Winchester Model 40 serial numbers by year
The Winchester Model 40 is a long-recoil-operated semi-automatic shotgun produced only in 1940-1941.
- Produced:
- 1940–1941
- Action:
- semi-automatic
What year was your Model 40 made?
Where these dates come from
Winchester's original factory records do not cover every model. For the Model 40, the dates come from one published source, Blue Book of Gun Values table. It was typed up long after production, so treat any year as a close estimate rather than a factory record.
Source for this model: Blue Book serialization table (approximate year-end numbers)
Winchester Model 40 serial numbers by year
The full Model 40 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 “approximate” comes from a table whose figures are estimates rather than factory records.
Blue Book of Gun Values table
Approximate year-end figures as printed in the Blue Book of Gun Values.
Cited as: Blue Book serialization table (approximate year-end numbers)
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1939approximate | through 2,671 |
| 1940 | 2,672 – 10,592 |
| 1941 | 10,593 – 13,265 |
| 1942approximate | 13,266 – 18,929 |
- 1939: This is the Blue Book's approximate last serial number for the year. Winchester listed the Model 40 as new for 1940, so guns numbered in 1939 were made before the model was announced. Barrel date codes of 39 have been recorded.
- 1942: This is the Blue Book's approximate last serial number for the year. It conflicts with the Blue Book's own model summary of 1940–1941 and with the Winchester collectors' association estimate of about 12,000 made. It may reflect leftover parts assembled after the model was withdrawn.
What to know about Model 40 serial numbers
- The only published serial breakdown is the Blue Book's table of approximate last serial numbers for each year: 2,671 in 1939, 10,592 in 1940, 13,265 in 1941 and 18,929 in 1942. It comes from one source and is labelled approximate, so treat any year it gives as an estimate.
- The table does not fit the model's own history. The Blue Book's model summary and advertising from the period give 1940–1941. The census researcher at the Winchester collectors' association describes about 12,000 made in 1940. Yet the table runs to about 18,929 in 1942. The model year, the date the serial number was stamped, the date on the barrel and later assembly from leftover parts are all different things. You cannot date a Model 40 to 1940 or 1941 from its name alone.
- The Winchester collectors' association has recorded barrel date codes of 39 and 40.
- The lowest known number is serial 7, a factory-engraved Deluxe two-barrel set. The Winchester collectors' association census has recorded about 150 examples since 1995.
- None of the sources consulted says where on the gun the serial number is stamped.
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 40
The Cody Firearms Museum, which holds Winchester’s surviving factory records and issues factory letters, does not list the Model 40 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 →