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Winchester Model 101
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:46 am
by Pippin89
Hi All
Can anyone tell me where I can find a manufacture date for the above with serial number K4127xx? There are plenty of online sources but they all seem to stop in 1971 with serial number 140500...
Re: Winchester Model 101
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 1:14 pm
by Sim G
That might have been when production was moved to Belgium. Have you compared to Browning date codes?
Re: Winchester Model 101
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 1:48 pm
by Pippin89
Sim G wrote:That might have been when production was moved to Belgium. Have you compared to Browning date codes?
I read somewhere else that the K means it was made in Japan. Haven't seen the Browning date codes but I will look them up.
Re: Winchester Model 101
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:20 pm
by DaveB
The K came about as a result of the Gun Control Act of 1968. Until the CGA sporting firearms like shotguns didn't even need to have serial numbers and many of the inexpensive ones like Savages and the like did not have them. After the GCA they were required to have serial numbers and the serial number had to have a letter prefix. The prefix chosen by Winchester for the 101 was a 'K'. Various number blocks were assigned to various gauges. The 12 Ga 101s apparently started with K200000. I tried to find out when my Winchester 101 Skeet was made. I do not have it handy so can't be more exact, but mine was somewhere in K21XXX block and was made in 1968.