A10ACN (does your screen name mean you are/were associated with A-10 Warthog ops?)

I have a Jeffery double rifle serial #245X that I actually got details from the surviving Jeffery daybooks as being finished in Feb 1896 by Ellis.
Another page copy of the old daybooks shows ".303 falling block 95 Model" (ie: Farquharson PD) #4730 as September 1896, so it is entirely possible that 5000 series numbers could have been late 1896.
I would have to guess your rifles serial number as Summer of 1896

I am not convinced that other sources of serial number ranges are totally correct, but there is no easy way to tell. I am not sure if the Jeffery Farquarson was done in serial number order with the shotguns and other rifles.

Last I knew, a few years ago, the Jeffery records were privately held by the Friedkin Group out of Texas. Thomas Friedkin himself passed away in 2017 and I do not know if the records have moved on or not.
- Mike