I just picked up an 870 16 gauge. The barrel code is 3 letters.
EEW is on the barrel. The receiver serial number is 6 numbers then W. No prefix in from of receiver serial#. The rear
Stock is plain. No checkering with a hard plastic butt plate.
The front stock has slits cut vertically
E - Oct
E - I believe is 1958.
W - what is this third letter for. It doesn't match any of the year codes that I find in listings?
3 letter barrel code
Re: 3 letter barrel code
There are a couple of charts but I think they are more like guesstimations rather than definitive.
https://oldguns.net/sn_php/remdates.php
https://oldguns.net/sn_php/remdates.php