Winchester Model 1893 serial numbers by year
The Winchester Model 1893 was an exposed-hammer pump-action shotgun designed by John Browning, produced from 1893 to 1897.
- Produced:
- 1893–1897
- Action:
- pump-action
What year was your Model 1893 made?
Where the serial number is
Bottom of the receiver (underside), as on the successor Model 1897.
Where these dates come from
Winchester's original factory records do not cover every model. For the Model 1893, the dates come from one published source, George Madis's published tables. It was typed up long after production, so treat any year as a close estimate rather than a factory record.
Sources for this model: Madis published table · Factory-lettered examples (published auction catalogs) · Hartman ledger audit
Winchester Model 1893 serial numbers by year
The full Model 1893 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.
The tables agree with each other for every serial range.
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: Madis published table
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1893–1897 | 1 – 34,203 |
- 1893–1897: George Madis's tables give no year-by-year breakdown for the Model 1893. The sequence ran from 1893 until the last Model 1893s were numbered in 1897, and the Model 1897 carried it on. The first Model 1897s appear around 31,609 to 34,151. The published table mixes Model 1897 production into the same sequence.
Dated examples from auction catalogs
Individual guns whose factory letters were published in auction catalogs. Real dates, but only for those serial numbers.
Cited as: Factory-lettered examples (published auction catalogs)
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1897 | 34,345 |
- 1897: Model 1893 serial 34,345 has a factory letter and shipped on June 18, 1897.
Hartman ledger audit
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1897 | 35,402 |
- 1897: One reading of one ledger, from a single source, gives 35,402, dated July 22, 1897, as the last recorded Model 1893.
What to know about Model 1893 serial numbers
- Model 1893 serial numbers run higher than the production totals.
- George Madis's tables openly mix Model 1897 production into the same sequence.
- Model 1897 numbering began around 31,609, before the last Model 1893s were numbered. The two models overlap in the records for 1897 to 1899. Inside that overlap a serial number alone cannot tell you which model you have.
- The Winchester collectors' association puts the first Model 1897 in the shared sequence at approximately 34,151. The older published tables read the changeover at approximately 31,609. The two figures come from different record systems, so do not treat them as the same final serial.
- The shared range in the factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum covers the whole family of guns, not Model 1893 production alone.
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 1893 serial numbers: 1–1,024,701 (shared with the Model 1897). 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 →