While it may appears to be a die error, it was not. The digit that looks like an “L” is actually a poor rendition of a “1” that was intentionally made that way by the Winchester employee who cut the serial number digit dies. That person apparently made a batch of them, as they were used and found on the Model 1892, 1894, and 1897 rifles & shotguns manufactured near the turn of the century. For the Model 1894, I have found them with the “L” shaped “1” digit as early as 950L5 (September 1900) to as late as LL7256 (July 1901). For the Model s 1892 and 1897, the timeframe was the same as the Model 1894.

Bert

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Thank you, any idea how many were made with that die set, who the employee was?    

I would expect to find every serial number with a “1” digit in it between the two numbers I mention to have the “L” digit, which would indicate that at least 18,000 Model 1894s were made.  I have photos of more than 2-dozen serial numbers with it.  There are no employee records in existence from 120-years ago.

Bert