Have you ever been at a HamFest trying to figure out just when that rare FT 101e or somesuch was built? You see lots of alphanumerics but not a clue about the date of manufacture. Well, Kevin – K7ZS – of the Willamette Valley DX Club http://wvdxc.org/ , lets his Yaesu geek flag fly as he shares the tricks to decoding Yaesu’s production dates….
The secret to Yaesu’s serial numbers gives you the key to determining a radio’s age

• Weatherby Serial Numbers Manufacture Dates
• Kahr Serial Numbers Production Dates
• Colt Ar15 Serial Numbers Manufacture Dates
• Marlin 336 Serial Numbers Manufacture Dates

The serial number is usually 2 letters, followed by 6 numbers: 0J123987

The first digit of the serial number is the last digit of the year of manufacture, the second digit of the serial number will be a letter, the letters spot in the alphabet – 2 equals month Then

For example, a serial number of 'AD' could indicate the appliance was manufactured in January of 2002 or January of 2014. Since serial numbers may correspond with different years, the owner's manual can often be used to help pinpoint the date of manufacture. Most owner's manuals have a date listed on the front page or back page of the manual.

Enter your Ruger® serial number above to view its model number, product line, caliber, production status, ship date and instruction manual. Note: This service is provided as reference only, and accuracy is not guaranteed. For specific questions or additional information, please contact Customer Service. Remington 870 Serial Number Suffix Meaning.Please note that Remington repeats the alphabet approximately every 26 years, therefore you may see several possible manufacturing dates.The first letter on your barrel is the month your firearm was manufactured; the second letter.

C – January
D – February
E – March
F – April
G – May
H – June
I – July
J – August
K – September
L – October
M – November
N – December

Next 3 numbers are a ‘batch id’, and the last 3 numbers are the actual unit within the batch.

So, in my example:
0 – in this case probably year 2000, (they don’t provide for producing an exact model over 10 years!)
J – August
123 – batch #123
987 – radio # 987 in batch 123

Impress your fellow Yaesu nerds with this bit of magic!

Alex has spent a lifetime in the sewing industry and is considered one of the foremost experts of pioneering machines and their inventors. He has written extensively for trade magazines, radio, television, books and publications world wide. You may have seen him on The Great British Sewing Bee or How The Victorians Built Britain.

The simple guide to dating your early Singer sewing machines.

(Where your Singer has two serial numbers always choose the larger of the two to date your machine)

Singer machine serial number dating Guide

(Brace yourself it's tricky!)

Weatherby Serial Numbers Manufacture Dates

Please note this is only a guide, not gospel! Some people mail me to say they have a receipt from 1950 so how could my guide have their machine as made in 1948 or 1949? Let me explain. The production runs at factories like Kilbowie were complex and long. The castings were marked with the serial number during manufacture. The machines were miles from completion, packing and delivery. Then there is delivery to the depot, storage, sales to the shop, and eventually sales to the customer.

These factors all effect the purchase/receipt date, but not the date of manufacture.

For example during WW2 it is a well know fact the Singers were making guns and bullets as well as sewing machines. Only when they could spare the time would they continue with sewing machine production. I have come across a woman who bought her machine brand new in 1946 yet the casting was clearly made in 1939 just before the outbreak of WWII. During World War Two Singer had back orders for over three millions machines!

Now to the dating

All Singers up until 1900 have no letter prefix and came from several factories around the world. The company cleverly managed their production from all factories to coincide with the serial number flow. If you fancy a read on the collapse of Singer in Britain have a go at End of Empire.

Kahr Serial Numbers Production Dates

Why two serial numbers?

Very early Singers from the 1850's up until the start of prefix letters in 1900 had two serial numbers. There is a lot of controversy over why there were two lots of numbers. The most likely answer is that the larger number was the total number of machines produced by Singers when they only had a few factories and could keep up with, and control, the production output from Britain and America. They would order machines in batches say, 1,000 or 10,000 from Kilbowie, Elizabethport and elsewhere. The lower number may be the total production/batch run of that particular model range, the larger the overall total number of Singer machines made.

Colt Ar15 Serial Numbers Manufacture Dates

Singers have never manage to shed light on these two numbers!

Note: when two serial numbers are on the machine use the larger of the serial numbers.

Anyway here goes nothing. I do hope you find it useful.

Note:

Marlin 336 Serial Numbers Manufacture Dates

On pre-1900 Singer machines if there are two serial numbers, always use the higher, longer, larger, serial number of the two to date your machine.