Model Forum / General / Rockets / February 2006

bruce:

5.12   How can I tell the age of my Estes motors?

   Estes uses a date code on their rocket motors.  It's of the form XXYZZ
   (example, 25T9) where the first number is the day of the month of
   manufacture, the letter is a code indicating year of manufacture, and
the
   last number is the month (1 = January, 12 = December).  Date codes
   run progressively through the alphabet, as follows:

          T    1989
          U    1990
          V    1991
          W    1992
          X    1993
          Y    1994
          Z    1995
          A    1996 - Estes cycled back to the beginning of the alphabet
          B   1997
          C   1998
          D   1999 ?
          E    2000 ?
          F    2001 ?
          G   2002 ?
          H   2003 ?
          I    2004 ?
          J    2005 ?
          K   2006 ?

from the RMR FAQ

I notice that "newer" EStes motors have numbers like A050301 or A052703 or
A111601 or A031003

I can only assume at some point they changed the dating number

Those last 4 examples could be May 05,2001, May 27,2003, Novemeber 16, 2001,
March 10,2003

Does anybody know if Estes chnaged their dating numbers and when they did? I
have 9B6  while newer E9 have 061401 which may correspond to june 14,2001?
Hope this helps

shockie B)