I bought a .22 with a M8 4X on it. The SN has no letters in it and is six digits. Is this a pre 1974 scope like I think it is? Thanks, Ken

You are correct. For anyone else interested in dating post-1974 Leupolds from the serial number, the info is pasted below:

________________________________________
You can determine when it was made by the serial number located on the center saddle section. Beginning in 1974, Leupold began letter coding riflescope serial numbers. All scopes produced during that year had the letter E as a prefix to the serial number. The next year the letter code was advanced to F, and so on through the alphabet. The letters I,O, and Q, were skipped so that they wouldn't be confused with numbers. When they reached Z in 1992 they started over at the beginning of the alphabet with letter A. This time they used a suffix.

Prefix
E - 1974
F - 1975
G - 1976
H - 1977
J - 1978
K - 1979
L - 1980
M - 1981
N - 1982
P - 1983
R - 1984
S - 1985
T - 1986
U - 1987
V - 1988
W -1989
X - 1990
Y - 1991
Z - 1992

Suffix
1993 - A
1994 - B
1995 - C
1996 - D
1997 - E
1998 - F
1999 - G
2000 - H
2001 - J
2002 - K
2003 - L
2004 - M

That is very useful...thanks for posting it.

Dennis

A bit more updated.....

Every Leupold scope produced since 1974 will have a letter included in the serial number acting as a date-code. Scopes using a letter as a prefix (the beginning of the serial number) were produced between 1974 and 1992. Scopes using a letter as a suffix (the end of the serial number) have been produced after 1992. On the chart below, you will notice the letters “I,” “O,” and “Q” have been omitted as they are easily mistaken for “1,” “0,” and “0” respectively.

Prefix: Suffix:
E = 1974 A = 1993
F = 1975 B = 1994
G = 1976 C = 1995
H = 1977 D = 1996
J = 1978 E = 1997
K =1979 F = 1998
L = 1980 G = 1999
M = 1981 H = 2000
N = 1982 J = 2001
P = 1983 K = 2002
R = 1984 L = 2003
S = 1985 M = 2004
T = 1986 N = 2005
U = 1987 P = 2006
V = 1988 R = 2007
W = 1989 S = 2008
X = 1990 T = 2009
Y = 1991
Z = 1992


I copy/pasted from a post (not mine) from last July.