Winchester Model 25 serial number range — what the records say
The Winchester Model 25 is a pump-action shotgun produced from 1949 to 1954, with 87,937 manufactured.
- Produced:
- 1949–1954
- Action:
- pump-action
Which years could your Model 25 be from?
Where these dates come from
No year-by-year serial number table has been published for the Winchester Model 25. The references give one serial range for the whole run (Proofhouse / oldguns.net table), so a serial number can be placed within those years but not to a single year.
Source for this model: Published production range (oldguns.net / Proofhouse)
Winchester Model 25 serial number range
The published serial range for the Model 25. Each row gives the serial numbers that source assigns to a year. Find the row your number falls in.
Proofhouse / oldguns.net table
An online compilation of approximate figures, most of them traced back to Madis.
Cited as: Published production range (oldguns.net / Proofhouse)
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1949–1954 | through 87,937 |
- 1949–1954: This row covers the whole run. oldguns.net and Proofhouse report serials passing 87,937 by the time the model was discontinued in December 1954. No year-by-year breakdown has been published.
What to know about Model 25 serial numbers
- There is no year-by-year serial table for the Model 25. oldguns.net gives only the span of 1949 to 1954. GUNS Magazine and the Winchester Arms Collectors Association both report that no yearly breakdown is known. So this lookup can only confirm that a number falls inside the production run.
- Production ran from March 1949, the first warehouse batch, to December 1954. 87,937 were made. oldguns.net and Proofhouse word it as serials passing 87,937.
- A two-digit year stamp on the underside of the barrel is the only closer dating clue the Winchester collectors' association offers. It dates the barrel, not necessarily the finished gun.
- 26-inch barrels turn up mainly below about serial 47,100, according to the Winchester collectors' association. Whether they were offered through the whole run is not settled.
- The Model 25 is a solid-frame version of the Model 12. The barrels attach differently and do not swap between the two. No Model 25 Riot Gun appears in the factory catalogs that the Winchester collectors' association historian checked, so do not accept a 20-inch gun as factory built without stronger evidence.
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.
No factory letter is available for the Model 25
The Cody Firearms Museum, which holds Winchester’s surviving factory records and issues factory letters, does not list the Model 25 among the models it can search. The published tables on this page are the best evidence available for dating one.
Which Winchester models can be lettered, and what a letter shows →