To give you a verifiable example, Madis listed Model 1885 serial number 103363 as the last serial number manufactured in the year 1917 when in fact, it was actually serialized on July 16th, 1906, received in the warehouse on August 28th, 1906, and it was shipped (sold) on August 29th, 1906. Regardless of what information Madis actually used, for many different models, his published DOM versus serial number information is off the mark by several years, and in the case of the later production Model 1885s, it is off by 11+ years. Instead, I am simply trying to re-educate all of the interested Winchester collectors to the fact that they should not rely on what Madis published in regards to dates of manufacture, and his so-called rarity tables (that is another subject all together that defies explanation). Frankly, I am not really interested in trying to solve that mystery. It has been said by some that he used "sales" records, but in all of my research, I have not yet seen any actual "sales" records.
No, I have not been able to figure out what date Madis used as his basis, as his DOM information does not correlate with any of the verifiable dates in the historical records. This link will take you to the CFM website.
Winchester 1917 serial numbers serial numbers#
The SNA date can be provided for serial numbers up to 1352066 (December 29th, 1945). For the Model 1894 (94), a factory lettter can be provided for just serial numbers 1 - 353,999 (through early 1907). For a letterable Winchester, you will see three dates on the letter (1) the date it was serialized, (2) the date it was received in the warehouse from the assembly room, and (3) the date it was shipped (sold).įor a Winchester that can not be lettered, there is a decent chance that a SNA date can be provided.
The book is titled " The RED BOOK of WINCHESTER values" and it can be purchased online at BrandX (go to the Books/Videos link).Īs a side note, the CFM now provides what they refer to as the SNA (Serial Number Application) date on factory letters and on the research sheets (for members only). As a part time volunteer at the CFM, I have researched those records in great detail, and just this past January, I assisted a long time friend of mine in publishing a new Winchester reference book that discusses and provides the true (accurate) year ending serial numbers for all of the various models.
David Kennedy (the CFM curator at the time) wrote an article that appeared in the CFM news letter about the recently discovered Winchester Polishing Room Serialization Records, and how they differred significantly from what Madis had published. Several years ago, I began researching the historical records held by the Cody Firearms Musuem, and I discovered that Madis was horribly inaccurate for nearly all on the Winchester models. He first published his erroneous information in 1960, and it has been copied by almost every other author and website that exists. The vast number of published DOM lists for all Winchester models were copied from the flawed works of George Madis.
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