Thank you for the clear response Bert.

Considering the above, I suspect that other “facts” I listed at the beginning of this post are not correct, particularly the production years.

Until the day credible information will surface linking serial numbers to specific dates, I cannot add much to this story.

I will continue sampling 490 serial numbers, mainly to establish a credible production range and for personal curiosity.

The rifles I “surveyed” so far (i.e. I studied online photos) seem to be identical, the only visible differences are color of the stock and some minor details on the markings (size/font of the “Made in Canada” and the presence or lack of hyphens and periods by the caliber and the New Haven Conn).  Not sure about internal components, yet.

I finally purchased a 490 model, and while I think it’s a very beautiful and balanced rifle, the only reason I will ever buy another is if a specimen in much better conditions comes along, perhaps in its original box. Then I will probably try to sell the one I just bought; for the moment I can’t see much point in collecting multiple 490s.

Its big brother, the Model 100, instead, not only came in different calibers, rifles, and carbines, but as production went on, a few visible details changed; I had made another spreadsheet (from online photos) summarizing details of about fifty Model 100, perhaps slightly more interesting from a collector point of view.  

BTW, my wife uses a different terminology when referring to my spreadsheets and collections in general … but I don’t want to digress too much from the 490 topic.

While adding a few more 490s to my spreadsheet it occurred to me that the serial numbers can perhaps be divided in two groups, the “Before the Recall (for sure)” and the “After the Recall (probably)”.  This will not provide an exact date of manufacture, but an approximation for the moment is better than nothing.

Any major flaws in my reasoning ?  Suggestions ?  Thank you in advance.

Fact: Winchester issued the recall in March 1976  (source: AFTE Journal, Volume 8, Number 1, March 1976, Page 28: “Letter to Winchester Firearms Dealers”)

First Assumption: The presence of the asterisk in the vicinity of the s/n indicates the recall was completed (I write “assumption” because I have not found a solid source for this, only numerous comments online stating that the asterisk is for the recall; 88% of the rifles in my short survey have an asterisk, it seems a very high number to me for compliance to a recall).

Second Assumption: The Model 490 was manufactured in the mid 70’s, and when Winchester issued the recall, the model was still in production.

Third Assumption: The rifles produced after the recall date were manufactured “correctly” but Winchester applied the asterisk nonetheless to avoid confusion.

First Deduction: All serial numbers without the asterisk were assigned “Before the Recall”

Second Deduction: The highest serial number without the asterisk implies that all previous serial numbers (with or without the asterisk) were assigned “Before the Recall”.

As of today, the highest s/n without the asterisk I recorded is 24088, so today I would say that all s/n up to 24088 were assigned before March 1976. Hopefully as my list grows I should be able to better define this number.

The numbers higher than 24088 were not necessarily assigned “After the Recall”, but as the s/n increases the probability of being assigned after March 1976 also increases.

I would really welcome any comments.

Thank you.

Thank you sincerely Bert !

As of today these are the stats,

Specimen recorded: 80

Lowest s/n recorded: 1176

Highest s/n recorded: 57900

With asterisk: 86%

Without asterisk: 14%

Highest s/n without asterisk: 24088

With asterisk up to 24088: 74%

Without asterisk up to 24088: 26%

With asterisk after 24088: 100%

• • Probable range of total production: 59,000 ± 1,000
  • Manufactured before March 1976: serial numbers up to and including 24088

I will update this post again once the sampling is a bit more consistent.

LOOKING for evidences of s/n below 1000, above 57900 and all s/n without asterisk, thank you in advance.