The Browning Sweet sixteen, will have the words "Sweet Sixteen" stamped or engraved on the receiver after the 1948-1950 time period. Prior to Sweet Sixteen being engraved on the legend which is the left side of the receiver, Sweets from 1937-40 and 46-49 are not stamped. If you have one of these guns, the gun will have a faded gold trigger - not blued. This is the most obvious sign. To be sure remove the forend. If the Barrel ring that slides over the magazine tube has three holes in it, then it is a sweet, providing the barrel serial number matches the receiver. So, check the trigger and barrel. Two other differences can be detected, but it's more info than needed to answer your question.
if that is the full serial number then the production date was in 1922. browning did not start making a sweet sixteen until 1937 so it would not be a sweet sixteen if the serial number you provided is the full serial number. please let me know if you have any questions. emorton19@gmail.com
Yes.The 5S prefix to your browning sweet sixteen indicates that it was produced by browning in 1965.
No way to know unless you have the original receipt.
I DONT KNOW
The link below may answer your question http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_value_of_a_Browning_Sweet_Sixteen
Sweet Sixteen refers to a shotgun. Value can range from 100-1000 USD depending on age, condition, box, papers, accessories.
With the serial number S45226 that you provided,I can say that your Browning sweet Sixteen model auto-5 shotgun was made by FN in Belgium during the year 1955.The serial number range for 1955 was S24851-S49350.I hope that you find this info helpful.
Browning.com has sn data under customer service.
look on the opposite side of the gun, there should be an engraving stating where it was manufactured, if it is Belguim, it was made before 1976, if it was Japan, it could have been made in the late 80s.
What do you want to know?
Early 30s, 100-650 USD
For a nominal fee, Browning will provide a historical letter.