Colt Serial Number Lookup: Find the Year Your Colt Was Made

Last updated October 10, 2026

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You’ve got a Colt in your hands and you want to know what year it left the factory. Here’s the honest answer up front: Colt has never published year tables for its serial numbers. What it gives you is a search box on its website, and for most Colts that box is the only free route to a year.

So we didn’t copy a chart out of a collector book and call it a lookup. We read Colt’s own tool, typed in serial numbers from museum guns to see how it behaves, and then went looking for every Colt range a public source puts years on. A federal list turned out to hold more of them than we expected.

This page shows you how to use Colt’s database without getting fooled by it, prints the ranges the government list dates, and tells you what a factory letter costs when you need the real paper.

Table of Contents

Used Colts for Sale Right Now

Curious what an older Colt brings today? These are the lowest-priced used Colts our dealers list right now, pulled live. We kept the current catalog out of it, so what you see is the kind of gun people come here to date.

See every used Colt in stock.

Where to Find the Serial Number on a Colt

Colt has stamped serial numbers in different places for well over a century and a half, so start with the kind of gun you’re holding. These are the spots we check first.

Source for the last line: the model labels in Colt’s Serial Number Lookup, read October 10, 2026. The other lines are where we find the numbers on our own guns.

Colt’s manuals for the current Python, King Cobra, Anaconda and Cobra tell you to quote the serial number when you send a gun in, but they don’t say where it is. The Colt archive’s own order sheet asks you to write down the serial number and its locations, plural. That tells you how often an old Colt carries the number in more than one place.

Write down every character, letters included, then read it again in good light. On a Colt a single letter matters a great deal. The same digits with an SA on the end are a different revolver from a different decade.

How Colt’s Own Serial Number Lookup Works

Colt’s FAQ answers the date question in one line: use the Serial Number Lookup. The page itself is a single search box. You enter the serial number without spaces or dashes, and it returns three columns: serial number, model and manufacture year.

Read the notice above the box before you trust the result. Colt says the information is approximate and should not be relied upon for legal, compliance, valuation or other purposes that need definitive documentation. It also says, in plain words, that this is not a comprehensive database.

The part that trips people up is the result list. Colt numbered most models in their own series, so one number can belong to dozens of guns. Colt’s instruction is to match the date with the appropriate model. To see what that means in practice, we typed in six serial numbers we could check against somebody else’s record.

Sources: answers returned by Colt’s Serial Number Lookup on October 10, 2026; museum dates from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s records for the Single Action Army, the Model 1860 Army, the Model 1861 Navy and the Walker; the ATF Curios or Relics list. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Look at the first line. Serial 4519 brought back 48 lines, from an 1851 Navy to a Python. The Single Action Army line sat on the fifth screen, and it read 1874. The Met, which owns that exact revolver, dates it 1874 as well. The 1860 Army and the 1861 Navy matched the museum’s years too.

The other three lines show the limits. Colt returned nothing at all for a Walker. Lindbergh’s Detective Special came back under a label it shares with the Police Positive Special. And Hemingway’s Woodsman number returned three different years under one model name, with nothing to choose between them.

That last result isn’t a fault you can fix by typing more carefully. The Colt archive, which writes the factory letters, says all serial number lookups use approximations, the one on Colt’s website included, because Colt firearms are almost never assembled or shipped in consecutive serial order. Treat the year as a good estimate and you’ll be fine.

How Colt Serial Numbers Work

Three habits explain nearly everything odd about a Colt number. First, each model line started its own count, which is why 4519 fits 48 different guns. Second, some models shared one count. Colt’s database labels the Army Special and Officers Model as a shared serial range, and it files the Police Positive Special and Detective Special together.

Third, Colt used letters to keep its series apart, and those letters are your best friend. The government list we print below ties several of them to a model: SA on the end for the second generation Single Action Army, C in front for the commercial Model 1911, MT for the first Match Target, SM for the Service Model Ace and LW for the Aircrewman.

A letter doesn’t always settle it. The same list ties a J prefix to the Officers Model Match of 1970 to 1972, and a few lines later it names a Lawman Mark III that also starts with J. When a letter fits two models, the model name on the barrel breaks the tie.

One more trap: the dates stamped on the gun. The archive says those are patent dates, not manufacture dates, and points out that current production Single Action Army revolvers still carry patent dates from 1871, 1872 and 1875.

Colt Serial Number Ranges With Years

Here is every Colt serial range we could find in a public, citable source with years attached. It comes from the ATF’s Firearms Curios or Relics List, the federal list of guns that qualify as collector’s items. The list names Colts by serial range because the range decides which guns qualify.

Source: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Firearms Curios or Relics List, January 1972 through April 2025 edition. A government list, not a Colt factory record. Accessed October 10, 2026.

These are spans, not single years, and that’s the point of printing them. A span from a federal document is a hard fence around Colt’s estimate. If Colt’s lookup hands you a year outside the fence for your model, you’ve matched the wrong line.

Colt Single Action Army Serial Numbers

The Peacemaker has the cleanest letter system of any Colt. The ATF list dates plain numbers from 182000 to 357869 to the years 1899 to 1946, and numbers from 0001SA to 82000SA to the second generation of 1956 to 1976. Bisley and target versions sit in the first span.

Below 182000 the list goes quiet, and Colt’s lookup takes over. It’s approximate down there. It returned 1874 for every early Single Action number we tried, four of them, spread from 1017 to 12240. Colt’s own timeline puts the model’s introduction in 1873 and says the government took delivery of over 30,000 between 1873 and 1891.

For a first generation gun, the letter is where the value is, and the archive prices it that way. Our Colt Single Action Army buyer’s guide covers the three generations and what to check before you pay for one. If yours predates 1899, read our antique firearms guide too, because the year changes how the gun is treated under federal law.

Colt 1911 and 1911A1 Serial Numbers

Two lines on the ATF list cover the early pistols. Military Model 1911s numbered 1 to 629500 were produced before 1924, and the list says that holds regardless of manufacturer. Commercial Model 1911s run from C1 to C130000, and for those the list prints a range but no years.

So a C in front means Colt sold the pistol commercially, and a plain number inside that first range is a military gun. For the year inside either range, use Colt’s lookup and match the line that says military or commercial. Colt’s timeline dates the pistol’s adoption to 1911.

We’ve put a lot of rounds through the current pistol for our Colt 1911 Government review. A new Government Model starts at $859.99 with the sellers we track, and our used 1911 page follows what older ones bring.

Colt Woodsman, Match Target and Ace Serial Numbers

The .22 pistols get four dated lines. Woodsman target pistols numbered 1 to 157,000 were made from 1915 to 1943. The first Match Target, MT1 to MT15100, runs 1938 to 1944. The Ace, 1 to 10935, is 1931 to 1947, and the Service Model Ace, SM1 to SM13803, is 1935 to 1945.

After the war the Woodsman family picked up letter suffixes, like the S on Hemingway’s pistol, and the list stops giving spans. It says only that every Woodsman, Match Target, Challenger, Huntsman and Targetsman was made before 1978. Our Colt Woodsman guide shows how to tell the three series apart by their features, which dates a pistol better than a three-way answer.

Colt Python, Detective Special and Other Revolvers

This is where we have to be straight with you. For the Python, Detective Special, Official Police, Police Positive, Diamondback, Trooper, King Cobra and Anaconda, no public source we could find prints serial ranges by year. Not Colt, not the ATF, not a museum. Charts for these models exist online, but they trace back to collector books, and we won’t reprint a table we can’t check.

Colt’s lookup does cover them, so that’s the route. A Python, for example, shows up in the results as Python Model Revolver. What you can do from this page is test the answer. Colt’s own timeline gives the first year of each major model, and no serial number can be older than its model.

Source: Colt’s Manufacturing Company, The Colt Story timeline. Accessed October 10, 2026.

Use it like this. Our test number 4519 returned a Python line dated 1957, which clears Colt’s 1955 introduction. Had it said 1948, you’d know the database had slipped or you’d picked the wrong line. The same check catches a new-production Python, which can’t be older than 2020.

The year matters for more than curiosity on these revolvers. Colt’s FAQ says +P ammunition is not suggested for models made prior to 1980. Colt also says it cannot service legacy models older than 10 years, apart from most 1911 models and third generation Single Action Army revolvers. So date an old Detective Special before you feed it or send it in. Our Colt Detective Special guide has the full ammunition story.

We’ve shot the current snake guns hard. The Colt Python review covers the 2020 gun against the original, and a new Python starts at $1,143.99 with the sellers we track.

The big-frame .44 gets the same treatment in our Colt Anaconda review. A new Anaconda starts at $1,256.99.

Percussion Colts and Other Antiques

Cap and ball Colts are the one place the serial number is stamped all over the gun, and the place the paper is thinnest. The Colt archive says its shipping records go back to 1861, and its price list spells out which percussion numbers it can research.

Records exist for the 1851 Navy from 98,000 to 132,000, for the 1861 Navy from 1 to 12,000 and for the 1860 Army from 1 to 140,000. Outside those ranges there’s nothing to letter. For the 1849 Pocket and the 1862 conversions the archive says records are limited and asks you to call first.

Colt’s free lookup still returns years for percussion models, and on the two Met revolvers we tried it agreed with the museum. It has gaps, though. There was no Walker line for the Met’s Walker, which the museum dates 1847. If you think you own a pre-1899 Colt, our antique firearms guide explains why the exact year is worth pinning down, and the C&R guns guide covers the collector’s license that the ATF list exists for.

What the Serial Number Doesn’t Tell You

A model and an approximate year. That’s what the number buys you for free, and owners ask it for a lot more.

• What it’s worth. Colt’s FAQ says the company does not evaluate firearms or provide estimated values, and the archive says it doesn’t offer appraisals. Condition and originality set the price.
• Whether it’s original. A refinished or rebarreled Colt keeps its number. The archive says caliber, barrel and finish changes are very common on older guns, and only a letter shows how yours left the factory.
• Who owned it. The archive says its records are limited to original shipping information and that ownership is not traced.
• Whether it’s stolen. No public database answers that, and this page doesn’t try. If you have doubts about a gun, ask your local police or sheriff’s office to run the number.

How to Get a Colt Archive Letter

When the estimate isn’t enough, the next step is a letter from Colt Archive Properties, the company Colt’s own lookup page sends you to. The archive says a letter gives the original shipping details: configuration, shipping date and original destination, with caliber, barrel length, finish and stocks where the records have them.

What it costs depends on the model, and the spread is wide. This is the archive’s price list, dated February 1, 2024.

Source: Colt Archive Properties, Research Service Price List, prices as of February 1, 2024, and its archive letter order page. Accessed October 10, 2026.

1. Find your model on the list. A Python or a 1911 is $105, a Detective Special or a Woodsman is $80, and a percussion revolver inside the record ranges is $305.
2. Add the extras. Factory engraving adds $100 to $150, and expedited service adds $100 on most models. Expedited service on a first generation Single Action Army is listed at $150.
3. Order through the archive letter order page or call 860-554-8088 with the model and serial number ready. The archive bills when the research is done.
4. Be patient. The archive’s FAQ page says about 90 to 100 days for standard service, and its order page says about 150 days. Plan on the longer one.

If all you want is the year, there are cheaper routes. The price list has a Dates of Manufacture service for $30. The archive also says it will give a manufacture date for a Colt rifle by email, with no letter required. For everything else it suggests Colt’s serial number database.

Two limits to know before you pay. If the archive has records but can’t find your gun, a research fee can still apply, though it charges nothing when no record exists for a first generation Single Action Army. And it holds no records for fully automatic firearms such as the M16, the Thompson or the BAR.

For questions about a current gun, Colt’s customer service is at 800-962-2658. Back in 2009 Colt’s FAQ told owners to phone that department for a year of manufacture. Today the same FAQ points to the lookup instead.

What It’s Worth, and Selling It

Once you have a year, the next question is money, and neither Colt nor its archive will answer it. Start 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 model, the year and where the year came from in the listing. An archive letter is worth mentioning in the first line on a collectible Colt. Our guide on how to sell a gun compares what each sales channel leaves in your pocket, and for a private sale you can print our free firearm bill of sale and copy the serial number onto it exactly as stamped.

Got other makes in the safe? We’ve built the same kind of page for each: the Winchester serial number lookup, the Ruger serial number lookup, the Browning serial number lookup, the Remington serial number lookup and the Marlin serial number lookup.

Serial Number Lookups for Other Makers

More than one old gun in the safe? Here’s what each of the other six pages will and won’t do for you.

• Winchester serial number lookup: Winchester’s own year-by-year serial list for the Model 94, Model 70 and the old lever actions, with a year finder.
• Ruger serial number lookup: Ruger’s own starting numbers by year for each model, most of them up to 2015, and where to send a newer gun.
• Browning serial number lookup: Browning’s two-letter date code explained, plus its dating pages for the Auto-5, Citori, Hi Power and BAR.
• Remington serial number lookup: Reading the barrel date code on an 870, 700 or 1100, with factory serial tables for the older models.
• Marlin serial number lookup: The serial prefix that gives the year on a 336, 39A or Model 60, and which source each answer rests on.
• Smith & Wesson serial number lookup: No year chart exists for these either, so it covers what the number format tells you and how to get a factory letter.

Photo credits: the Model 1860 Army at the top of this page, the Single Action Army and the Model 1861 Navy are photographs by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, released into the public domain under its Open Access policy. We cropped or widened the background to fit and changed nothing on the guns. The range chart is our own.

Colt Serial Number FAQ