Old Winchester 92 25-20

[daisygordoninc]

I have a question regarding the date of manufacture of my older Winchester 92 25-20.
Under Winchester Dates of Manufacture my 25-20 is listed as 1897. When I wrote for
the Winchester Letter from Cody, my 25-20 with serial number 159065 the letter says
it was received in warehouse on March 5, 1901. What would be the difference in these
two, was it made in 1897 but not sent to the warehouse until 1901 ? Any thoughts on
these conflicting dates. I am writing a story about it and want to be correct on the
date of manufacturing.

[JerryB]

I think the polishing room records are used now.

[Pete44ru]

.

What one must understand is that most of the information relied on today is over 100 years old, and is based upon the long ago hand-entered SN & dates of manufacture/shipping (with the very real possibility of error and/or omission) - and is nothing like data entry of today.

Ergo, the serial numbers, particularly of earlier guns, are not a basis for concluding when a particular gun was produced or shipped - only records (like the factory Polishing Room records) that still exist can help (provided they are correct/complete).

Also, Winchester (and other firearms manufacturers) produced firearms using a "parts bin" process, in which large batches of parts (including receivers) were made & randomly used to refill the production line parts bins.

Likewise, the parts selected from the production line parts bins were also selected at random - which led to serial-numbered receivers that were not used for assembly for some while.

So, the various combinations of random selection and missing or erroneous information, plus the sometimes lengthy time that some firearms remained in the factory warehouse after production but prior to actual shipment, will show all sorts of confusing anomalies.


That said, IDK why you received two different DOM's from essentially the same sources - maybe one of the sources used information entered at different times than the other.


.

[fordwannabe]

Several of the date of manufacture web based sights use older information that has been proven to be erroneous. The newer information seems to put the actual year of manufacture later than previously published. If you got a letter from Cody go with that.
There is a member on here goes by twobit that is compiling a model 1892 registry and if you answer a few questions for him like type face, which address stamp was used ect, he has a wealth of information available. He even told me when my 1892 in 25-20 sold last and what auction. Pretty cool.
I believe he is working on a book and has the information for approximately 10,000 1892’s ( that number may be off a little)