A row marked “approximate” comes from a table whose figures are estimates rather than factory records.
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: WACA-reported CFM/Polishing Room SNA year end
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1892 | through 7,121 |
| 1893sources differ | 7,122 – 22,804 |
| 1894–1898approximate | 22,805 – 103,328 |
- 1894–1898: This range runs from the end of 1893 through 1898. It is not a single year.
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 Madis/Pirkle year end
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1892sources differ | through 23,701 |
| 1893sources differ | 23,702 – 35,987 |
| 1894–1898approximate | 35,988 – 165,431 |
- 1892: This row dates early. The Cody Firearms Museum holds 4 factory letters for serials in this range, and they show the number was stamped 1 to 2 years after 1892. The table drawn from George Madis's tables runs ahead of the factory ledgers until about 1903, when the two agree again.
- 1893: This row dates early. The Cody Firearms Museum holds 1 factory letter for a serial in this range, and it shows the number was stamped 1 year after 1893. The table drawn from George Madis's tables runs ahead of the factory ledgers until about 1903, when the two agree again.
- 1894–1898: This range runs from the end of 1893 through 1898. It is not a single year.
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 |
|---|---|
| 1892sources differ | 1 – 23,701 |
| 1893sources differ | 23,702 – 35,987 |
| 1894approximate | 35,988 – 73,508 |
| 1895approximate | 73,509 – 106,721 |
| 1896approximate | 106,722 – 144,935 |
| 1897approximate | 144,936 – 159,312 |
| 1898 | 159,313 – 165,431 |
| 1899 | 165,432 – 171,820 |
| 1900 | 171,821 – 183,411 |
| 1901 | 183,412 – 191,787 |
| 1902 | 191,788 – 208,871 |
| 1903 | 208,872 – 253,935 |
| 1904 | 253,936 – 278,546 |
| 1905 | 278,547 – 315,425 |
| 1906 | 315,426 – 376,496 |
| 1907 | 376,497 – 437,919 |
| 1908 | 437,920 – 476,540 |
| 1909 | 476,541 – 522,162 |
| 1910 | 522,163 – 586,996 |
| 1911 | 586,997 – 643,483 |
| 1912 | 643,484 – 694,752 |
| 1913 | 694,753 – 742,675 |
| 1914 | 742,676 – 771,441 |
| 1915 | 771,442 – 804,622 |
| 1916 | 804,623 – 830,031 |
| 1917 | 830,032 – 853,819 |
| 1918 | 853,820 – 870,942 |
| 1919 | 870,943 – 903,649 |
| 1920 | 903,650 – 906,754 |
| 1921 | 906,755 – 910,476 |
| 1922 | 910,477 – 917,300 |
| 1923 | 917,301 – 926,329 |
| 1924 | 926,330 – 938,641 |
| 1925 | 938,642 – 954,997 |
| 1926 | 954,998 – 973,896 |
| 1927 | 973,897 – 990,883 |
| 1928 | 990,884 – 996,517 |
| 1929 | 996,518 – 999,238 |
| 1930 | 999,239 – 999,730 |
| 1931 | 999,731 – 1,000,727 |
| 1932 | 1,000,728 – 1,001,324 |
- 1892: This row dates early. The Cody Firearms Museum holds 4 factory letters for serials in this range, and they show the number was stamped 1 to 2 years after 1892. The table drawn from George Madis's tables runs ahead of the factory ledgers until about 1903, when the two agree again.
- 1893: This row dates early. The Cody Firearms Museum holds 1 factory letter for a serial in this range, and it shows the number was stamped 1 year after 1893. The table drawn from George Madis's tables runs ahead of the factory ledgers until about 1903, when the two agree again.
- 1894: This row dates early. The Cody Firearms Museum holds 4 factory letters for serials in this range, and they show the number was stamped 1 to 3 years after 1894. The table drawn from George Madis's tables runs ahead of the factory ledgers until about 1903, when the two agree again.
- 1895: This row dates early. The Cody Firearms Museum holds 1 factory letter for a serial in this range, and it shows the number was stamped 3 years after 1895. The table drawn from George Madis's tables runs ahead of the factory ledgers until about 1903, when the two agree again.
- 1896: This row dates early. The Cody Firearms Museum holds 2 factory letters for serials in this range, and they show the number was stamped 4 years after 1896. The table drawn from George Madis's tables runs ahead of the factory ledgers until about 1903, when the two agree again.
- 1897: This row dates early. The Cody Firearms Museum holds 2 factory letters for serials in this range, and they show the number was stamped 3 to 4 years after 1897. The table drawn from George Madis's tables runs ahead of the factory ledgers until about 1903, when the two agree again.
- 1899–1902: No factory letters were checked for this range. The same table runs one to four years early through 1897 and matches the letters again from 1903, so treat this year as approximate.
What to know about Model 1892 serial numbers
- Numbers stamped on the lower tang, under the stock, may be internal assembly marks. Do not use one in place of the serial number on the receiver.
- The older published year table by George Madis and Pirkle does not agree with the original factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum, which record the date the serial number was stamped.
- Factory letters from the Cody Firearms Museum show that the yearly table drawn from George Madis's tables dates serials below about 160,000 one to four years too early. Winchester's own customer-service list repeats the same figures. All 14 of the 14 letters checked in the 1892 to 1897 rows show the number was stamped later than the year the table gives. From 1903 on the table agrees with the letters.
- These dates record when the serial number was stamped on the receiver. They do not tell you when the gun was finished, received in the warehouse, or shipped.
- For one particular gun, look up its own surviving record at the Cody Firearms Museum, either the warehouse record or the record of the date the serial number was stamped. That is better than estimating a date from either table.
- Some Model 53 and Model 65 rifles were numbered in the Model 92 sequence, with nothing to set them apart.
- Serials 1,006,822 to 1,007,608 in the factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum are leftover parts assembled after regular production ended. They run above the last numbers in the tables of George Madis and OldGuns, and there is a gap in the records in between. Do not assume production ran without a break.
- The two sources disagree about the pre-1899 antique cutoff, the line federal law uses to treat a gun as an antique. George Madis's tables put it at 165,431. The factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum put it at 103,328, which is 62,103 serials lower.
- 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.
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 lever-action rifles
Winchester rifles 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 these Model 1892 serial numbers: 1–344,149; 345,050–374,850; 376,149–917,240; 1,006,822–1,007,608. 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 →