Serial number blocks for 870

[Matt C]

Anyone have a link where I can find the dates of manufacture for Remington 870s by serial number? Thanks.

[m24armorer]

Gee, what are you thinking...........

[ke6guj]

I haven't seen any lists, but I did call Remington and they did give me a cut-off of 572,000 for 1957 manufacture if you are looking for a C&R gun.

[rastro]

http://www.remingtonsociety.com/rsa/questions/barrelcodes

[Matt C]

I haven't seen any lists, but I did call Remington and they did give me a cut-off of 572,000 for 1957 manufacture if you are looking for a C&R gun.

Hmmm, well someone is selling one as a 1955 with an SN of 6896XX which means either the gun is not C&R or Remington gave you some overly conservative numbers...

[ke6guj]

I've seen that info regarding barrel codes, but it can be inaccurate if somebody swapped barrels.

Using these barrel codes to date a shotgun is somewhat unreliable, as shotgun barrels are often interchanged at random. One needs to be sure that the barrel is original to the gun before trusting the Barrel Code listing, above

.

However, IIRC, on the two C&R 870s I've had, the barrel codes were accurate. But I called Remington to make sure.

[ke6guj]

Hmmm, well someone is selling one as a 1955 with an SN of 6896XX which means either the gun is not C&R or Remington gave you some overly conservative numbers...

Give remington a call if you have the complete serial. When I called, I asked if they could give me the cut-off for C&R, the guy said they don't determine C&R. I then asked for highest serial number that would still be 1957. 572,000 is what he told me.

[Matt C]

Give remington a call if you have the complete serial. When I called, I asked if they could give me the cut-off for C&R, the guy said they don't determine C&R. I then asked for highest serial number that would still be 1957. 572,000 is what he told me.

That makes sense, the barrel code seems confirm 1955 (see below) but the SN seems higher. I'll call Remington to make sure.

Barrel Code

[ke6guj]

Here's the number to call.

Question
How can I tell how old my Remington firearm is?



Answer
If you will call or email us the serial number and model number we can determine the approximate age of your firearm.

Serial numbers were not required until 1968. For models without a serial number, we may be able to determine the age by the 2-3 letters that are stamped on the barrel.

Contact us through our Help Center by email or call us at 800-243-9700 Mon-Fri 9-5 EST.

You can view the history available on most Remington firearms HERE

[Matt C]

Update

From Remington by Email-

Thank you for visiting Remington Country! We certainly appreciate you taking the time to write in with your question.

The first serial S689631V was manufactured in 1973 the second serial number S026687V was manufactured in 1969. Unfortunately I do not have the information to provide to you on the last serial number manufactured in 1957

[ke6guj]

OK, I see that both serials had S-prefixes. My 1951 870s did not have any letter prefixes. 123***v and 140***v, both stated as 1951 per remington.