Hello:
I am just doing some inventory management on some old Winchester Super X ammo I have and while I have written all the dates on my older ammo, there were a couple of boxes that didn't have my markings on it, but were from roughly the same timeframe. I thought I'd look up to see if Winchester has some sort of key to show manufacturing dates. Turns out they do. I used this to analyze my code on the inside flap of my box and it is accurate and gives me similar dates/years around where the other old ammo was bought. Thought I'd share this.
So as an example, I have two boxes here. I knew they were purchased around 2012-2013, as they are with other similar boxes I bought around that time for which I have written the date of purchase in sharpie. There are two boxes that I didn't do this on, and here are the codes stamped inside the flap on both boxes:
93FM71 (Winchester Super X .223, 55 gr)
89GL91 (Winchester Super X .223, 64 gr)
Here's what they mean:
First two numbers are the identifier of the production line. For our intents and purposes they are not relevant (unless may if we are reporting a defect or something).
Third digit (letter) is the year code (see below)
Fourth digit (letter) is the month code (see below)
Fourth and fifth numbers are the date number inversed.
These letters repeat every 20 years using the alphabet with these letters skipped: A, I, J, O, Q, and Z.
B 1928 1948 1968 1988 2008
C 1929 1949 1969 1989 2009
D 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010
E 1931 1951 1971 1991 2011
F 1932 1952 1972 1992 2012
G 1933 1953 1973 1993 2013
H 1934 1954 1974 1994 2014
K 1935 1955 1975 1995 2015
L 1936 1956 1976 1996 2016
M 1937 1957 1977 1997 2017
N 1938 1958 1978 1998 2018
P 1939 1959 1979 1999 2019
R 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
S 1941 1961 1981 2001 2021
T 1942 1962 1982 2002
U 1943 1963 1983 2003
V 1944 1964 1984 2004
W 1945 1965 1985 2005
X 1946 1966 1986 2006
Y 1947 1967 1987 2007
For months, it looks like this (letters I and J are skipped)
A - January
B - February
C - March
D - April
E - May
F - June
G - July
H - August
K - September
L - October
M - November
N - December
So based on the coding, the first package reads as follows:
Mystery box 1: 93 (Production line 93), F (2012), M (November), 71 (17th)
Mystery box 2: 89 (Production line 89), G (2013), L (October), 91 (19th)
I don't have much else Winchester except for a white box of bulk from around that same timeframe. Strangely, there are no markings on the box at all, so not sure if it is a Super X thing or not (all the Super X .223 boxes I have from that timeframe have stamped codes on the inside flap), but thought I'd share regardless.
I am just doing some inventory management on some old Winchester Super X ammo I have and while I have written all the dates on my older ammo, there were a couple of boxes that didn't have my markings on it, but were from roughly the same timeframe. I thought I'd look up to see if Winchester has some sort of key to show manufacturing dates. Turns out they do. I used this to analyze my code on the inside flap of my box and it is accurate and gives me similar dates/years around where the other old ammo was bought. Thought I'd share this.
So as an example, I have two boxes here. I knew they were purchased around 2012-2013, as they are with other similar boxes I bought around that time for which I have written the date of purchase in sharpie. There are two boxes that I didn't do this on, and here are the codes stamped inside the flap on both boxes:
93FM71 (Winchester Super X .223, 55 gr)
89GL91 (Winchester Super X .223, 64 gr)
Here's what they mean:
First two numbers are the identifier of the production line. For our intents and purposes they are not relevant (unless may if we are reporting a defect or something).
Third digit (letter) is the year code (see below)
Fourth digit (letter) is the month code (see below)
Fourth and fifth numbers are the date number inversed.
These letters repeat every 20 years using the alphabet with these letters skipped: A, I, J, O, Q, and Z.
B 1928 1948 1968 1988 2008
C 1929 1949 1969 1989 2009
D 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010
E 1931 1951 1971 1991 2011
F 1932 1952 1972 1992 2012
G 1933 1953 1973 1993 2013
H 1934 1954 1974 1994 2014
K 1935 1955 1975 1995 2015
L 1936 1956 1976 1996 2016
M 1937 1957 1977 1997 2017
N 1938 1958 1978 1998 2018
P 1939 1959 1979 1999 2019
R 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
S 1941 1961 1981 2001 2021
T 1942 1962 1982 2002
U 1943 1963 1983 2003
V 1944 1964 1984 2004
W 1945 1965 1985 2005
X 1946 1966 1986 2006
Y 1947 1967 1987 2007
For months, it looks like this (letters I and J are skipped)
A - January
B - February
C - March
D - April
E - May
F - June
G - July
H - August
K - September
L - October
M - November
N - December
So based on the coding, the first package reads as follows:
Mystery box 1: 93 (Production line 93), F (2012), M (November), 71 (17th)
Mystery box 2: 89 (Production line 89), G (2013), L (October), 91 (19th)
I don't have much else Winchester except for a white box of bulk from around that same timeframe. Strangely, there are no markings on the box at all, so not sure if it is a Super X thing or not (all the Super X .223 boxes I have from that timeframe have stamped codes on the inside flap), but thought I'd share regardless.
