Ithaca 37 Shotgun Taking out the trigger assembly?
- Thread starter Cricket
- Start date
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Borrowed from recguns:
The bolt comes out the rear, after you remove the trigger group. To
remove the trigger group, you have to remove at least one buttplate/pad
screw and get access to the stock bolt. You only need to slack the
stock bolt, not remove it, unless you need to do some stock work, too.
After that, the trigger plate bolt can come out and the works slides to
the rear. Get the carrier out, make sure you keep the screws
segregated as to the side they go in. You can then slip the slide
latch in the bolt carrier to the side and slide the works out the back.
The shell latches can be pulled then and cleaned under, it's amazing
how much crap builds up under there. Don't lose the spring under the
one. Remove the barrel yoke screw up front and then the yoke to get
the slide off. For a neglected gun, you'll need to thoroughly mop out
the magazine tube and the slide tube, lightly oil the slide tube
inside. It doesn't hurt to soak the magazine spring in a tub of
penetrant, either, old ones tend to get rusty, particularly if they've
been used on ducks. If it's really bad, get a new one. Don't try to
take the trigger group apart, hose it out as best you can, there'll be
years of crud built up on it. Worst one I worked on actually had shot
embedded in the guts from leaky loads, still worked, though. Used a
dental pick on that one. Once the thing is down to receiver and
magazine tube, I like to put the receiver in an ultrasonic cleaner to
vibrate the decades of crud out. Otherwise, it's carefully whittled
popsicle sticks and brake cleaner to clean all the cracks and crevices.
After you get it cleaned up, you can decide whether to do any
refinishing or touchup on the bluing. The oldest 37 I have was made in
1938, I stripped it down for cleaning when I first got it, did some
Oxpho Blue touch up on the worn spots and it looks pretty good now.
The bolt comes out the rear, after you remove the trigger group. To
remove the trigger group, you have to remove at least one buttplate/pad
screw and get access to the stock bolt. You only need to slack the
stock bolt, not remove it, unless you need to do some stock work, too.
After that, the trigger plate bolt can come out and the works slides to
the rear. Get the carrier out, make sure you keep the screws
segregated as to the side they go in. You can then slip the slide
latch in the bolt carrier to the side and slide the works out the back.
The shell latches can be pulled then and cleaned under, it's amazing
how much crap builds up under there. Don't lose the spring under the
one. Remove the barrel yoke screw up front and then the yoke to get
the slide off. For a neglected gun, you'll need to thoroughly mop out
the magazine tube and the slide tube, lightly oil the slide tube
inside. It doesn't hurt to soak the magazine spring in a tub of
penetrant, either, old ones tend to get rusty, particularly if they've
been used on ducks. If it's really bad, get a new one. Don't try to
take the trigger group apart, hose it out as best you can, there'll be
years of crud built up on it. Worst one I worked on actually had shot
embedded in the guts from leaky loads, still worked, though. Used a
dental pick on that one. Once the thing is down to receiver and
magazine tube, I like to put the receiver in an ultrasonic cleaner to
vibrate the decades of crud out. Otherwise, it's carefully whittled
popsicle sticks and brake cleaner to clean all the cracks and crevices.
After you get it cleaned up, you can decide whether to do any
refinishing or touchup on the bluing. The oldest 37 I have was made in
1938, I stripped it down for cleaning when I first got it, did some
Oxpho Blue touch up on the worn spots and it looks pretty good now.
It is best to loosen stock as mentioned before removing trigger/hammer assembly. If the stock is swollen or tight it makes for a better reassemble. The loosening and retighening of the butstock screw must be done carefully with a well fitted screw driver. The stock is very thin at the screw head and any wedging by screw driver against the wood creats a nasty split that can be a hard repair. Most often when someone brought me a stock to repair they had not loosened the screw in the buttstock before getting the trigger assembly out. When they tried to put the assembly back they couldn't get it far enough in so that the holes for the through screw which holds the assembly in the receiver no longer lined up. Then the option was to drive fit and damage very fine threads, or loosen buttstock screw and it is much harder to secure the stock and trigger/hammer unit and the risk of stock damage escalates. Two other things to watch out for if you decide to take the buttstock screw right out there is a steel washer DO NOT MISPLACE. It may not come out at first but a bump may cause it to fall out when your not looking. Reassembly without it in place causes several potential headaches.
Finally do not overtighten either the buttstock screw or the through screw on reassembly.
Finally do not overtighten either the buttstock screw or the through screw on reassembly.
