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Gil S
PostPosted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:06 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 1943
Location: Lowcountry Ga.

CI, the wood on your guns is unreal. Amazing figure. Since you did your Savannah River cruise, the port has taken off in depth and traffic. The old bridge has been replaced with a higher span, river depth increased and the port, 13 miles from the ocean, is the fourth busiest container port in the US. This year the largest ship to call on the east coast unloaded cargo. It was 1200 feet long, a 100' longer than a Nimitz class aircraft carrier. Both my grandfather and his father were tugboat skippers here.
The 20 gauge M37 of old is amazingly light. The first year was advertised as 5.75 lbs. Mine is right on that weight. To get that weight, the stock was hollowed out with a square cut. This procedure was abandoned in later years. Barrel length on my 1957 is a strange 26" Mod. It weighs 5 7/8 oz. I found a 1942 barrel, 28" mod and had Les Hovencamp fit it to the '57 and open the barrel to IC. I go back and forth with the 26" barrel and one of my 16's for snipe. Here's the 26" Mod 20 with a limit of snipe (top photo) and 1958 16 28" Mod (bottom photo):

[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/52969_600x400/] [/URL]


Last edited by Gil S on Fri Nov 24, 2017 1:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Wolfchief
PostPosted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:46 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 782
Location: Indiana

Cold Iron, that is beautiful wood on that Model 37!!

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dannypratt
PostPosted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 9:22 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 21 Dec 2005
Posts: 722
Location: Napoleon, MI

KGB...
If that 20ga M37 is harvesting the crops that well, why change the formula! I dearly love my 16ga guns...but when I'm cleaning out coverts with an inferior gauge, I tend to accept my handicap and soldier forward in feather clouds of victory.

Cold Iron...
I said it once, I'll say it again and probably at least once more today.. That's one hell of a nice 37....which one you ask....all of them, that's which.
You can't beat, even with a cheap balsa rod stick, a Ithaca 37 with a 26" bbl...it's the best handling pumpgun ever produced. Ever. Any gauge, any time. Swing, POW, retrieve...all there is too it.


I've got to back another poster on here too, (his handle escapes me, I'm growing foggy in my mind this close to lunch time). The Browning BPS, in 16 & 20 gauge, are some of the nicest current production pumps on the market. They are machined from steel billets, sport exceptionally nice vent ribs, carry the lines of the classic Model 12, and handle and point very naturally. The mid '90s model with the engraved receiver is identical to the current Medallion model, the Upland model in 20 w/ 22" bbl and the 16 w/ 24" bbl are superb field guns, and the chance of a misfeed or jam in one is virtually non existent. Make sure the gun is uncocked and trigger depressed when reassembling the receiver and they are a snap to clean. (If the gun is cocked, and you try to insert the trigger assembly, it wont...ever...ever...happen. 3 hrs later you will be red faced and marked out of St Peters book for language use alone)
I've got a mid 90's, 20ga gun, bought two at the time. One with field stock and 26" invector, one with upland stock and 22" invector plus. Swapped the 26" onto the upland stocked gun...it doesn't get sweeter for pheasants boys..balances perfectly. Light and hard hitting. Put the 22" on the field stocked gun...oh man, it's a grouse and woodcock machine. Short, balanced well with the slightly thicker invector plus barrel...clears the thick stuff and locks in the shoulder, lookout birds, the deck is stacked for me.

HOWEVER...it all started with the 37 (actually the Remington M17, but who's counting) and they got it right...and light...and all steel, and all milled...and about as perfect a repeater as can be shucked. Sandusky, Ohio is carrying that torch, and it's burning brighter than ever.

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-Danny Pratt
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Upland Carpenter
PostPosted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 9:59 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 24 Jan 2007
Posts: 467
Location: SC PA

As an aside to this thread, anyone considering a new Ithaca might want to jump on their website today. They are offering an 18% discount on anything purchased through their web store today. Coupon code BLACKFRIDAY. Appears it applies to guns as well as I just tried it with a 30" 20ga.

Marcus

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kgb
PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 8:40 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1256
Location: Nebraska

The ship may have righted itself. Just picked up a 1972 Featherlight 16ga with an extra Deerslayer barrel. Now I can try out all those slugs I picked up a while back.

Plain 28" bbl is Mod choked, .016" down from its .664" bore, the Deerslayer is .653" all the way through. This is the style of 37 I remember from the catalogs of my youth, not as svelte as the '51 gun at all. Not bad though.

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Bore, n. Shotgun enthusiast's synonym for "gauge" ; everybody else's synonym for "shotgun enthusiast." - Ed Zern
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Gil S
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 11:54 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 04 Mar 2008
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Location: Lowcountry Ga.

Nice find, kgb.
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Cold Iron
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 7:37 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Mar 2016
Posts: 746
Location: Mn.

kgb congrats on the new member to your family. I remember well those early 70's Ithaca 37's. Mine was older and my grandfather took it to the factory in Ithaca and had a Deerslayer bbl. fitted to it before my first deer season around that time. Still would like to pick up a combo exactly like you just did at some point though, always wanted one.

Killed a lot of deer with that 16 ga. Deerslayer and Brenneke slugs. Deerslayers and Brenneke slugs were a perfect match. They still sell them https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1002073737/brenneke-usa-classic-magnum-ammunition-16-gauge-2-3-4-1-oz-lead-rifled-slug-box-of-5

Sounds like you have a selection of slugs to try already. But I'd still try a couple boxes of the Brenneke. Year or 2 back on one of the auction sites they had a 37 for sale that was a Brenneke commemorative edition. Special engraving, high end wood, etc. Was pretty spendy but someone purchased it.

Enjoy your new combo!
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kgb
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 8:46 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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Location: Nebraska

Appreciate the link. CI, noticed the first recommendation on that page is for a PAST recoil pad. Very Happy good to have options.

By the time I was checking out Ithaca catalogs the 16 was out of circulation, and shotguns for deer were not an issue where we hunted. Last year I wound up in a situation requiring shotgun slugs and lucked into one for my 20ga semi-auto. That was something new as well, Pennsylvania doesn't allow semiauto rifles for anything, believe it was limited areas for shotgun slugs.

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Bore, n. Shotgun enthusiast's synonym for "gauge" ; everybody else's synonym for "shotgun enthusiast." - Ed Zern
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dannypratt
PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:18 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 21 Dec 2005
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Location: Napoleon, MI

Cold Iron has got it right....Brenneke slugs in the 16ga are devastating...I completely pole-axed a deer about 10yrs ago with a Brenneke slug and a Browning Auto-5, Sweet 16, w/ 26" cylinder choke. Paced it off, it was 60yds. He was on the move and I was absolutely certain I could drop him. I've never seen anything like it.

I have no doubt a Brenneke slug in any gauge would perform in the same manner.

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-Danny Pratt
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kgb
PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 9:11 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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Location: Nebraska

First shot took a rabbit, second a pheasant and third a bobwhite. (disclaimer: wasn't the third shot but rather the fourth. 1-2-3 is a better story than 1-2-4 though). Batting % declined from there as quail wound up .500 but as much as I dislike the fiber optic bead it was pointless to blame it yesterday.




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Bore, n. Shotgun enthusiast's synonym for "gauge" ; everybody else's synonym for "shotgun enthusiast." - Ed Zern
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