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Hi all, My Uncle gave me his Model 88 308 when he decided to retire from deer hunting. It is the 88 with a 22″ barrel and the basket weave checkering in pretty good condition. I have several other Winchesters which I always establish a date for from the Winchester site but this one comes back as “Date Not Found”. The serial has an “A” at the end and all charts I have seen that show serial numbers there is no “A” shown. It is 16**09A. Is getting a letter from Winchester the only other option to date this firearm? Thanks, Mike in Michigan
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Hello Mike,
The “A” is technically not part of the serial number. So, assuming the number is in the 16,000 range, that would make it a late first year (1955) production rifle. That stated, the “basket weave” style stock checkering was not used until 1964. If the serial number is actually in 160,000 range, it would be a 1964 or 1965 production rifle.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Taking a “Winchester 88” Model discussion opportunity to offer a resource concerning these rifles/carbines (coincidentally inclusive of Model 100).
I’d also understood that the “A” prefix indicated a tech change within the model, of which apparently there were more than a few. These two models were apparently ‘non-traditional’ in some manufacture/gunsmithing aspects, particularly the Model 100. Note the stock reference suggesting no real inventory of such maintained, in some situations suggesting if an ‘early’ model stock required replacement, a latter model (basket weave) stock in inventory would be supplied.
No personal commentary/critique concerning any such, simply a few notations as I understand and wider reference actually valuable in tech repair info, etc.
Show & Tell 🙂 – my two 88 Models below; rifle 1956 & carbine 1968; 45xxx & 212xxxA respectively. Note: 1969 began the Federally mandated GCA system with Model 88 “H” designation serial prefix.
Happy Holidays!
John
http://www.leeroysramblings.com/Gun%20Articles/winchester_model_88_100_info.htmlb
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