Browning Serial Number Lookup: Year of Manufacture by Model and Date Code

Last updated October 10, 2026

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You’ve got a Browning on the bench and you want to know how old it is. The serial number will tell you. The catch is that Browning has changed the way it numbers guns several times, so step one is working out which system you’re looking at.

Browning publishes a dating page for every model on its own site, 53 of them. We read each one, copied the serial ranges and codes onto this page, checked every line against a saved copy, and built a lookup on top so you don’t have to click through them all.

A heads-up before you start. Browning says outright that its early Auto-5 and Superposed records are thin, and a few of its own pages contradict themselves. Where that happens, we show you what Browning printed and tell you.

Table of Contents

Used Brownings for Sale Right Now

These are the six lowest-priced used Brownings our dealers list right now, pulled live, with the Buck Mark, the BPS and the other current-catalog lines left out so the older guns people date on this page get the space.

See every used Browning in stock.

Where to Find the Serial Number on a Browning

Browning’s dating pages say the number is found on the receiver on most guns and send you to the owner’s manual for the exact spot. So we went through the manuals. Here’s where each one puts it, in Browning’s wording.

Source: Browning owner’s manuals, browning.com/support/owners-manuals, accessed October 10, 2026.

The manuals for the old guns don’t all say. On the Belgian Auto-5s we’ve handled, the number is on the underside of the receiver, just ahead of the loading port. On a Superposed it’s on the top tang under the lever, the same place as a Citori. Browning adds that the American-made Auto-5s from the Remington years carry it on the side of the receiver.

Copy down every character, letters and all, then read it again in good light. On a Browning the letters do most of the work, and a worn Z can pass for a 2.

How Browning Serial Numbers Work

Browning didn’t use one system. It used five, and which one you have depends on when the gun was made. This is the short version, with Browning’s own example for each.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm model pages and its current serial number key, accessed October 10, 2026.

The first two systems are where most of the head-scratching happens. A number like 8M1000 looks like nonsense until you know the 8 is the year and the M is the model. From 1969 the year got two digits, which is a lot easier on the eyes.

One wrinkle is worth knowing if your gun came from Japan. Browning says that on many Miroku-built guns from 1973 through part of 1976 the two year digits are reversed, so 47 means 1974. The Citori page shows the same thing, with 37 for 1973.

The Browning Date Code: Two Letters for the Year

From the mid 1970s every Browning carries a two-letter year code inside the serial number. Each letter stands for one digit. Read them in order and you have the last two digits of the year.

Source: Browning, current serial number key, shown on its dating pages for current models. Accessed October 10, 2026.

So RT is 76, which is 1976. PV is 85, which is 1985. NN is 99, and ZM is 10, which Browning’s own key gives as 2010. Browning’s pages can’t agree on whether this system started in 1975 or 1976, but every example they give starts at RT.

The other characters tell you what the gun is. Before 1998 each model had a batch of type codes, one per grade or gauge, and the order changed from model to model. Some guns put the type code first, some put it last. Browning rebuilt the system in 1998 around a new database, and since then nearly every model has a single three-character code.

Model Codes on Current Browning Guns

For the guns in the catalog now, Browning’s dating pages give one line each: the model code. The year works exactly as above. If your X-Bolt reads 354 at the end, the two letters before it are the year.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm pages for each model, linked in the table. Accessed October 10, 2026.

We’ve run several of these ourselves. If you’re weighing one up, our X-Bolt review, AB3 review, A5 review, Maxus II review, Cynergy CX review and 1911-22 review all cover the current guns.

Browning Auto-5 Serial Numbers

The Auto-5 is the hard one, and Browning admits it. Its page says very few records remain for the early guns and that the year of anything made before World War II is strictly a guess. All it offers for 1903 through 1939 is a range, from serial number 1 to about 228,000.

After the war the picture sharpens. Browning lists a serial range for each year from 1946 through 1953, then a run of letter prefixes for standard and lightweight guns. From 1958 the year is part of the number itself.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Auto-5. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Watch the 1976 line. Browning’s separate page on where its guns are made says Auto-5 production moved from Belgium to Miroku in Japan that year, which is when the two-letter code starts. The last guns were the 1999 Final Tribute run, and Browning says only 1,000 were made.

Dating one is half the job. Our Browning Auto-5 buyer’s guide covers Belgian against Japanese guns, friction rings, steel shot and sold prices by model. A used Auto-5 starts at $695.99 with the sellers we track right now.

Browning Citori Serial Numbers

Browning says Citori production began in 1973. The first guns carry the number, a gauge letter and two reversed year digits. From 1976 they use the letter code, with the type code on the end telling you gauge, chamber and grade.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Citori. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Citori, type codes for 1976-1997. Accessed October 10, 2026.

That type list is long because the Citori line was. Browning prints two of the codes twice with different wording, and we’ve left both in. From 1998 it’s simple: every Citori ends in 131.

We put 1,200 shells through the current gun for our Citori 725 review and 500 rounds through the sporting model for our Citori CXS review. A new Citori starts at $2,049.99 with the sellers we track.

Browning Hi Power Serial Numbers

Browning’s page covers the Hi Power from its U.S. launch in 1954. It warns that the numbers for 1954 through 1957 are estimates only, and that better records start in 1958. A military or police Hi Power sold by F.N. under its own name isn’t on this list at all.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Hi Power. Accessed October 10, 2026.

The letter T arrives in 1964 as the Hi Power’s product code. In 1969 it gives way to the year-first format, so 69C1000 is a 1969 pistol. Under the two-letter system, 245 marks a 9mm and 2W5 marks a .40 S&W, a caliber Browning says it added in 1994.

If the lookup just told you yours is a 1960s gun, that’s the era collectors chase. Our guide to the best Browning Hi Power pistols covers what’s worth buying now, old and new.

Browning BAR Serial Numbers

This is the sporting BAR, the High-Power rifle, not the military automatic rifle. Browning’s page has the first two years backwards from everything else: on a 1967 or 1968 rifle the year digit comes after the M. From 1969 it comes before.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BAR High-Power rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

The type code tells you the generation. 137 is the original rifle, 107 and 1D7 are the Mark II Safari and Lightweight that Browning introduced in 1993, and 311 covers the Mark II from 1998. We’ve got 400 rounds through the newest version in our BAR MK4 review.

Browning Buck Mark Serial Numbers

The Buck Mark is the easy one. Browning says it was introduced in 1985 and it has used the letter code from day one. The type code comes first, then the year letters, then the number.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Buck Mark pistol. Accessed October 10, 2026.

One trap: 655 was also the code for the Challenger II and III, which Browning dates from 1976 to 1985. A 655 pistol with a year code earlier than 1985 is a Challenger. We shot 1,200 rounds for our Buck Mark review, and a new one starts at $399.99 with the sellers we track.

Browning Superposed Serial Numbers

Browning says the Superposed reached the U.S. market in 1931 and that U.S. distribution ended in 1986. Like the Auto-5, the prewar guns are a guess: one range, 1 to 17,000, for 1931 through 1939. No guns were made during the war.

From 1949 the 12 gauge and 20 gauge ran in separate number series, so you need to know the gauge before the number means anything. Browning calls all of these yearly numbers a best guess.

Superposed 12 Gauge, 1931 to 1962

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Superposed 12 gauge, numbers through 1962. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Superposed 20 Gauge, 1949 to 1962

One line here is a plain misprint. Browning gives the 1951 range as 2801-2100. We’ve shown it as printed and flagged it.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Superposed 20 gauge, numbers through 1962. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Superposed From 1962: Gauge Letter and Year

From 1962 the gauge and the year are both in the number. S is 12 gauge, V is 20 gauge, F is 28 gauge and J is .410 bore.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Superposed, 1962 and later. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Other Browning Shotguns

These are in the order people ask us about them. Every table is Browning’s own page for that model, with nothing added.

BPS

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BPS pump shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BPS pump shotgun, type codes for 1977-1997. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Gold

The Gold needs care because the 10 gauge and the smaller gauges were built in different countries and numbered in a different order. Browning lists them on four separate lines.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Gold semi-automatic shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Silver

Browning’s Silver page is a muddle. It heads the line 1976-1995, then gives a 2010 gun as its example. Trust the year letters, not the heading. Our Silver Field review covers the current gun.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Silver autoloading shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BT-99

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BT-99 trap shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BT-100

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BT-100 trap shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

B-2000

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: B-2000 automatic shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

B-80

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: B-80 automatic shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

A-500G and A-500R

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: A-500G shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: A-500R shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Double Automatic

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Double Automatic shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BSS

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BSS side-by-side shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Liege

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Liege over/under shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Recoilless Trap

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Recoilless Trap shotgun. Accessed October 10, 2026.

A-Bolt Shotgun

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: A-Bolt shotgun, first version. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Browning Rifle Serial Numbers

The current X-Bolt, AB3, T-Bolt and Buck Mark rifle are in the model code table further up. An X-Bolt starts at $769.99 with the sellers we track, and the older rifles follow below.

A-Bolt and A-Bolt II

The type code tells an A-Bolt from an A-Bolt II, which Browning brought in with the BOSS in 1994. Got a rifle you think is an A-Bolt but the code isn’t here? Our AB3 review shows how to tell the two apart.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: A-Bolt and A-Bolt II rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: A-Bolt and A-Bolt II rifle, type codes for 1985-1993. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: A-Bolt and A-Bolt II rifle, type codes for 1994-1998. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BLR

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BLR lever-action rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BL-22

Browning’s example for the early BL-22 doesn’t match its own rule, so the lookup leaves those years alone. Everything from 1976 decodes cleanly. Our BL-22 review covers the rifle as it’s made now.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BL-22 rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

22 Semi-Auto

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: 22 Semi-Auto rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

T-Bolt

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: T-Bolt 22 rifle, original. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BAR 22

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BAR 22 rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BPR 22

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BPR 22 rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BPR Pump Rifle

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BPR pump rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

B-78

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: B-78 High Power rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

B-92

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: B-92 lever-action rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Model 1885

Browning says the Model 1885 is still made today under the Winchester Repeating Arms brand, its sister company. If yours is an original Winchester single shot, or any other old Winchester, use our Winchester serial number lookup instead.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Model 1885 rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

A-Bolt 22

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: A-Bolt 22 rifle. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Browning Pistol Serial Numbers

Baby Browning .25

Browning’s page covers the Baby from 1954, the year it started importing them. Counts before 1959 weren’t reliable, so the first five years share one range.

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: .25 Automatic "Baby" Browning. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Model 1955 .380

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Model 1955 .380 pistol. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Model 71 .380

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Model 71 .380 pistol. Accessed October 10, 2026.

BDA-380

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: BDA-380 pistol. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Challenger

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Challenger .22 pistol. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Challenger II and III

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Challenger II and III pistol. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Medalist

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Medalist .22 pistol. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Nomad

Source: Browning, Date Your Firearm: Nomad .22 pistol. Accessed October 10, 2026.

What Browning’s Pages Don’t Cover

Browning is upfront about the holes. Its index page says records on early production models such as the Auto-5 and Superposed were left out because of the complexity of numbers, models and grades. It also says limited-edition guns that didn’t follow the regular serial number pattern aren’t included.

Two pistols get a page with no dating data at all. For the .32 caliber pistol, Browning says only that it was introduced in 1968 and that fewer than 1,000 were imported. For its plain .380 auto, the page gives the years 1954 to 1968 and nothing else.

We also couldn’t find a page for the F.N.-built High-Power bolt-action rifles in Safari, Medallion and Olympian grade. And remember that these are Browning’s records for guns Browning sold. An F.N. pistol that never went through Browning is a different search.

What the Serial Number Doesn’t Tell You

A year and a model. That’s all the number gives you, and people ask it for a lot more.

• What it’s worth. Browning doesn’t value guns. Its own answer to that question is a list of price guides, starting with the Blue Book of Gun Values. Condition sets the price, not the number.
• Where it was made. The date code doesn’t say. Browning’s advice is to read the barrel inscription, or the slide on a pistol. Most Brownings were made in Belgium by F.N. until the mid 1970s, when some production shifted to Miroku in Japan.
• Whether it’s original. A refinished or rebarreled gun keeps its number. The type code tells you what the gun left the factory as, and that’s a useful check against what it is now.
• Whether it’s stolen. No public list answers that, and this page doesn’t try. If you have doubts about a gun, call your local police or sheriff’s office and ask them to run the number.

How to Get an Official Date From Browning

Winchester owners can order a factory letter from a museum. We looked for the same thing at Browning and didn’t find one. Its dating pages, its contact page and its list of customer questions don’t offer a letter service or a paid records search.

What Browning does offer is free. Its answer to the question of when a gun was made is the serial number, the owner’s manual and the Date Your Firearm pages we worked from. If your gun isn’t on them, the next step is a call or an email.

1. Write down the full serial number, the model name and the barrel inscription.
2. Call Browning Customer Service in Morgan, Utah, at 800-333-3288, or use the email link on its contact page.
3. Ask what the records show for that number. On a prewar Auto-5 or Superposed, expect an estimate, because Browning says that’s all the records support.

For a high-grade Superposed or an early Auto-5 where the year moves the price, get the gun in front of a specialist auction house or appraiser as well. They date these by engraving pattern, proof marks and features, which is outside what a serial number can do.

What It’s Worth, and Selling It

Now you’ve got the year. The next question is always money, and the honest answer starts with condition. Our gun values guide walks through the NRA condition grades and how to turn a grade into a price.

If you’re selling, put the year in the listing beside the model, gauge or caliber and barrel length. Our guide on how to sell a gun compares what each sales channel leaves in your pocket. For a private sale, print our free firearm bill of sale and copy the serial number onto it exactly as stamped, letters and all.

Browning and Winchester have shared a parent company since 1990, and plenty of gun safes hold both. If there’s an old lever gun next to your Auto-5, our Winchester serial number lookup works the same way as this page. And if you want the man behind most of these designs, start with our John Moses Browning profile.

Serial Number Lookups for Other Makers

Browning isn’t the only maker with a numbering puzzle. We’ve built the same kind of page for six others, each from the maker’s own records where they exist.

• Winchester serial number lookup: Winchester’s own year-end serial tables for the Model 94, Model 70, Model 12 and 30 more, plus how to order a Cody letter.
• Ruger serial number lookup: Ruger’s own year tables for the 10/22, Single-Six, Blackhawk, Mark II and Mini-14, with a quick year finder.
• Remington serial number lookup: The barrel date code on an 870, 700 or 1100 decoded, plus factory serial tables for the older models.
• Marlin serial number lookup: How to read the year from the serial prefix on a 336, a 39A or a Model 60.
• Colt serial number lookup: How Colt’s own lookup works, the serial ranges a public list puts years on, and what an archive letter costs.
• Smith & Wesson serial number lookup: No year chart exists for these, so it covers what the serial format tells you, the ATF list and how to get a factory letter.

Photo credits: the lead photo of a 1971 Browning Hi Power is by Stephen Z, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped. The Auto-5 and Superposed photos are by Bertrand Benazeth, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized.

Browning Serial Number FAQ