Serial numbers on Classic actioned rifles are somewhat of a mystery, but I can say this much. The first production grade Classics were the Super Grades in 1990, followed by the Featherweights in 1992. Of course, Custom Shop Classics were made even earlier.
The 29th edition of the Blue Book, shows that Classic serial numbers started at G15000, and shows that the approximate last number for Model 70 Classics manufactured in 1990 to be G16859, and for 1991 G23072, followed by 1992 at G26709. And that is far as they go. To my knowledge, this is the only published information on serial numbers of Classics to date.
This information apparently doesn't apply to Custom Shop rifles, as I own a Classic Custom Shop rifle with a G10XXX number, and that model wasn't made before 1996, so apparently Custom Shop rifles either had their own serial number ranges, or are out of sequence.
To add even further to the confusion, by 2002, the numbers jumped over the previous "G" numbers. The highest serial number Classic I own with a "G" prefix followed by 6 numerals is a G350XXX, which is a 2000, or possibly 2001 rifle. Then I also own a G241XXXX Classic (notice a 7 numeral number now), which is a 2002 rifle.
According to the Blue Book, the "G" prefix was started in 1969, apparently sometime after 925908 and before G941900, thus NO pre-64 Model 70's had a "G" prefix.
I am also somewhat at a loss to explain why people don't understand that a rifle with a "G" prefix serial number is a different number than a rifle without a prefix. Hey, this isn't rocket science!
Hope this helps.
