A Featherlight ...or not?

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icedog

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The deal is done, and with sincere thanks to a fine fellow CGN'r, I am now the proud owner of what I believe is a 1953 production Ithaca model 37 in 16 gauge.
So, by virtue of the fact that it's a model 37 in hunting configuration, is it also a Featherlight? I'm not aware whether it is actually labelled "Featherlight", as my son completed the deal for me, and I won't likely have the gun in my own hands for another couple months when I'm able to pick it up.
 
"Featherlight" was just a trade name used by Ithaca for the model 37. It was designed by John Browning and sold as the Remington model 17. The Remington patents expired in 1937 for the design and the Ithaca model 37 was born. As far as I know all the model 37's were pretty much the same construction except for cosmetic differences. So even if it doesn't say "Featherlight" it is the same basic gun as one marked as such.
 
I have a 16 ga model 37 too. Mine predates 1950 as that is when a small change in the barrel take down system came about. At some point someone cut down the barrell on mine to 24 inches and installed a poly choke. It is now truly featherlight and my favorite upland game gun. Does yours have the game scene with ducks on the side plates? Fixed full choke?
 
In 1939 Ithaca announced the Model 37 in 20 gauge. It was introduced as being "Featherlight" due to it's 5 3/4 lb. weight. In that same year the term "Featherlight" became part of the official name for the 37. It appears that gun shop salesmen and eventually shooters just shortened the name to "Featherlight" in casual conversation about the gun. Target grade guns were not marketed as "featherlights" probably because target shooters preferred a little weight in their guns. Your gun will have "Featherlight" roll marked on the barrel. Later in production Ithaca introduced alloy framed models that were referred to as "UltraLites". The lightest model 37 ever was the "UltraFeatherLight" in 20 bore @5 lb. I am no expert and I gathered the above noted information from my copy of the Ithaca Bible " Ithaca Featherlight Repeaters The Best Gun Going...." by Ithaca historian Walt Snyder. If you love these guns like I do you owe it to yourself to E Bay a copy of tis beautiful hard bound book.

Darryl
 
Mike Webb said:
I think that the Ithaca 37 when compared to its competition at the time, model 12 Winchester and model 31 Remington, it really was a featherlight.
Click to expand...
I have to agree with that 100percent .I have been looking at the new 37 deer slayer 3 but at over a grand .it is not in my budget haha Dutch
 
According to Boyds there is a difference between the featherweight and field 37. Different for arm and butt stock. I love my featherweight but need a new stock set for it.
 
Ithaca used three different styles of fore end hardware during production. The butt stocks are all the same except gauge considerations. Any Ithaca 37 butt stock will fit your gun as long as it is the same gauge as yours. I have no idea what Boyd's is saying but feather weight vs. feather light are two different terms.

Darryl
 
I've got a 20. Sure has a snappy recoil.

Somebody cut the butt stock real short for their wife though, that might have something to do with it.
 
Certainly appreciate the replies and comments. I've read notes on the history of the 37 and Ithaca from several sources now, including the net, bits posted here and on Shotgun World, as well as in my Standard Catalog of Firearms, and a 1965 Gun Digest I had tucked away here.

Though I know there were some changes between 1953 and 1965, mine looks pretty much the same as the "Ithaca Model 37 De Luxe Featherlight" pictured in my 50 year old Gun Digest. That publication also mentions that it came with a recoil pad, and that the 16 gauge weighed in at 6lbs.

Always great fun to learn what one can about a newly acquired "vintage" firearm.
 
A friend of mine has a 37R made in the 1940's, I think. It has the solid rib barrel and deluxe checkered wood. I tried to buy that thing for years and finally gave up. Super nice little pump.
 
They are all nice guns. But all joking aside the 28ga is by far the sweetest of the group
Purchase price is the only issue with the newer ones
I like the original corn cob style the best but that is just me. I had choke tubes installed in the 16ga I have some years back and agree it can have a bite depending what you are shooting out of it but still a great upland gun
You will enjoy yours
Cheers
 
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37's are a quality built gun. In fact they're quality rivals the Model 12 and then some I would say. They are tough!! The treatment I watched a buddy put his through on a weekend of goose hunting in late December one season had me cringing. He did things to that gun I would not have done without using a sledge hammer to accomplish or dreamt of doing to any gun but they are IMO damned ugly to look at and they kick like a mule! They are a very unpleasant beast to shoot in my experiences with them and to my way of thinking life is too short to shoot an ugly gun, especially one that kicks like a mule! The guys that own them however seem to love them and never have anything negative to say about them and any gunsmith worth his word I have met always had good things to say about them. Enjoy your new to you Ithica. Now go kill something with it!!
 
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