Chopping down an Ithaca 37 Featherlight - Opinions needed

blasted_saber

blasted_saber

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So dad gave me his old Ithaca 37 Featherlight 12g, a beautiful gun but redundant in my collection. Im considering chopping the barrel to 24" or so from the 30" it is now. Has anyone ever done this? What is the feel of the gun afterwords? It swings beautifully as it is right now, but I could use a shorter shotgun for early season grouse when the shots are generally close. Im just worried it wont feel right afterwords.

Second, what is the effective range of cylinder bore, say a 1 1/8 load of #6 shot? Im not sure im willing to spend the dough to have screw chokes installed, although that may be the route I take.

Thanks
 
What's the serial number? If its greater than 855000 you can buy a new barrel with removable chokes from Ithaca. A full choke 30" barrel would make for a decent trap gun. Personally, I'd not bother chopping the barrel down if you already have another shotgun with a cylinder choke, even then, I'd just keep it how it is.
 
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Cintax said:
What's the serial number? If its greater than 855000 you can buy a new barrel with removable chokes from Ithaca. A full choke 30" barrel would make for a decent trap gun.
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I cant imagine a new ithaca barrel si cheap, considering what they charge for a new gun. I also have a spare 30" full choke barrel for my Wingmaster which hasnt been on that gun for several years.
 
I bet it would be more economical to buy another used mod 37 then to buy a second barrel. They are usually $250-$350 unless it's a fancy grade trap gun or rare gauge.

I think it will handle just fine and I'd go even shorter and make it close to 18-20 inches. It would make a good , home/camp defense gun and a good grouse gun.
 
Ithaca charges $250 for a new barrel. Can-down is correct, you can buy another Ithaca 37 for that and just use the barrel, but then you have to store a second barrel that you might never use apart from occasional trap. Getting it fitted for thinwall chokes might be the cheapest option apart from chopping it down.

Epps occasionally has used Ithaca Barrels for sale if you want to go that way. You can also find barrels for it on the EE and other websites.
 
Can-down said:
I bet it would be more economical to buy another used mod 37 then to buy a second barrel. They are usually $250-$350 unless it's a fancy grade trap gun or rare gauge.

I think it will handle just fine and I'd go even shorter and make it close to 18-20 inches. It would make a good , home/camp defense gun and a good grouse gun.
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I cut one down to 19" for use as a home/camp defense gun. It still handled well but I felt a bit uneasy about doing that to such a fine gun. They really are terrific guns as built.
 
Anything under 24" will feel a little whippy and hard to control for wing shooting. At this length it will still give a bear or whatever a bad time. With steel it would work well over decoys on ducks too. My opinion is keep it dual purpose instead of all field or all security.

Darryl
 
762shooter said:
I cut one down to 19" for use as a home/camp defense gun. It still handled well but I felt a bit uneasy about doing that to such a fine gun. They really are terrific guns as built.
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I agree, they are terrific guns as built!
For the grouse I tend to see any of these would be fine....
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I found one in great original condition at my local gun shop. It had a 30' fixed full barrel. As part of the deal ,I had them cut the barrel to 26". I only shoot skeet and the cyl choke destroys them. My feelings were you can get these things everywhere so why not.Now, I would NEVER cut down a winchester model 12. You can get these everywhere too but I think they were and are the best pump made.
 
]I had one cut down to 22" and interchangeable chokes fitted as a slug/turkey gun. Machining for the tubes was $100 plus the cost of the chokes, and I had to use thin-wall Colonial tubes. I also had a peep sight and post fitted. To me, the length seems just right... not too short, not too long, but I don't use it as a wing-shooting gun.

For a grouse gun I'd probably settle at 25-26", and the cylinder bore would be fine for most shots you would take at grouse. You might find your score going up with the more open pattern.

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I'll second what 9.3 says and add a bit also. IMO the sub gauges have a bit of lieniency regarding slightly shorter barrels for upland bird hunting. For example a 20 gauge pump shotgun will have it's centre of gravity affected a little less than a 12 gauge version. So what seems kind of "dead in the hands feel" for a 12 bore chopped to 25-26 inches, might fell okay in a 16 or 20 gauge. I'm talking bird guns only now, and not slug guns for big game fellas.

maybe
 
I would have to be forced at gunpoint to cut down my father's shotgun, but that's just me. Buy another one and hack it up.
 
Honestly, if it were me, I'd leave it as is. Either use it as a long-barreled Full choke gun (trap, pheasant, sharptail, turkey) or sell it to someone else. Use that money to buy a gun that's already set up for what you want to do, there are lots of them out there. There will be guys out there who are looking for just your gun, believe me.

And a 1-1/8 ounce of #6 is easily deadly to 30+ yards, even from an Open Cyl barrel.
 
I even see that somebody on the EE is selling a Winchester 1200 with a cut-down barrel for $200. Do I get a finder's fee commission? :)
 
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