GunSerials

Serial number date vs. ship date · measured from the factory letters

How long did Winchester take to ship a gun?

A Winchester could be numbered, finished, and shipped on different days, or even in different years. A serial-number lookup does not give you all three dates. Factory letters can help explain the gap when the records survive.

The three dates on a factory letter

A factory letter reports what survives in Winchester’s records for one gun. It may include these dates. This page measures the time from numbering to shipping.

  • Serial number applied. The day the number was stamped on the receiver, the metal body behind the barrel. This is also called the Polishing Room (PR) date or serial number application (SNA) date.
  • Received in warehouse. The day the finished gun was logged in, ready for sale.
  • Shipped from warehouse. The day it left the factory on an order. Where a letter shows more than one shipment, the first is the one counted here.

Made-up example · Winchester factory record

Winchester Repeating Arms Co. · Model 1894

Serial number
your serial number
Serial number stamped on
December 28, 1898
The numbering date. It can be earlier than the date the whole gun was finished. A table based on numbering records estimates this date.
Type
Rifle
Caliber
30 W.C.F.
The ammunition type, also called .30-30 Winchester.
Barrel type
Octagon
An eight-sided barrel.
Trigger
Plain
A standard trigger.
Received in warehouse on
February 8, 1899
Finished and logged in, ready for sale.
Shipped from warehouse on
February 11, 1899
The gun left the warehouse 45 days after its serial number was stamped.
Order number
as recorded
A made-up example to explain the terms. All the details are invented. The contents of a real letter depend on the records available. The Cody Firearms Records Office issues the real thing for a fee.

Of the 180 guns in our sample, half shipped within 45 days of numbering. 8% shipped within a week; 13% took more than a year. The middle 80% of waits ran from 9 days to about 14 months.

Where the waits landA time line from one week to about 7 years. The middle 80% of guns shipped between 9 and 431 days after numbering; the halfway point is 45 days; the longest recorded wait is 2665 days.The middle 80 percent of guns in this sample shipped between 9 and 431 days after their serial numbers were stamped.Half the guns in this sample shipped within 45 days of numbering.Half shipped within 45 daysThe longest recorded wait: 2,665 days, about 7 years.longest: about 7 years1 week1 month3 months1 year
The shaded band covers the middle 80% of waits. The dot marks the median: half were shorter and half longer. The scale compresses longer waits so 7 years will fit. Use the time labels to compare waits.

Where the wait happened

For 179 of these guns the record also shows the day the finished gun reached the warehouse. Half of them reached it within 27 days of numbering, and half left within 2 days of arriving. Each figure is the middle value for that stage on its own. They do not add up to the 45-day figure above, because a gun’s long wait usually fell in one stage or the other, and the middle values leave those long waits out.

  1. Number stamped

    Half were logged in the warehouse within 27 days. Some took much longer.

  2. In the warehouse

    Half left on an order within 2 days of arriving. Some sat much longer.

  3. Shipped

    Half of all 180 guns with both dates had shipped within 45 days of numbering.

Model by model

Model 188647734%17%over 5 years
Model 189433563%12%over 2 years
Model 1873326813%16%706 days
Model 1885254512%12%over 3 years
Model 189214420%7%381 days
Model 189010300%0%259 days
Model 1895102230%0%247 days

These guns had serial numbers stamped in 1882–1912. Each had factory records showing both the numbering and shipping dates. Models with fewer than ten such records appear only in the overall figures. “Typical” means the median, or middle wait. The longest wait uses the first recorded shipment; waits longer than two years are rounded down to whole years.

Why the wait?

Stamping a serial number was one step in making a gun. More work could follow before the finished gun entered the warehouse. It could then wait for an order. Special features and demand for a particular version could also affect the wait.

In our sample, half waited longer than 45 days and 13% waited more than a year. The longest wait was 2,665 days — over 7 years. We count the first shipment, so a later return for repair does not lengthen the wait.

What this means for dating a gun

A table based on numbering records estimates when a serial number was stamped. Other tables may estimate production or assembly. Check the model’s notes before comparing a lookup result with a date on a letter. A later shipping date alone does not show that an earlier numbering date is wrong.

These waits describe the guns in our sample. You cannot add the typical wait to a lookup date and get your gun’s shipping date. For that, you need its own surviving records. Learn about the records →

Questions

How long did Winchester take to ship a gun after it was numbered?

Half of the 180 guns with factory records in our sample shipped within 45 days of numbering. 8% shipped within a week; 13% took more than a year. Setting aside the quickest tenth and the slowest tenth, the rest shipped between 9 days and about 14 months after numbering.

What do the three dates on a Winchester factory letter mean?

Serial number applied means the day the number was stamped on the receiver, the metal body behind the barrel. Received in warehouse means the finished gun was logged in for sale. Shipped from warehouse means it left on an order. A letter may show some or all of these dates.

Is a Winchester's date of manufacture the day it shipped?

No. Numbering, finishing, and shipping are separate steps. A shipping date tells you when the gun left the warehouse. It does not tell you exactly when its serial number was stamped or when the gun was finished.

Does a Winchester factory letter show the shipping date?

It can, if the shipping record survives. Some letters have only a numbering date; others include warehouse dates and details about the gun. Ask the Records Office what is available for your model and serial number.

How this was measured

The guns counted here have Cody Firearms Museum records — factory letters, and for 24% of them the museum’s search printouts of the same ledgers — that were published in auction catalogs, with the day the serial was applied and the day the gun shipped both readable in the record. In more detail:

  • Every date was transcribed from the page image in two independent review passes, and only dates both passes agreed on are used. Approximate or year-only dates are not counted.
  • One gun counts once. A gun lettered twice, or a letter scanned twice, is one record; a gun whose records give two different numbering dates is left out.
  • Where a record shows more than one shipment, the first is the one counted. Return and repair shipments never enter the figures.
  • We left out 4 records that show shipping before numbering or more than ten years afterward. Those dates may reflect a recording or reading error; we did not use them to measure the usual wait.
  • As a check that each pair is really one gun: 179 of the 180 records also show the day the finished gun reached the warehouse, and every one of them reads in order — numbered, then received, then shipped.
  • The figures are the median and simple shares, not averages: a few very long waits would drag an average up without describing the typical gun.

This is not a random sample of all Winchesters. Unusual or valuable guns may be more likely to have published letters. The figures describe this sample and do not predict the wait for any particular gun.

Think one of these numbers looks wrong? Tell us what you’re seeing and include a source so we can check it.