16ga.com Forum Index
Author Message
<  16ga. Guns  ~  Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight
drcook
PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 12:11 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Dec 2012
Posts: 689

This is a Winchester Red oil finish that I did on one of my single shot rifles. Looks better in reality, the photo doesn't do it justice. That finish took weeks to rub and sand in.


_________________
dr = David R, not Dr. but thanks for the compliment, most folks just call me Dave
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
skeettx
PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 3:57 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 9455
Location: Amarillo, Texas

NOT FAIR Smile
Please show more of the single shot action
What receiver and cartridge
Mike


Last edited by skeettx on Sun May 10, 2020 8:36 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Hamishtheirishamish
PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 7:14 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Feb 2020
Posts: 64
Location: Southern Illinois

That would be the right thing to do,,,,,,,,,
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
drcook
PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 7:58 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Dec 2012
Posts: 689

That stock is from the top rifle, a high quality (meaning US made) reproduction of the Stevens 44 1/2 by CPA Rifle in Pa. It is a 45-70. I also have a 45-100, a custom chambered in 42-90, which is a cartridge I developed using the 45-100 as the parent case.

They are take down actions. CPA upscaled the action to use the same size barrel shank as a Winchester high wall.

As you can see, a couple of them did not have the wood finished at this point. One of them is a 40-82 which is a 45-90 case necked down.

I no longer own the top Shiloh Sharps. It got sold to help pay for my youngest's wedding. Didn't like to do it, but needed to. One of those is a 45-110, one a 45-90 and the top which was a 45-70 has its place taken by a custom chambered 42-90 also. I have the Stevens and the Sharps in the 42-90.


Those are 1874 Sharps and are exact reproductions as made by the Shiloh Rifle Co of Big Timber Montana. They are the same company that made the rifles (yes rifles) for the movie Quigley Down Under.

The bottom is the 90, the middle the 110, it weighs about 15lbs.

I did not do the wood on the Sharps.

The 3rd picture is a target I shot off cross sticks with the Stevens 45-70. Not bad for open (soule and front aperture) iron sights at 200 yards, eh?

Soule sights are vernier adjustable for windage and elevation. They are marked just like a vernier height gauge or a vernier caliper if you know how those work.

The last picture is some of the cartridges I load for. I do all my own casting and loading. Black powder of course.

The 110 would put a slug through a buffalo sideways from quite a distance. Those big slugs (I shoot 540 gr bullets) hit like a train.








_________________
dr = David R, not Dr. but thanks for the compliment, most folks just call me Dave
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
skeettx
PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 8:33 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 9455
Location: Amarillo, Texas

Dave,

Thank you for sharing

VERY nice single shots Smile

AWESOME, what Postell bullets are you using?

Mike

_________________
,
USAF RET 1971-95
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
drcook
PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 6:01 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Dec 2012
Posts: 689

Those are actually a "Creedmoor" pattern bullet. The 45 caliber ones are a mix of moulds from a guy named Paul Jones and Buffalo Arms. Buffalo Arms started making their own. Paul Jones retired from the business. He was a very good machinist.

The others are from Steve Brooks of Brooks Moulds and are of the same "Creedmoor" design.

Do they have anything to do with the actual Creedmoor match ? I don't know, but somehow that particular design got called that.

I was into single shots before I started hunting again. The first time out, I lugged a Ithaca 37 12 ga around in the briers looking for rabbits. After that, I went to a local
pawn shop and found a really nice 1958 vintage Ithaca 37 16ga witha 28" MOD barrel.

While I had 16's that came and went with never being fired, that one set the hook.

It now wears an early 50's type stock that I recut the checkering and refinished. Most of mine have been converted to or are the correct years for that type of stock.

I don't care for the later 50's style stock. I have a hand issue and can't grip it correct and lately having an issue gripping even the early ones as well as my single shots.

I still have everything, but have been shooting some pistol gripped precision rifles lately.

_________________
dr = David R, not Dr. but thanks for the compliment, most folks just call me Dave
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Hamishtheirishamish
PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 9:07 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Feb 2020
Posts: 64
Location: Southern Illinois

David,

Lovely rifles, and I can't help but admire the 'cats. 42-90 is an interesting choice, what was the motivation for going "halfway" between .40 and .45?

Rich
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
drcook
PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 9:24 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Dec 2012
Posts: 689

It actually is a sort of recreation of a 42-100 Wesson cartridge. The bullet diameter is .429, just like a 44 mag, or .444 Marlin is.

It is something different. I wanted to tinker.

The following statement is why, not a way to get sympathy.

I am pretty beat up and handicapped. I don't golf, run, throw a ball, etc. I can walk, shoot a gun, do some work on my guns (takes me a long time).

I needed something for stimulation. When I was a kid, I did tool & die work, I was really really good at what I did. Then I wrote commercial software. Both of those stimulated me mentally. So I designed the cartridge. Worked out a blueprint. Had the reamer ground. Worked with CH4D to make the die sets. Worked with Steve Brooks to get a mould. Had CPA and Shiloh agree to build me rifles in the chambering. Shiloh agreed because it was a historically correct cartridge.

I have also done a psuedo 38-72, but without the bottleneck for my wife to shoot long range BPCR with.

It has gotten really expensive to shoot BPCR though. You need to buy powder in lots, usually 25 lbs. It costs in excess of $450 to get the powder delivered. Then the cost of lead etc.

I will use the 42-90 to go hunting eventually once I get my knee fixed again.

That need for mental (and artistic) stimulation is why I started restoring Ithaca 37's. Did I need all the 16ga guns I acquired and rebuilt, no. But....once again it is the building that really satisfies me.

When I was younger, and before some of the bad orthopedic surgeries, I was talking to Browning about going to work for them. Never got beyond the talk stage.

I like working with metal and to an extent, wood.

_________________
dr = David R, not Dr. but thanks for the compliment, most folks just call me Dave
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
4setters
PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 10:38 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 19 Nov 2013
Posts: 381
Location: NW Arkansas

Dr. Cook!
Back to 37 Ithacas for a bit. Not that I don't appreciate your work on Sharps, etc.

Wow, thanks for the tutorial about repairing oil soaked/buggered 37 stocks. Yes, I have removed oil on a stock or two over the years, but I've never tried to repair buggered/missing/cracked wood where the stock/receiver go together. Again, wow!

I guess I should have gave it a try way back in the 90s when I replaced a stock (pic) with a moderately priced piece of Bishop wood (2nd pic, with strange figure!). I used a seal coat of TruOil followed by lots of coats of Tung Oil.

Given your information, I might just give it a try one of these days. I'll put that on the list.

By the way, most would find the Parkerized finish on my 37 weird, but my brother was stationed below New Orleans at the time, and I duck hunted several years with him. One could watch a blued gun rusting on a morning hunt due to brine water, but the Parkerizing solved that

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2gVfb5M] [/url]m37butt2 by Michael Widner, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2ig2Vcq] [/url]DSCF6312 by Michael Widner, on Flickr

Again, thanks!

Mike

_________________
16 gauges:
1954 Win M12 IC
1952 Ithaca M37 Mod
1955 Browning Auto-5 Mod
1940 Ithaca NID M/F
1959 Beretta Silver Hawk
Ranger 103-II M/F
Browning A-5 Sweet 16
Browning Citori Invector
Rem 870 Remchoke
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
drcook
PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 11:56 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Dec 2012
Posts: 689

Parkerizing ? Not at all. These are factory guns. I put the stock on it. (3rd one down). The top one is my factory parkerized Deerslayer 2. Named Auhnuld, because it is the Terminator of deers. I got to the point of taking them on the run with it.






_________________
dr = David R, not Dr. but thanks for the compliment, most folks just call me Dave
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
4setters
PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 4:31 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 19 Nov 2013
Posts: 381
Location: NW Arkansas

Dave,
I hope I didn't offend by addressing you as Dr., but you seem to have a PHD. in tool and die work, metallurgy, wood work, gun repair, Sharps rifles, Ithace 37s. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Good luck with future endeavors!

mike

_________________
16 gauges:
1954 Win M12 IC
1952 Ithaca M37 Mod
1955 Browning Auto-5 Mod
1940 Ithaca NID M/F
1959 Beretta Silver Hawk
Ranger 103-II M/F
Browning A-5 Sweet 16
Browning Citori Invector
Rem 870 Remchoke
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
drcook
PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 7:21 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Dec 2012
Posts: 689

absolutely not ! it actually goes back to my security badge for Goodyear Aerospace. It said "DR COOK". I was at a gas station, all dirty from the shop, and the kid says "Are you a Doctor ?" We both got a good laugh.

I like to make things. Always have. Unfortunately I am slow due to the issues with my hands. For 28 yrs while I wrote software, I would have rather been doing something else.

Thank you for the kind words. I believe some of my old posts here have some of the Ithacas I have saved if you want to search them out. I found a guy that does laser welding and had him weld up a receiver and a barrel. I have more into them, than what they are worth, but they are mine.

I am waiting on an OK for a MRI on my knee. It feels like it is still tore inside. Once I get this out of the way, maybe I will be able to go hunting this fall.

There is absolutely no shotgun (in my opinion) that carries like a 16ga Ithaca 37. I have carried one of them for miles and miles as I walked, hunted and went exploring.

Here is an interesting 16ga story. I got chased out of the woods by a bigfoot. Whether you believe in it or not, it was quite a strange encounter. Then 2 days later, my wife and I were watching TV and a Bigfoot show came on. They were filming about encounters right where I was at. The FedEx lady saw it out there, as well as a couple others lately.

His name is Darryl. Hahaha.

_________________
dr = David R, not Dr. but thanks for the compliment, most folks just call me Dave
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
All times are GMT - 7 Hours

View next topic
View previous topic
Page 2 of 2
Goto page Previous  1, 2
16ga.com Forum Index  ~  16ga. Guns

Post new topic   Reply to topic


 
Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum




Powered by phpBB and NoseBleed v1.09