Winchester Hotchkiss serial numbers by year
Winchester’s first bolt action, Benjamin Hotchkiss’s design with a tubular magazine in the buttstock, built for U.S. Army and Navy trials and as a sporting rifle.
- Produced:
- 1878–approximately 1900
- Action:
- bolt-action
What year was your Hotchkiss made?
Where the serial number is
Serial-number location varies by model; a documented Third Model has its serial number on the bottom ahead of the trigger-guard bow.
Where these dates come from
Winchester's original factory records do not cover every model. For the Hotchkiss, 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 start-of-year production table · Pattern-rifle delivery reference points
Winchester Hotchkiss serial numbers by year
The full Hotchkiss 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 start-of-year production table
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1879 | 1 – 3,100 |
| 1880 | 3,101 – 7,404 |
| 1881 | 7,405 – 12,906 |
| 1882–1883 | 12,907 – 18,338 |
| 1884 | 18,339 – 42,651 |
| 1885 | 42,652 – 53,066 |
| 1886 | 53,067 – 54,721 |
| 1889 | 54,722 – 55,401 |
| 1890 | 55,402 – 67,031 |
| 1891 | 67,032 – 67,185 |
| 1892 | 67,186 – 67,203 |
| 1893 | 67,204 – 84,584 |
- 1886: The 1887 to 1888 row has no published starting serial and no published quantity. This end figure is worked back from the next known starting point, 54,722 for 1889.
- 1893: The final serial comes from the range of 1 to 84,584 that George Madis's tables give as the numbers set aside. Many numbers inside that range were skipped.
Pattern-rifle delivery reference points
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1879 | 101 |
| 1879 | 162 |
- 1879: Pattern rifle serial number 101 was one of the first complete rifles delivered in June 1879.
- 1879: Pattern rifle serial number 162 was one of the first complete rifles delivered in June 1879.
What to know about Hotchkiss serial numbers
- The top serial of 84,584 is not a count of guns finished.
- The warehouse records at the Cody Firearms Museum run to 84,584. That leaves 84,552 to 84,584 outside the confirmed pre-1899 antique cutoff, the line federal law uses to treat a gun as an antique.
- Guns were still being made and sold around 1900, even though nearly the whole run of numbers had been handed out earlier.
- The confirmed antique cutoff tells you when numbers were set aside and stamped, not when a gun shipped. A gun sold or shipped around 1900 may still carry a pre-1899 serial.
- The 1879, 1880 and 1883 models all share one Hotchkiss serial sequence. A serial number alone does not tell you which design you have.
- Some First Model carbines were rebuilt as Second Models, so the way a gun is built today need not be the way it left the factory.
- Civilian carbines converted from Army stock carry three-digit serial numbers.
- The factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum give no date for when a Hotchkiss serial number was stamped.
Other Winchester military contract arms
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 Hotchkiss serial numbers: 1–84,584. 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 →