Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Ithaca?

I lucked up on a first year production 20 ga. M-37R for $250. The wood was in bad shape, so I refinished it, and recut the checkering. The metal is original blue. It is a solid rib model and had a Deluxe Poly Choke.

I thought about cutting the Poly Choke off and doing Briley tubes. That would have made it too short and whippy. It dawned on me that this was just part of the vintage package and it's grown on me.

37's are a lot of gun for the buck. I especially like pre-war 37's. They have more class than 870's and are lighter than M-12's.

DF

I love mine, and my southpaw son finally talked me out of it. The 37 is a good one, perhaps the best upland game shotgun I have ever used.

Ithaca 37 is my favorite pump gun, I have 3 of 'em. Though for a do-it-all shotgun I would probably choose the 870 because ...

1. 3 inch mag or 3.5" .. There were a few 3 inch Ithaca 37s but not common (the 3 inch 87s are expensive)
2. more after market parts/ add-ons(barrels, chokes, stocks etc.)
3. cheaper after market parts / add-ons

The BPS is a fine pump too although a tad heavier than 870.
The Mossberg 500 is also a workhorse just not exactly Remington/Browning/Ithaca quality.

If 2 3/4 fits your needs ... jump on the Ithaca.

Failing to extract. Kick myself for saying failing to eject when I fully know thats not what I meant.

Once I 'bump' the butt end on the ground to 'loosen' the fired round in the chamber, the empty pulls out just fine and 'flings' itself with gusto out of the gun.

I did take a 12 guage brass brush and wrapped in 0000 steel wool, some gun oil, and hit the chamber with that on a drill. Didn't spend much time on it for fear of worsening a problem, but it didn't seem to help.

Thinking I'm just going to send off to Les Hovencamp.

Dirtfarmer, that is a beautiful 37.. Just love those solid rib guns.. Have one in a 12.. but a 20 would be fine.. I need to clean my up lots of wear marks.. a little 20 was my first pump gun.. but it had no rib..

Certainly sounds like a chamber issue. Had it been failure to eject I was going to offer a handful of 2 1/2" Gamebore to check it with.

The manufacturers of Flexhone have chamber hones that should clean up your problem.
http://www.brushresearch.com/brushes.php?c2=6
Since you're only doing one gun I'd go straight to the 800 grit aluminum oxide and work at it a little longer.
If you do decide to go this route make sure to use the recommended oil.

A slotted wooden dowel and a 1/2" drill motor. Medium grit wet/dry paper backed with foam to provide pressure against the chamber wall. started with 100 with Kroil and worked down to 200.

It is essentially a home-made flex-hone.

Yep.. But I keep going through 400 grit... Some shotgun chambers, I swear, musta been done at the factory with a dull knife..

pre war 37s are great but if in original condition usually sell 4 big bucks if the seller knows what he's selling.....expect to pay 450-600 for an original 90/95% pre war 16/20ga....But if I can find one Id rather pay the 600 for a nice pre war small gauge than buy one of the new production guns for 800......

Think I'm going to buy one of the new ones, just so they have a reason to stay in business and keep making them. From what I hear the quality today matches that of any other time period.

Hint, don't ask the gun guy at Cabela's if they have any Ithaca pumps unless you have more will power than me. Especially when he pulls out a 28Ga.













Funny thing was the girl who was doing the paperwork commented, "28Ga?" and gave me a funny look. I said that's right and she said, "Not much call for those these days."

Sweet handling little shotgun and Grouse season is just around the corner.

wish they had the classic receiver engraving of old on the new ones

They do with the exception of the 28ga. I would prefer it also.

Nice shotgun. I see they come with 26 or 28 inch barrels which did you get ? Did you weigh it yet ?

Nice buy.. Fun ga. have a 870.. It has killed sage gr. dead at 40 steps..

I think I'm going to like it.

26in is the barrel length which is an approx 30-31in sighting plain counting the receiver. 3 factory screw in chokes and the weight came out at 5lbs 15ounces. Wood is definitely plain Jane.

Seems solid and sounds the same as the originals. I think you can slam fire it like the originals but not sure yet. Hoping to shoot it this week. However, ran some shells thru it and function seems fine.

battue, Used my 28 ga. for several years for mt. grouse.. Mostly blues. It did a fine job, also shot quite a few sage grouse with it.. Took it to Az. for desert quail, a couple were crippled and got away so I switched to a 12 with 1 1/8 loads.. I didn't have any loads heavier than 3/4's of an oz. The quail were pretty scarce and wild, so shots were longer than normal.. For the birds and area you are hunting and good close working dogs, it should be great...

Need to practice and get a little confidence going with the hitting. It definitely has a lot of move-mount-shoot built into it. Seems to fit fairly well when I mount it quickly to a spot on the wall.

Best of luck with it.. I am sure it will be excellent..

I have a late 50s made 16 ga. That is the gun that taught me to wingshoot. I've always loved upland hunting, but never could hit anything. Somehere along the way, I got it into my head that I needed a 16 ga Ithaca. Eventually I found one and suddenly I could hit things (I'd never even handled an Ithaca before that). I suspect that my sudden shooting ability has something to do with the fact that guns made in the 50s fit my build better than most guns made today. Nevertheless, I'm a fan. Now I need to find one in 20 ga.

Cheesy
Do send your 16 in to Diamond Gunsmithing. Mine had the same problem as yours when I got it. I tried polishing the chamber a couple of different ways. If anything it got worse. I sent it off to Les, and he fixed it right up. I've had it fail to extract once since then, and that was after shooting around 100 rounds quickly on a warm day.

P.S. Nice avatar.