Ithaca 37

wiking

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Ithaca 37 Featherlight
12 Ga x 2-3/4"
SN: Dated as 1946
28" Solid Rib Polychoke

Price: $249
Condition: Good

Should I buy it?
Thanks for the help!
 
yes. The solid rib isn't as common as the vent rib and the poly choke, although ugly , makes it a good shooter.For some reasons Ithaca 37's don't really seam to hold a lot of value.
 
But they are well made shotguns right? Perhaps it's because the company keeps changing hands? The new Ithaca's cost quite a lot.
 
I have a Police DS special and despite its uniqueness I really like mine and carry it when dealing with wild boar, its a gun I can rely on to work!
 
I've seen and shot a lot of 37's, and I've NEVER seen one that was worn out. Beat up beyond use, yes, but worn out, never. If that one has not been abused, you won't go wrong with it - provided it fits you.
 
I'd buy it. As a matter of fact I did. I have the exact same year and model with a solid rib, but without the Polychoke. I paid $250 as well. I had a Ploychoke on a 37 when I was a kid and thought it worked well. See my avatar.
 
I have a Police DS special and despite its uniqueness I really like mine and carry it when dealing with wild boar, its a gun I can rely on to work!

TimC, you thieved the exact words right out of my mouth! Furthermore I love lobbing Brennekes out of mine.

And I recently was visiting a shotgun website and one of the UK M37 owners displayed his Ithaca.
It had a 24 inch iron sighted barrel, parkerized finish, marked as DS police special, with a 7 shot magazine and wooden furniture.
No-where else have I seen such an Ithaca.
 
Where can you buy a new Ithaca? i'm looking at the featherweight 20g.


You can look at them on the Ithaca web site.They have no dealer in Canada at present but will ship one here.Not sure just what paper work you need these days to get the shotgun into Canada.It is my understanding that it is the U.S. wanting paper work to get the shotggun out of the US rather than having trouble getting the Canadian paper work.

Ithaca is supposed to be comming out later this year with a 28 gauge Model 37 built on its own size frame.Will be looking into getting one sent to Canada.There is a company that will do the paper work and import the shotgun for you.Have never used them so I do not know just what type of people they are to deal with.

The companies name is Questar International.Maybe others here have used them and can state if they were happy with them or not.
 
Where can you buy a new Ithaca? i'm looking at the featherweight 20g.

Is there a particular reason you want a 20g.? If it's because of weight then a 12g is quite light, if it's for the recoil then just use lighter loads or put on a recoil pad. Also, 12g. ammo is much easier to come by in whatever shot or slug loads you want. And you can pick up a good clean 12g for $200-300.00. The only limitation that they might have is most only shoot 23/4" shells.
 
TimC, you thieved the exact words right out of my mouth! Furthermore I love lobbing Brennekes out of mine.

And I recently was visiting a shotgun website and one of the UK M37 owners displayed his Ithaca.
It had a 24 inch iron sighted barrel, parkerized finish, marked as DS police special, with a 7 shot magazine and wooden furniture.
No-where else have I seen such an Ithaca
.

Thats exactly the gun I have!:dancingbanana:
 
Thats exactly the gun I have!:dancingbanana:

Now that is pretty cool TimC, on this side of the big pond all the DSPS models have generally 20 inch barrels with an occassional 18 or 18.5 inch variants for stateside users.

That 24 inch barrel would give a shooter a little edge for more "precise" placement of single projectiles perhaps(?) The 24 inch DSPS, is this an ex-UK police arm TimC?

One M37 LAPD 4 shot model that was factory ordered in 1966, came with a police only option, of 16.5 inch barrel. These arms never make it into the civilian market as they are Class 3 arms in the USA.

That's such a shame, as in Canada, they would be considered a regular non-restricted firearm.

I know I get a little obsessed with Brennekes which are not needed 100% of the time....usually a foster slug of Winchester 2 3/4 inch would suffice for MOST wilde swine.
What projectile to you toss at the porkers TimC? How is your accuracy/terminal effects/maximum personal distance?

Cheers buddy!
 
I use either CBC 1 ounce factory foster slugs or load my own cast 1 & 1/4 ounce slugs. I can hit a 4 inch circle standing at 100 yards so I dount find it a problem. The cast slugs are Lyman and squeeze through the full choke nicely. They cast at about 20 bore but the skirt opens quickly. I have used it with No6 shot on a DTL layout and although it raised some eyebrows its a little too heavily choked so birds have to be taken a long way out!
Still waiting to get a pig with this!
Not sure if its an ex police gun as they generally dont mark them although it was made in the early 1980's.
 
Tim, thanks for the prompt reply. I tested fosters Winchester and Brennekes from mine. I was going to try federal fosters but the results were so poor out of a 20 bore, I decided to pass on them in the 12 bore.
Some better informed sources than me suggest remington/federal slugs measure smaller in diameter than winchester regular brand slugs.

I did try Lyman "big pellet" style slug out of my 20 bore rifled barrel Ithaca (M87, 20 inch iron sights) The accuaracy was under two inches at 35 and 75 yards, never used this one yet though. The fellow in New Jersey who casts them seems to have used straight linotype, as these slugs have a ring to them when they strike each other(!)

Back to the 12 bore factory, winchesters had a slight edge in flatness of trajectory, and even slightly better accuarcy on the Brennekes(about one inch at 65 yards vs 1 and 1/2, to 2 inch for the Brenneke Rotweill Classic slug 1 1/8 ounce (felt wad).

However I was backing up an archer on a ground stalk, and the one 360 lb porker he wanted to get, I definitely did not want to fumble with shell choice at the worst possible moment on the lonely praire....

I did take a wild boar that was just about 110 lbs or so, the Brenneke required about 5-6 inches of hold over at 75 yards, and I double lunged him.
I am glad is was not farther, as my range practice, fortold just over one foot of holdover at 100 yards. That would be really pushing the boundaries of my capability for sure with no scope.
The german slug was a through and through, cleanish exit/entrance, and never recovered in the deep snowbank.
He dropped right there, gasped for about 30 seconds before expiring.
My placement seems like some drop, but I suspect these police shotguns were slug sighted for 25 yard street engagements. My observation only.

One thing I forgot to mention, at 50 yards, winchester was one inch low exactly to the bullseye, brennekes almost one inch lower, at the same range.

As you can see Tim, I really enjoy these Ithacas, I appreciate info from fellow users!

Cheers and Good Hunting! :)
 
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