Iver Johnson question

[GY67]

I inherited an old Iver Johnson .410 single shot. This this thing look horrible but the bore is good and shoots great. My son is deadly accurate with it while shooting trap. Is there anywhere online I can find a serial number break down to figure out how old it is? I've looked but have come up empty. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[Onmilo]

Iver Johnson single barrels generally were not serial numbered.
The factory is long out of business.
Record keeping was "Casual" back in the day.
There is no real cut and dried way to reliably guage date of manufacture but a good picture might get you into the decade of production.

 

[Ron James]

0oops, As far as I know, all Iver Johnson firearms had serial numbers. Handgun serial numbers are fairly well recorded in Bill Goforth's Iver Johnsons book, however there is no serial number base for the shotguns, all that can be determine is the era or time span. Serial numbers with all numbers were made 1909 until 1919, Use of at least one letter in the serial number, 1920 until 1940, use of all letters 1940 until 1956. Hope that helps

 

[GY67]

Holy cow if that's correct info then this gun was made between 1909 and 1919. I guess that might make sense since the 16 ga. model 12 Winchester I got as well was made in 1919. Should I be using this .410 with today's loads or do I run the risk of damaging the gun?

 

[Ron James]

It was made for smokeless.

 

[GY67]

Here's another question? I've read on a Facebook gun for sale page that a guy has a serial number 80,xxx and he said his shot gun was a very early 1909-1919 gun. My gun has serial number 42,xxx so I assume that makes mine even earlier then that one. Are there any Iver Johnson experts on here or at least someone that knows more then me about serial number breakdowns for these guns.