Remington Barrel Date Codes

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jfriedrich19

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Hi All,

Just picked up a Sportsman 58 and an 878 Automaster and am having a hard time deciphering the barrel date codes. My attempts to decipher them both fall well outside of their year ranges of manufacture. Is their a trick? Not crucial but would like to know when they were exactly manufactured.

Thanks for any help,
Jordan
 
I would be interested to hear how that works out for OP - I have a barrel and a stock from what was supposed to be a Remington Model 30 - the date code on the barrel was translated by some Internet reference as 1926 - and that stock was of the design / profile used in 1926 - so, I had presumed they went together?? I have them installed on a BSA sporterized M1917 action - my "wanna be" Model 30.
 
rembolt said:
The sportsman 58 would be between 1956 and 1963 and the 878 would be between 1959 and 1963.
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Which is the info I found not only online but right from Remington's website. My attempts to decipher the date codes put the Automaster at 1968 which is well outside their specific manufacture range.
 
Potashminer said:
I would be interested to hear how that works out for OP - I have a barrel and a stock from what was supposed to be a Remington Model 30 - the date code on the barrel was translated by some Internet reference as 1926 - and that stock was of the design / profile used in 1926 - so, I had presumed they went together?? I have them installed on a BSA sporterized M1917 action - my "wanna be" Model 30.
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Will update the thread if I get it figured it out.
 
jfriedrich19 said:
Which is the info I found not only online but right from Remington's website. My attempts to decipher the date codes put the Automaster at 1968 which is well outside their specific manufacture range.
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It was not unknown in the early 60s to take an 870 barrel and drill the pair of 1/8"gas bleeder holes in the barrel so it could be used on a 58 or 878. That might explain your apparent discrepancy.
 
Makes sense - go here: https://oldguns.net/sn_php/remdates.php Says for Remington shotguns to ensure that the barrel is original to the shotgun. Not sure how to do that?? Looks like they put the code on the barrel - not on the receiver - so not sure how one would put a date of manufacture on receiver, or stocks, etc. - must be just the styling used for whatever years?
 
The serial number on the receiver will give a clue as to DOM but I have never seen a serial number stamped on the wood so yes, the checkering pattern or other style clues will (approximately) date the wood.
 
Ol' Flinter said:
The serial number on the receiver will give a clue as to DOM but I have never seen a serial number stamped on the wood so yes, the checkering pattern or other style clues will (approximately) date the wood.
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I do not know how Remington assigned serial numbers, but I think some makers used numbers that were NOT in order - sort of "pre-assigned" blocks of serial numbers for particular models or for a particular production facility, that were not actually used until 20 years later. Leaning more towards military stuff - but was thought that Canadian Long Branch Arsenal would re-use a serial number on a new-made receiver, that was replacing a worn out previous receiver - so the serial number might be a dozen years out of sequence - I do not know if commercial entities do that - for sure back in WWI, Remington WAS a military gun maker - not sure about recent times.

Again, with the military guns - is many Swede m96 here that have the six digit receiver number on both the main stock (under the chamber area) and on the inside of the hand guard. Is also a made-in-1896 Mauser that has the serial number stamped on the outside of the wood stock, left side, below where same serial number is stamped on the front receiver ring. I do not recall seeing any commercial product done like that.
 
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bdft said:
What are the date codes for your 58 and 878? Let's have a look.
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Since I no longer have a way to host photos on the web (used to have a photobucket account), the date codes are as follows as stamped on the left side of the barrels:

The Automaster - D P R 35

The Sportsman 58 - & K E K
 
The automaster info does not fit the time frame as you say . the sportsman 58 appears to be manufactured in May of 58 . the only 2 automasters I have ever encountered were both 24" barrel slug guns with rifle sights .
 
rembolt said:
The automaster info does not fit the time frame as you say . the sportsman 58 appears to be manufactured in May of 58 . the only 2 automasters I have ever encountered were both 24" barrel slug guns with rifle sights .
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Thanks!! That helps. Will have to give the barrel a measure on the 878 to see if its 28" or 30" as those were the original equipment sizes per the manual I found on Remington's website if it was a plain barrel. Also the barrel is a fixed full choke. Wonder if it may be a 1968 870 pump barrel as suggested earlier.
 
Barrel length - I have had that described to me several ways by potential sellers - usually would want to know from where to where was the measurement taken. I do not know what is "common" or "standard" for a semi-auto shotgun, but for a rifle it is usually the distance from the closed bolt face to the muzzle - so is likely if Remington said the barrel was 28 inches and did not say from where to where, then likely they meant closed bolt face to muzzle.

Take your cleaning rod with nothing on the end of it. Close the bolt on your firearm - insert the rod into muzzle and slide it down until you feel it contact the bolt face - make a mark on the cleaning rod at the muzzle - withdraw the cleaning rod and measure from the end of it to your mark - that is the "length" of your barrel. Some sellers will give you a number, but they measured from muzzle to front end of receiver - that is useful to know, if they told you that is what they measured. For people like me, to say a 28 inch barrel, though, means 28 inches from closed bolt face to muzzle. As above, shotguns may be measured differently than rifles?
 
Potashminer said:
Barrel length - I have had that described to me several ways by potential sellers - usually would want to know from where to where was the measurement taken. I do not know what is "common" or "standard" for a semi-auto shotgun, but for a rifle it is usually the distance from the closed bolt face to the muzzle - so is likely if Remington said the barrel was 28 inches and did not say from where to where, then likely they meant closed bolt face to muzzle.

Take your cleaning rod with nothing on the end of it. Close the bolt on your firearm - insert the rod into muzzle and slide it down until you feel it contact the bolt face - make a mark on the cleaning rod at the muzzle - withdraw the cleaning rod and measure from the end of it to your mark - that is the "length" of your barrel. Some sellers will give you a number, but they measured from muzzle to front end of receiver - that is useful to know, if they told you that is what they measured. For people like me, to say a 28 inch barrel, though, means 28 inches from closed bolt face to muzzle. As above, shotguns may be measured differently than rifles?
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Went and gave it a measure. From muzzle to closed bolt face was 30 1/8"
 
jfriedrich19 said:
Went and gave it a measure. From muzzle to closed bolt face was 30 1/8"
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That "1/8" is 0.125" - so is probably a whole pile of cumulative errors - and even possibly some variation by the maker - as described, that process will include any head-space variation, barrel length variation, your measuring technique variation - does not take much error at each stage to add up to 1/8". I would probably call what you have as a 30" barrel.
 
Potashminer said:
That "1/8" is 0.125" - so is probably a whole pile of cumulative errors - and even possibly some variation by the maker - as described, that process will include any head-space variation, barrel length variation, your measuring technique variation - does not take much error at each stage to add up to 1/8". I would probably call what you have as a 30" barrel.
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Thanks Potashminer!!
 
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