I am wondering whether Ithaca Gun Company is still in business. Yesterday, I went to the Ithaca Gun website on the internet. It was down and I could not find it. So, I did a google search. There was an article dated June 10th in the Auburn, NY newspaper about Ithaca Gun. It seems the website is gone, the telephone has been disconnected, the employees parking lot is empty and recently they came out on the wrong end of a legal judgment. They had agreed to underwrite a TV show on hunting for a Watertown, NY station for $12,000. The station ran the show but Ithaca Gun did not fulfill their end of the agreement. They have had a lot of financial problems recently.

The Director of Sales was quoted as saying that this is a temporary hiatus because of their move from Kings Ferry, NY to Auburn but everyone else in the area is betting that Ithaca Gun is out of business. The Director of Economic Development for Auburn is quoted as being thankful that the City of Auburn did not underwrite this relocation financially. The area people are saying that this company is going down the tubes.

That is too bad if they have 'gone under'. They have a long tradition of fine gunmaking. The model 37 is/was an american classic. They just keep going on and on as most JM Browning designs do. Maybe the 37's durability reduces the market for new ones!

I only recently acquired a model 37(Deerslayer model) but had wanted one of these classics for a long time. The design, function, and handling did not disappoint. Plateau Hunter

Dunno if they are gone, but the site is definitely down.

Sure would hate to see them go. It always seemed to me that they suffered from marketing/distribution - had to really work to find them around here. I think that I must have gotten about the last deer barrel out of the plant when they went under the first time. Had it ordered and didn't really expect it to show up, but it did, much to my joy - shoots extremely well for a smooth-bore.

I hope they survive! I really like their shotguns. I was wanting to replace the stock&forearm of mine with synthetic. Guess I'll have to look elsewhere.

Don't forget ...the Browning BPS is the same design as the Ithaca mod 37. Browning has been selling them and promoting them for years. So if folks like the bottom ejection they may have been buying Brownings.
I'm sure due to larger production the Brownings may have even been cheaper and certainly on more dealers racks.

I like the Brownings, but I found an older 2 3/4 inch 20 ga Model 37 vent/modified that's a lot lighter weight. The Brownings are more nicely finished than any Ithica I've ever seen. Nice deep bluing and good wood.

I have both the Browning BPS and Ithaca M37, both in 12 ga. I prefer the M37, lighter and seems to balance better for me. Both are good guns. My Ithaca M37 is the older 2/3 inch only chamber too, but I sent it back to Ithaca to have it fit with 26" vent rib barrel w/ screw-in choke tubes because I want choke tubes. Briley and Seminole didn't want to install choke tubes due to liability issue due to the barrels being too thin to accept screw-in choke tubes. Haven't decided whether to have the vent rib taken off to get back to the classic look of the older M37 as I don't see it doing much for shotgunning other than add weight.


Leo