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Post by jmarriott on Aug 19, 2009 9:13:36 GMT -5
He got a real good price on it also. It is a 20 gauge with the ducks on one side and dog and birds on the other ( I think they all do ). Nice light and a solid piece of steel that is milled out . He thinks it is from the early 1960 and I think it is older.
The serial Number is 1949XX.
I shot it at a can thrown in the air and it does point just like a 870.
any Ideas on a date of birth for Ithaca shotguns?
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bounce
Royal Member
Posts: 5,727
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Post by bounce on Aug 19, 2009 9:47:39 GMT -5
Near as I can tell Red they probibly started in 1937 book is not real clear but at least that far back, lots of moldels and are again being made today I think with maybe being called the model 87? was a bit confusing to read in the blue book that I have. I was not able to even guess at what model your dad has?  |
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Post by jmarriott on Aug 19, 2009 10:29:29 GMT -5
They internet is a wonderful thing, I found a site with the years of manufacture by serial number....... I though I would have to order a book from the libary. www.diamondgunsmithing.com/page5/page23/index.htmlSeems His model 37 is from 1948. Nice gun for the 80 bucks he paid and then the 22.73 I put in it replacing the firing pin. |
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Post by dovehunter on Aug 19, 2009 10:43:27 GMT -5
...Nice gun for the 80 bucks he paid and then the 22.73 I put in it replacing the firing pin. I'd say you could recoup your investment fairly easily!  |
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Post by jmarriott on Aug 19, 2009 11:33:59 GMT -5
If the gun fired I bet it would not have been sitting on the swap table and the straw town flea market to begin with.
He thought he got taken when it did not fire. I looked up the part at midway and a couple of other places and they had them in stock so I got one. I guess if you added my labor at 3 hours to replace a firing pin the price would go up quite a bit.
I kinda made my own parts chart as I disassembled it. So i could get the parts back in order. I am no gunsmith but I am a tinkerer. I figured i could do the firing pin as I have replaced several in model 12 shotguns.
I think dad likes the 20 guage and since he was born in upstate New York I think he is going to keep it. This is the only other shotgun he has besides his browning auto-5 in twelve guage. I think my nephews will be shooting clay birds with it soon.
I like the bottom ejection. It is slick like a model 12. someone put on a aftermarket recoil pad so next in line might be getting the original but plate. then again it is what it is maybe I just keep the pad on it. After all a 61 year old shotgun has some personality.
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Post by jmarriott on Aug 19, 2009 11:45:46 GMT -5
e-gun parts factory but stock replacement 18.10 ordered today to bring it back to original configuration.
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Post by twomoons on Aug 19, 2009 13:54:33 GMT -5
The Lady of the Manor was a dressin' for the ball, when she spied a highland Tinker... The 37's are still pretty good guns and hold their value well, I wouldn't be ashamed to hunt with one if I stooped low enough to shoot a game hog pump gun? My guess would be $250 pretty easy. |
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Post by Bubba on Aug 19, 2009 15:22:41 GMT -5
I used a 37 a few times in Vietnam so when I got home I bought one. It's a great shooting gun; balanced good, swings nice, very dependable, not hard to clean and not too bad of a recoil. I liked mine. The only thing I didn't like was that (at the time) they didn't come with changable chokes. Mine was in "modified" ... I used it mostly for small game and ducks. Of course those were the years before steel shot was manditory for waterfowl so a modified choke was a little wider then I'd like for ducks.... any way, If I could or really needed a shotgun, I'd buy another in a heart beat.
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Post by jmarriott on Aug 19, 2009 18:03:09 GMT -5
I shot a vietnam era M&P version of the model 37 before. It was a fine gun but parkerized and fairly ugly. I almost bough it back then but I purchased his rem 760 300 Savage instead.
It would have made a fine home defense gun but you would not want to take it out on the town and show her off. Like someone said and ugly girl is fun until your friends see you with her.
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Post by twomoons on Aug 19, 2009 20:43:57 GMT -5
Shoot one, hey I knew a fellow who blew one up! Super long range duck loads no less! Set the locking lug back into the receiver but the gun held.
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Post by Jack on Aug 19, 2009 21:45:14 GMT -5
In my neck of the woods, Ithaca 37's are still common. Lefthanders love that bottom ejection.
Ithaca has gone through bankruptcy a few times- I'm not sure if they're still around. The 87 was a name change after one of the takeovers- I don't think there's much, if any, difference between a 37 and an 87.
Ithaca was the first company to pay much attention to shooting slugs. Before the days of rifled barrels, Ithaca made a smoothbore slug gun with a fixed barrel, and a bit smaller bore diameter than most 12 gauges. They called that model the Deerslayer, and, typically, one of those Ithaca slug guns would outshoot about any other smoothbore slug gun with Foster style slugs.
Ithaca was also one of the first, if not the first, major manufacturer to sell rifled barrel slug guns.
The 37 is a John Browning design, and I believe the 37 derives from the first year the gun was made.
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