Manufacturing date for Browning shotgun

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fussduck

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I bought a Browning 16 ga shotgun, probably an A-5 from a pawn shop in the middle 1950's and it looked as if it had never been fired. My wife has done lots of hunting with it and I would like to know more about it. There is a number under the receiver which I believe is the Serial No. and it has an "R" with 18544 under it. I have found one reference which says that in November, 1953 Browning changed the model codes and that the R was used for a standard model and an S for the sweet sixteen. But none of the lists of Serial Nos. on the Browning website or any of the other sites I have looked at has an R and the numbers don't fit either. The barrel is stamped that it was made in Belgium. I would appreciate any information.
 
The list in the back of the Blue Book shows that a 16 ga. with 18544 was made in 1913. Okay, probably not it.

Standard 16 ga. marked R18544 was made in 1954. The numbers that year ran from R3100 to R20800. The Lightweight Sweet 16 had an S prefix.
 
Johnbt where did you find your reference on the R prefix? The Browning site does not mention a R prefix for that model year. If there's more info out there I would like to access it. Thanks
 
It's in the serialization list in the back of the Blue Book of Guns. That's all there is, a list. I assumed the R would be a prefix, but judging by your gun I guess not.

John
 
This page requires Adobe Reader. Page 2203 on the right side under Std. 16. I think it opens on 2202, but I use odd monitor settings that will change things sometimes.

https://store.bluebookinc.com/info/PDF/Firearm/Serialize.pdf

What the heck, I copied the info, but lost the formatting.

In 1953 Browning changed the Ser. No. alphabetic
character to differentiate between Lightweight
(Sweet 16) & Standard weight guns.
Year Std.16 Sweet 16
1953 R1-R3100 S1-S3700
1954 R3100-R20800 S3701-S24850
1955 R20801-R48750 S24851-S49350
1956 R48751-R74700 S49350-S72300
1957 R74701-R99999 S72301-S99908
1957-58 Prefix "T" for Standardweight and Prefix "A"
for Sweet 16 numbers mixed, but range from 1-
10900.
1958-1976 Ser. No. sequence changed to include
a one or two digit numeral followed by an alpha
character.
 
Thanks for the serial number info., I'll have to get a blue book for reference. Right now I'm using Standard Catalog of Firearms as a reference.
 
I recently purchased a shotgun brand Browning Side Lock (BSL) model LC2 to a auction in Austria, 12 gauge and the 918CS01060 number.

I've tried to learn many searches and requests for help in various specialized forums to know what year of production and still can not.

I know that "918" sets the 12 gauge.
These weapons initiated each year with the number 1000 and so this was 60 that year.
I admit that the letters "CS" set the year of production, but I can not get this information.

Can anyone help?

If you want to enjoy can see it on my collection site: http://armasfinas.blogs.sapo.pt/ and http://armasfinas.blogs.sapo.pt/brownin ... ally-27441

Thank you,
 
Thanks for the info .

It is curious that the Browning is one of the oldest and largest producers of weapons , which has in its website a search engine to identify the date and year of their weapons Manufacturing ...

... has nothing on these fine shotguns in a special series of rare sidelocks that were recorded by " Lebeau - Courally " and whose new value is close to $ 22,729.00 ...

There is plenty of other information about the production dates below to publish , but none of them can reach this date will my shotgun that I bought at a auction in Austria .

It's a frustration but I know that with the help of many of you who are lovers of weapons and their knowledge , will achieve this date .


http://www.nramuseum.org/media/940941/serialization-date of manufacture.pdf

http://www.browning.com/customerservice/dategun/

http://proofhouse.com/browning/index.html

http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_All_Proofmarks.html

http://www.browning.com/customerservice/dategun/detail.asp?id=26

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/custom/list.asp?cat=002L&bg=x

According to some colleagues the number 918CS01060 my shotgun has the following reading :

- 918 = 12 gauge
- CS = Custom Shop
- 01060 = number of shotgun and in each year, starting with nr 01000

I will be very grateful to all the help you can give on this subject . I can not speak English, because if I did, would have already called the manufacturer and solved this issue, I hope!. Use of translation in order to write then I apologize for any difficulty in communication programs.

Thank you!
Luis
 
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