Unfortunately, there is a lot of erroneous information that has been published in books and on the internet about this topic.  Hopefully the following information will make it perfectly clear exactly which Winchester firearms are actually “Antique”.

Per U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 44, Section §921, paragraph (16), an “Antique” firearm is defined as follows;

(16) The term “antique firearm” means—

(A) any firearm (including any firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system) manufactured in or before 1898; or

(B) any replica of any firearm described in subparagraph (A) if such replica—

(i) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition, or

(ii) uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition which is no longer manufactured in the United States and which is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade; or

(C) any muzzle loading rifle, muzzle loading shotgun, or muzzle loading pistol, which is designed to use black powder, or a black powder substitute, and which cannot use fixed ammunition. For purposes of this subparagraph, the term “antique firearm” shall not include any weapon which incorporates a firearm frame or receiver, any firearm which is converted into a muzzle loading weapon, or any muzzle loading weapon which can be readily converted to fire fixed ammunition by replacing the barrel, bolt, breechblock, or any combination thereof.

As it pertains to any original Winchester firearm, only paragraph (A) above is germane to the question.  The following table was created using the original Winchester factory serialization records in possession of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center of The West Museum in Cody Wyoming.  The same records are used by the Cody Firearms Museum (CFM) records office to create a factory letter when requested.