No date code on barrel

General discussion about Remington 870 shotgun.
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67stingray
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No date code on barrel

Post by 67stingray » Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:19 pm

I have a 870 Wingmaster in .410 2 1/2" or 3" shells, ventilated rib, high polished blueing, enhanced engraving, gloss wood. It has the white line and diamond grip cap. It is in really good shape but does not have a date code on the barrel and the serial number has prefix and suffix lettering. Trying to find date of manufacture and more info on it, not having a lot of luck. Any help would be appreciated.

67stingray
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Re: No date code on barrel

Post by 67stingray » Thu Jul 12, 2018 2:46 am

Thanks Sidney, it's prefix is a D so I guess it was made in 2001. Any idea when they quit using the white diamond on the grip cap?
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67stingray
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Re: No date code on barrel

Post by 67stingray » Thu Jul 12, 2018 5:42 pm

Thanks, I contacted Ruger and they said it was made in 2003. There's a lot of information on the 870's out there but not a lot on changes in some of the changes.

67stingray
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Re: No date code on barrel

Post by 67stingray » Fri Jul 13, 2018 1:39 am

My mistake not Ruger, don't know what I was thinking. I emailed Remington and they got back to me within 12 hours. A few years ago I bought a Remington 700 and didn't shoot it for about a year and it ended up having a burr in the barrel and sent it back and they repaired it without any problems, maybe I got lucky. But in my opinion Ruger does have the best customer service in the business.

steve.coffman
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Re: No date code on barrel

Post by steve.coffman » Mon Oct 22, 2018 4:22 am

Yeah definitely. I was in the same issue few months back. Please read this Date code bt the first letter meaning the month and the last letter the year of manufacture. R.E.P. On the RH side of the barrel will be a Magnaflux, Remington proof & a test mark.

https://www.leeroysramblings.com/Gun%20 ... _code.html to see the blog post that may help you.

lostman
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Re: No date code on barrel

Post by lostman » Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:07 am

Remington never (*) used serial numbers to identify the date of manufacture of it's firearms, they however stamped a date code (spelled out below) by the first letter meaning the month and the last letter the year of manufacture.



BARREL DATE CODE - stamped exposed on LH top rear of barrel after 1920

the following will only be stamped where applicable

#2 Part order barrel (not originally assembled to firearm)

#3 Service section received

#4 Return as received

#5 Employee sale



R.E.P. On the RH side of the barrel will be a Magnaflux, Remington proof & a test mark



If a gun is returned to the factory as a fire damaged, or blown up firearm, the factory will stamp it as a prefix to their date code with a #4 on the barrel and return it un-repaired. Then if the gun is ever subsequently returned to a warranty center or the factory by ANYONE, they will refuse to work on it as an unsafe firearm.





REMINGTON MANUFACTURING DATE CODE

stamped on LH top rear of barrel, 2 or 3 digit, (month first, year after) these will normally only be the last letters as seen below,

with the whole list shown here ONLY if it had been returned for repairs
The anchor shown here with the date code is just a symbol, as many different inspector marks will be seen






The above information was taken from Remington's own information sheet, so if your gun may not conform, then I am also at a loss in explaining.





The factory says all barrels are date code stamped, well I have found some that are not, or if they are, are so erratic stamping that trying to decipher them is impossible.



The photos below may help a bit. Both were taken off Remington 760s, with the one on the left, a 30-06 that I bought new October 10, 1954. This has been rebored to a 35 Whelen Improved. The one on the right again a 30-06, but with a shorter barrel that I made into a knock around quad rifle with pivot mounts.



Here the R represents November, & the ZZ would be 1953. The fourth digit being a 3 is inconsequential being an assembly number. There is no inspector mark on this side. Here the first (LH) mark is the final inspector mark, the O represents July, the R would be 1968. And the F again being an assembly number.











JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

B

L

A

C

K

P

O

W

D

E

R

X



1920 = L

1930 = Y

1940 = J

1950 = WW

1921 = M

1931 = Z

1941 = K

1951 = XX

1922 = N

1932 = A

1942 = L

1952 = YY

1923 = P

1933 = B

1943 = MM

1953 = ZZ

1924 = R

1934 = C

1944 = NN

1954 = A (JAN. AA)

1925 = S

1935 = D

1945 = PP

1955 = B

1926 = T

1936 = E

1946 = RR

1956 = C

1927 = V

1937 = F

1947 = SS

1957 = D

1928 = W

1938 = G

1948 = TT

1958 = E

1929 = X

1939 = H

1949 = UU

1959 = F







1960 = G

1970 = T

1980 = A

1990 = K

1961 = H

1971 = U

1981 = B

1991 = L

1962 = J

1972 = W

1982 = C

1992 = M

1963 = K

1973 = X

1983 = D

1993 = N

1964 = L

1974 = Y

1984 = E

1994 = O

1965 = M

1975 = Z

1985 = F

1995 = P

1966 = N

1976 = I

1986 = G

1996 = Q

1967 = P

1977 = O

1987 = H

1997 = R

1968 = R

1978 = Q

1988 = I

1998 = S

1969 = S

1979 = V

1989 = J

*1999 = T




(*) On 8/9/99, they stopped stamping the barrels with the date code. They however continued to mark the date code on the end flap of the shipping box for shotgun barrels however. They planned on using just the serial numbers to tell when the gun was manufactured. So there was a 2 year gap in rifle date coded barrels and the normal consumer, or gunsmith would have to contact the factory for this information. They then saw the error of their ways apparently because of being inundated by phone calls and resumed stamping the date code on the barrel on 10/1/01.





*2000 = U

2006 = D

2012 = J

2018 = P
*2001 = V

2007 = E

2013 = K

2019 = Q

2002 = W

2008 = F

2014 = L

2020 = R

2003 = A

2009 = G 2015 = M
2021 = S

2004 = B

2010 = H 2016 = N
2022 = T

2005 = C

2011 = I 2017 = O 2023 = U

You will notice the year code repeats itself, but over 20 years difference, so even if it was used on the same model, in all likelihood sights or stocks would be different which would indicate the different date. You will also notice the month code spelling out BLACKPOWDERX, this is a common code in the firearms industry. Also some letters were left out if there was a chance of misidentifying a date. Also they jockeyed year letters to a new starting point in 1980.



If you find marks on the underside of the barrel, they will more than likely be fitters or assembly marks, which mean nothing as to dating the firearm.



I have seen one EARLY 740 S/N 54,9XX that has a barrel date coded May of 1969, which apparently had been sent back to the factory and rebarreled with a original 740 barrel instead of a 742 which was in production at that time.



To find general manufacturing dates it may be best to go to the Blue Book of Gun Values, which does give manufacturing dates of most models.



An issue that people need to be aware of, is that many Remington firearms such as the 870 series of shotguns can have their barrels easily changed or replaced. So, if the barrel is not original to the specific firearm in question the date code may be meaningless. Also if there is a custom or aftermarket barrel installed it will not have these factory codes.

Confounding the issue a bit may be the fact that Remington Arms stamps their final inspector stamps and assembly (product) codes in the immediate area of the date codes. So it may be difficult at times to determine exactly what is what. With that in mind, and considering a lot of variables. If a specific Remington firearm has a serial number, Remington Customer Service is always the first source which should be checked for date of manufacture as they would be the definitive source. There are no publically accessible databases for Remington serial numbers.



With the hundreds of different Remington models produced over the past 200 years, it can sometimes be difficult to determine the age of your firearm.

Overview
Since serial numbers were not required until 1968, your firearm may not have a serial number. For models without a serial number, we may be able to determine the age by the 2-3 letters that are stamped on the barrel. If your firearm does have a serial number, if you will call or email us the serial number and model number we can determine the approximate age of your firearm.

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