Once again, this is good stuff, Cobalt. I even printed off this info to use as a handy reference. It is waayyyy too much to commit to memory.....at least for me. Good to have on hand.

The following is some info I've put together on the way the REG/LOT NO. are formatted. It's a work in progress. There's one document that tells the story of the Daisy numbering "system". I believe it was compiled in the early '90s. It's HERE. Also the Daisy Museum has a form you can fill out and mail to them to get info on when a Daisy airgun was made (form HERE).

The number Daisy first used was called the Register Number, or “REG. NO.”. The REG. NO. was a letter followed by six numbers on most guns (the No. 25 briefly used a number without any prefix). Beginning late 1972 the REG. NO. was formatted to let anyone knowing how, to decipher the year and month the gun was "made' (actually it was the date the gun was stamped, actual production could lag behind the stamping date). The REG. NO. stayed in use until sometime in the mid-'70s when it was changed to a “LOT NO.”

 

The very first Model 880s did not have REG. NO.s formatted in such a way that the date could be discerned by anyone- the Daisy Museum was where that info is kept. After contacting Joe Murfin at the Museum, he replied with the following info on the first early 880s:

 

From: Joe Murfin <jmurfin@daisymuseum.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 2:37 PM
Subject: Daisy Model 880

"The first 880 frame was stamped A113155 on May 16, 1972.  So the A designation was simply a beginning of the model's Register No. sequence (can't tell you why it was not A000000.)  On October 5, 1972, a batch of 880 frames were stamped with Reg. No.s B061994 to B067600."

 

 

I often read that "I" wasn't used by Daisy as LOT or REG. NO. prefix. The way I'm seeing it shake out is, "I" WAS used as a prefix before Daisy changed the numbers along about 1972 to allow anyone knowing the 'code' to decipher the year and month the gun was made. No doubt the thought was that “I” could be mistaken for the number “1”. So up until 1972 “I” was used, after ’72 “I” was not used. If the gun in question has an "I" prefix, the number is not decipherable by using the code below.

 

The following pertains directly to the model 880 but other models follow a similar pattern. However, the exact changeover dates will be different. From 1993 on, I need a lot more samples.

 

·         One letter>Six digits changed to One digit>One letter>Five digits

o    1982 Sept. LOT. NO. J202705

o    1982 Nov. LOT. NO 2L08750

·         One digit>One letter>Five digits changed to Two digits>One letter>Five digits

o    1992 Aug., 20th Anniversary 880 LOT. NO. 2H03196

o    1992 Dec. LOT. NO. 92M15985 (NOT a 20^th Anniversary model)

·         Two digits>One letter>Five digits changed to Four digits>Space>Five digits

o    1993 Nov., LOT. NO. 93L11694

o    1994 Oct. LOT. NO. 1094 15318 (this should eventually be shown to have begun by early 1994) (this should eventually be shown to have begun 0194 xxxxx, according to the ‘Reg. No. Document of Record’

By August 2008 "LOT. NO." was dropped and just the numbers/letter remained.

LOT NO. Four digits>Space>Five digits was last seen to be used 2011 Feb. on a model 880. The 1938B had already changed by 2010 when the format changed to Thirteen digits>One letter.  This lasted until about Aug. 2017. The month code also changed to:

 

F : Jan

G : Feb

H : Mar

J : Apr

K : May

M : Jun

N : Jul

Q : Aug

U : Sep

V : Oct

X : Nov

Z : Dec

 

 

 

 

In the 3rd quarter of 2017 the Daisy airgun number (no longer called "LOT NO.) format changed yet again. Now it contains 16 digits and a new format for the letter suffix of the month. The first two digits indicate the production facility, the next two are the year, then a production sequence/QC number and finally the letter indicating the month.

This format has been seen on models 35, 105B, 880, 901, 1910, 1938B and 1999C.

 

The new month format is similar to the original where A = Jan., B = Feb., etc. except this time the letter "I" IS used.

 

Regarding the Daisy Red Ryder:

If it is a newer model that has either "No. 1938 Red Ryder Carbine" or "Model 1938B Red Ryder" stamped into the top of the gun, the Reg. or Lot No. will tell the date.

If it's a Model 94 Red Ryder, they were made from 1954-'58. There were several variations. The first variation had a Reg No. without a letter prefix. Later guns used "A", "B", and "C" prefixes.

If it's a No. 111 Model 94, as Joe said, they were made between 1940 and 1954. There were several variations. The various features are used to narrow down the year, but exact dates aren't available.