Winchester Model 50 serial numbers by year
The Winchester Model 50 is a semi-automatic shotgun produced from 1954 to 1961, with approximately 196,402 manufactured.
- Produced:
- 1954–1961
- Action:
- semi-automatic
What year was your Model 50 made?
Why the sources give different years
Nobody kept one official list of which Winchester Model 50 serial numbers were made in which year. The dates come from 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: Published Madis/Proofhouse estimate · Winchester customer-service list (2012)
Winchester Model 50 serial numbers by year
The full Model 50 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.
Madis's tables (Proofhouse / oldguns.net reprint)
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: Published Madis/Proofhouse estimate
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1954approximate | 1,000 – 23,550 |
| 1955approximate | 23,551 – 49,100 |
| 1956approximate | 49,101 – 73,650 |
| 1957approximate | 73,651 – 98,200 |
| 1958approximate | 98,201 – 122,750 |
| 1959approximate | 122,751 – 147,300 |
| 1960approximate | 147,301 – 171,850 |
| 1961approximate | 171,851 – 196,399 |
| 1962sources differ | from 196,400 |
- 1954: Every figure in this table is an estimate published by George Madis and Proofhouse. Serial 1,000 was reportedly presented to John M. Olin and was not part of ordinary commercial stock.
- 1955–1961: Every figure in this table is an estimate published by George Madis and Proofhouse.
- 1962: Every figure in this table is an estimate published by George Madis and Proofhouse. George Madis's tables put 666 guns in 1962, but the Winchester collectors' association says regular production ended in December 1961. Those guns may be leftover parts assembled after regular production ended, or a difference in reporting dates, or simply a bad estimate.
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 |
|---|---|
| 1954 | through 24,550 |
| 1955 | 24,551 – 49,100 |
| 1956 | 49,101 – 73,650 |
| 1957 | 73,651 – 98,200 |
| 1958 | 98,201 – 122,750 |
| 1959 | 122,751 – 147,300 |
| 1960 | 147,301 – 171,850 |
| 1961 | 171,851 – 196,400 |
What to know about Model 50 serial numbers
- In George Madis's tables the serial numbers start at 1,000, but the arithmetic printed in that table does not add up.
- Counting 1,000 through 196,400 inclusive gives 195,401 numbers, not 196,402. Do not treat the reported total as confirmed by the serial numbers.
- George Madis's tables put 666 guns in 1962, but the Winchester collectors' association says regular production ended in December 1961. Do not read those 1962 guns as ordinary production.
- Serial 1,000 was reportedly presented to John M. Olin. It was not part of ordinary commercial stock.
- The Winchester collectors' association reports that the factory records needed do not survive. An accurate total from the factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum cannot be worked out at present.
- 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.
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 50
The Cody Firearms Museum, which holds Winchester’s surviving factory records and issues factory letters, does not list the Model 50 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 →