The Winchester Records Synopsis, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Cursive

The Cody Firearms Records office produces letters from the corporate records of seven major America firearms manufacturers (Ithaca, Savage, Lafever, Marlin, AH Fox, LC Smith), but the largest collection of corporate resources comes from the Winchester factory records. The records were provided to the Center of the West by Winchester when they donated their reference collection to us and as such over a million pieces of paper were delivered.

Winchester records take many forms and contain variable information centered around the model of the firearm, the year it was produced, and quantity of information available. The most common form of record is our handwritten factory ledgers that contain all the configuration information that was recorded by Winchester clerks about a given firearm focusing on any special-order features or items that deviated from standard configuration. Such items include barrel length, caliber, any engravings done by Winchester, repair orders, and so forth. The ledgers also record when the firearm was received by the factory and when it left the factory. However, the ledgers do not often record the primary purchaser of the firearm or where it was shipped to as those were likely part of other records that did not survive. The ledgers have variable information from firearm to firearm but also house instances of experimental or test firearms, the coveted 1 of 1000 grade guns and even true curios utilizing exotic materials or in unique configurations.

Augmenting the factory ledgers, another form of record that is available is the Serial Number Application books. These books record the earliest possible date that a given firearm was that specific firearm. To clarify what that means requires a basic understanding of Winchesters manufacturing process. How it works is that a receiver is forged in the factory and sent to the polishing room, there the receiver is given a once over to remove any imperfections, polished and then they stamp the serial number to it. Then at the end of the day, they would record the last serial number stamped that day in books no larger than a pocket notebook. With this type of record, we have the earliest possible date of manufacture for a given serial number. Not every record has a Serial Number Application (SNA) record and conversely many Winchester records only have SNA data and no configuration information. So, to find out what records are available for a given firearm please call or email the Cody Firearms Museum Records Office to find what information is available for a given firearm. Or go on our website to where we have a PDF of all surviving serial number ranges and what info we have for a given range. for your convenience or interest, the PDF the ranges are linked below!

SerialNumberRanges2024-all.pdf

Starting in the 1910s Winchester moved away from the traditional ledger books and migrated to a card system for many of their firearms. These cards contained much of the same information as the ledger books but also often have the sales information for a given serial number. However, not every model of Winchester has surviving configuration information post 1910 with only the model 1873 having a complete set of factory cards and the model 1886 having most of their surviving factory cards. All other models only have sporadic or individual factory cards or none at all.

The other type of Winchester records that we possess govern exactly one model of firearm. The Model 21 records are unique compared to any of the other Winchester records. Rather than ledgers or cards, the Model 21 records are centered around the Final Inspection Report and any Order Sheets and Repair Orders that are associated with that serial number. For Winchester Model 21 was a highly personalized double-barreled shotgun and as such they offered lots of custom order options and would allow customers to pay for any custom work they wanted. Final Inspection Reports form the core of our letters for Model 21’s detailing how the firearm was configured and for whom when it was signed off to be shipped to the customer. For many model 21’s but not all we also have Order Sheets that detail what was originally ordered for a given shotgun, sometimes there are variations between what was ordered and what was finally produced. Lastly some model 21 shotguns have repair orders that detail any repairs or changes both minor and major across a shotgun’s life. So, we could have an order sheet dated 1946, a final inspection report in 1948 and a repair order in 1968, and you can order a letter detailing all the information that is on those records.

The beauty of working with any of the Winchester records save the cards is the use of a very old style of cursive being handwritten by clerks trying to record what was critical to that firearms configuration. Often written in shorthand the Winchester records can start to look like a lost language as the terms they used for various firearm characteristics can be different from how we talk about them or how collectors communicate about various models. For example, a checkered pistol grip would be written in one stroke as CK PG or Check PG or Pistol Check Plain and so forth but not to be confused with a CH PG written in one stroke as that is a case-hardened gun with a pistol grip stock. For many collectors and Winchester historians’ terms such as Saddle ring carbine, short rifle or trapper are used to describe various configurations of Winchester rifle however there are no records that call those firearms by those terms. Thus, there will never be a letter for a “1873 Trapper” as there is no Winchester record that will claim that, but there are plenty of 1873’s with a 15in or shorter barrel in the records that we provide letters for. Our objective in the Records Office is to deliver the most accurate and direct translation of the factory records into our letter format with all the information recorded.

These documents form the core of our Winchester factory letters and if you are interested in ordering one feel free to reach out to the records office at [email protected] or at [email protected] or go on the centers website and click on the “research” tab and in the drop down menu click on “firearms records” once taken to the new page just click on the manufacturer you would like a letter for and then fill out the forum at the bottom of the page. Once we have your order form, we will send you a PayPal invoice for the work and get started on your factory letter(s). or you can use the link below and click on the manufacturer you would like a letter for!

Cody Firearms Records Office – Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Consider making a trip to Cody or making a stop here at the Center of the West on your Yellowstone vacation. And while you’re here consider taking an Exclusive Tour to learn more about our collection items, see behind the scenes and get hands on with some of our collection items. Or join us on our special Vault Tours where you get to see the firearms not on display and the work that goes on in the Firearms Museum vaults!