Here area few sites that can be used to help Members date their firearms by serial number: http://www.nramuseum.org/gun-info-research/serialization-date-of-manufacture-from-the-blue-book.aspx and... http://www.proofhouse.com/
Thank you, Ripjack. I’d like to add a warning about the Browning site. The information is often incomplete, contradictory, or just wrong.
I should have mentioned that it’s Browning’s coverage of the Auto-5 that I have a problem with. But it’s so bad that I wouldn’t trust anything from that site. Maybe they can be excused for some errors because it was posted before the Shirley-Vanderlinden book was published. The authors went to Belgium and researched 100 year old production records. But the information has been available for years now and Browning hasn’t updated it. Besides the above, it’s inexcusably poorly written. All of the serial numbers listed are for the 12 gauge — but they don’t tell you that. Many owners of a 16 gauge Auto-5 have been totally confused. And it’s contradictory. They say that Remington took over production from 1940-46. OK, I agree. They list Belgian serial numbers starting in 1947. Then they state that FN resumed production in 1952. It just doesn’t make sense. And by the way, I owned a Light Twelve made in Belgium in 1946. Frustration with that site led me to purchasing the S/V book. That book prompted me to start collecting Auto-5’s. So it’s cost me about $10,000 over the purchase price. https://www.fnbrowning.com/browning-auto-5-shotguns
B-SS Serial number under the lever: 2601B47 Inside Forend: 2601 Barrels: 2601 Checking the Browning website for Historic Information, I am unable to find a code matching my serial number. I am curious if anyone can date the manufacture of the B-SS, 20 gauge and if it is bored for 3" shells? Thanks!
If your gun was made in Belgium, it’ll have a date code among the proof marks along with the chamber dimensions. But here is another case where the Browning site falls flat. You might try calling the Browning Historian. Research is free, but a letter will cost you. I’ll take a SWAG and guess 1974. I have a B2000 with 37 as part on its serial number and the website says that number reversed is the year of manufacture.
That makes sense. 2601 is the serial number and B47. Mine is a Miroku. Made in Japan, assembled in Korea, so it makes me think 1974 is the year it was manufactured.
I no longer think so. I know that Miroku didn’t start producing the Auto-5 until 1976. I don’t know if that’s the first gun they made for Browning, but I think it was. 1974 was always a shot in the dark. I think you should call Browning.
