Date code shows it to be 1974. It is a nice gun, other than a couple of shelf dings it looked totally unused when I bought it in a pawn shop a few years ago. I shot maybe 12 shells out of it, performed flawlessly, patterned well, too. The average person that would see it would assume it was brand new. The price was so right that I couldn't pass her up. Besides, I have lots of Ted Williams shells, though they are mostly 16 gauge shells.