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When I look up a Model 94 serial number of 1,267,XXX, the return on the WACA lookup returns a manufacture year of 1941. Is this year only when the serial number was created or when the serial number was stamped on the receiver? Or both? The last posting in the PRSRB for Dec 29, 1945 is 1,352,066. So sometime between 1941 and Dec 29, 1945 the rifle with S/N 1,267,XXX was assembled and sent to the polishing room then sent to shipping (or even possibly shipped to a customer). Was this gun “made” in 1941 or sometime between 1941 and Dec 29, 1945? Does this serial number mean that this rifle was “made” during WW II? Just trying to understand these dates.
As it applies to Winchester firearms, there are three separate dates associated with each serial number. In order of date sequence;
1. The Polishing Room (PR) date. This is the specific date that the serial number was applied to the receiver frame. Per Federal law, this is the official Date of Manufacture. The PR date always precedes the assembly date.
2. The Received in Warehouse date. This is the specific date that the fully assembled firearm was sent from the factory to the shipping warehouse and logged into the warehouse ledger records as ready for sale. Typically, this date was 2 – 4 weeks after the PR date, but it could be as much as several years later.
3. The Sold date. This was the date that the firearm was packaged and began its shipment to its first destination (retail store or first owner). In most cases, this date was 1 – 7 days after he Received date.
The date you will find on the WACA website is the specific year that the serial number was applied as derived from the (PR) records.
Model 94 with serial number 1267000 was manufactured in February 1941. Accordingly, it is a “pre-war” production Carbine. It would have been fully assembled and shipped prior to September 1942.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
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