870 manufacture date question

[osok-308]

Hey everyone, I have an 870 that I'm trying to find out the age on. I am aware of the date list. (see below) however I have a gun that has two possible manufacture dates as the barrel reads "RQ" so does anyone have a way of letting me know if my shotgun was made in '78 or '96? I figure it's probably a frivolous question, but I'm curious. Are there any features of older or newer 870s that may give me a clue? The particular 870 I'm looking at is a wingmaster model.

Month Codes: [first letter]
B - L - A - C - K - P - O - W - D - E - R - X
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12

Year:______Code: [second (and third*) letters]
1930_______ Y
1931_______ Z
1932_______ A
1933_______ B
1934_______ C
1935_______ D
1936_______ E
1937_______ F
1938_______ G
1939_______ H

1940_______ J
1941_______ K
1942_______ L
1943_______ MMZ
1944_______ NN
1945_______ PP
1946_______ RR
1947_______ SS
1948_______ TT
1949_______ UU

1950_______ WW
1951_______ XX
1952_______ YY
1953_______ ZZ
1954_______ A
1955_______ B
1956_______ C
1957_______ D
1958_______ E
1959_______ F

1960_______ G
1961_______ H
1962_______ J
1963_______ K
1964_______ L
1965_______ M
1966_______ N
1967_______ P
1968_______ R
1969_______ S

1970_______ T
1971_______ U
1972_______ W
1973_______ X
1974_______ Y
1975_______ Z
1976_______ I
1977_______ O
1978_______ Q
1979_______ V

1980_______ A
1981_______ B
1982_______ C
1983_______ D
1984_______ E
1985_______ F
1986_______ G
1987_______ H
1988_______ I
1989_______ J

1990_______ K
1991_______ L
1992_______ M
1993_______ N
1994_______ O
1995_______ P
1996_______ Q
1997_______ R
1998_______ S
1999_______ T
2000_______ U
2001_______ W
2002_______ X

[BPTactical]

Go by the receiver, the barrel could have been changed.

[Great-Kazoo]

Hey everyone, I have an 870 that I'm trying to find out the age on. I am aware of the date list. (see below) however I have a gun that has two possible manufacture dates as the barrel reads "RQ" so does anyone have a way of letting me know if my shotgun was made in '78 or '96? I figure it's probably a frivolous question, but I'm curious. Are there any features of older or newer 870s that may give me a clue? The particular 870 I'm looking at is a wingmaster model.

Month Codes: [first letter]
B - L - A - C - K - P - O - W - D - E - R - X
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12

Year:______Code: [second (and third*) letters]
1930_______ Y
1931_______ Z
1932_______ A
1933_______ B
1934_______ C
1935_______ D
1936_______ E
1937_______ F
1938_______ G
1939_______ H

1940_______ J
1941_______ K
1942_______ L
1943_______ MMZ
1944_______ NN
1945_______ PP
1946_______ RR
1947_______ SS
1948_______ TT
1949_______ UU

1950_______ WW
1951_______ XX
1952_______ YY
1953_______ ZZ
1954_______ A
1955_______ B
1956_______ C
1957_______ D
1958_______ E
1959_______ F

1960_______ G
1961_______ H
1962_______ J
1963_______ K
1964_______ L
1965_______ M
1966_______ N
1967_______ P
1968_______ R
1969_______ S

1970_______ T
1971_______ U
1972_______ W
1973_______ X
1974_______ Y
1975_______ Z
1976_______ I
1977_______ O
1978_______ Q
1979_______ V

1980_______ A
1981_______ B
1982_______ C
1983_______ D
1984_______ E
1985_______ F
1986_______ G
1987_______ H
1988_______ I
1989_______ J

1990_______ K
1991_______ L
1992_______ M
1993_______ N
1994_______ O
1995_______ P
1996_______ Q
1997_______ R
1998_______ S
1999_______ T
2000_______ U
2001_______ W
2002_______ X

All this info and no pictures?

[Ah Pook]

All this info and no pictures?
[Worth]

Are these the codes you are looking at?
http://www.remingtonsociety.com/questions/BarrelCodes.jpg
http://www.remingtonsociety.com/rsa/questions/barrelcodes

Remington has always had ambiguous dating. When did they start using the Wingmaster name?

[Colorado Osprey]

Remington has always had ambiguous dating. When did they start using the Wingmaster name?

Remington 1st started using the Wingmaster name on the 870 ADL De Luxe model in 1950

[osok-308]

All this info and no pictures?

Much quicker to just google search that information than bust out the old shotgun! haha. Here are a couple of pictures of the shotgun in question. Let me know if we need more pictures to determine age.
57594

57595

[Colorado Osprey]

In 1986 Remington changed the type of front site used in the Wingmaster. Do you have the old style or new style bradley type site? Also most all of the 870's were LC or light contour after 1992.

[osok-308]

In 1986 Remington changed the type of front site used in the Wingmaster. Do you have the old style or new style bradley type site? Also most all of the 870's were LC or light contour after 1992.

Hey, sorry it took me so long to respond. I just now had a few minutes to get it out and take a picture of the front sight. Here is a picture, unfortunately I am not sure what the new vs old style sights look like, so maybe you could educate me.58166

[Colorado Osprey]

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.VBkY6dxsWletb1R6yciSxA&w=245&h=183&c=7&rs=1&qlt=90&o=4&pid=1.1
Post 1986 Bradley Ivory Site for Wingmasters

Yours was pre-1996... well at least the barrel.

[osok-308]

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.VBkY6dxsWletb1R6yciSxA&w=245&h=183&c=7&rs=1&qlt=90&o=4&pid=1.1
Post 1986 Bradley Ivory Site for Wingmasters

Yours was pre-1996... well at least the barrel.

Thanks for helping me ID that it is possibly the older of the two. I had the hardest time trying to find a bradley sight on a wingmaster to help me date it.