You can order a history letter from Browning for @$50.
Contact Browning Customer Service at 1-800-333-3288 and for $39.95 they can give you a history letter that will tell you when it was made, where it went, etc.. After that, there is no way to "trace" it per se. If you think it's stolen call your local police and they might run the serial number.
Only the BATFE can run a trace solely on the serial number.
9952
YES
No published serial number data.
m8124
I think it is 1991
Contact the maker.
Resources to do that are available only to law enforcement.
Contact your local police.
You will have to find a listing of all the serial numbers from the maker for the shotguns they made and go through them.
I think the Browning website has information on dating their products. If you live in a state that requires registration of handguns, owner history MAY be available to a law enforcement officer with a court warrant, but normally this information is not available for firearms in the US. thanks, I have now returned to the Browning Company site and found under "services" a list of serial numbers and the year they were produced. I also found a site for "Blue Books Publications, Inc.". Under firearms and at bottom of page are sections for serial numbers and an appraisal service for $20.00 under $500.00 dollars of value. See also "Browning Dates of Manufacturing" by George Madis. He has an extensive bilo of Browning and firearms titles.