My M37 riot gun does not do well with slugs. This was surprising, as the 16 gauge Deerslayer I have from the same era does quite well with them.

When the Deerslayer version came out they were touted by the company as shooting a shot pattern that was "similar to a cylinder bore." Further, the ads of the time stated that the DS guns with their rifle sights would put 5 Foster slugs into a 100-yard group that coud be covered or touched with a spread open hand. The Deerslayer my dad bought could and did in fact do this, when we fired it from a rest at that distance.

Turns out that the Deerslayers have a bore that is tighter that a conventional shotgun, which facilitates the good groups with Foster slugs. So I presume that police guns with the rifle sights probably have the tighter bore for use with either slugs or shot.

I have no problem sticking with buckshot in my gun though. A red dot won't be any quicker than a brass bead.

I made this from a 1956 field grade 12 gauge Model 37 by cutting the barrel to 18.5", adding a bead, shortening the stock, fitting a recoil pad and adding an ivory grip base for good measure. Work was done by different gunsmiths and I did the ivory and finished the wood.



Quick to point and pleasant to shoot with reduced recoil 00 Buck

Gave it to a young man as his first shotgun

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The big issue with A/D with Ithaca Model 37s was poor maintained. Dust, dirt, tobacco ash, etc. in the action disturbing the trigger return spring where the trigger was held back, rack a round (with finger not even close to the trigger) and BANG !

More than one gunsmith has reported that most of the fixes in the shop turned out to be a thorough cleaning rather than repairs.

It is much easier to disassemble and clean the action of a Remington or a Mossberg than an Ithaca.

Also, because the rear of an Ithaca receiver is open to the wood of the stock, there is a tendency for the wood to get soaked through with oil

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In addition to no automatic disconnector, a single action bar instead of a double was thought to be a problem.

not true about single action bars - the Winchester pump guns that are so highly rated + others had single action bars - dual bars made it cheaper for manufacturers to produce allowing them to use thinner stamped parts instead of one heavier stronger part -

The newer 37's have a disconnector in the sense that you must release the trigger after closing the bolt and then pull the trigger again to fire the shotgun. It's usually a separate sear that needs to re-set itself under spring pressure or sometimes the trigger itself that needs to do so while the hammer is held at full cock by the separate sear. I haven't look inside any of the newer Ithacas to see what was done.
The repro/Browning/Winchester M12 and 42 have a similar arrangement so the trigger must be released and then pulled to fire the gun again.

The orig M37 design actually does have a disconnector.
It's that small wedge shaped piece of steel that sticks out of the side of the hammer.

That's what catches the hammer from following thru and chasing the bolt slide and bolt forward after it's cocked.
W/O that, that is exactly what would happen as you shuffle the action back and forward again. The hammer would simply follow through.

That wedge shaped piece catches on the slide release and holds the hammer at full cock,,actually just a bit more than full cock.
We'll call it full cock+.

As the action is closed and then locked completely, the slide latch is allowed to kick up and in position in back of the bolt slide locking the gun shut.
What you see on the outside if you observe the gun closing and locking shut is the slide lock latch moving back down in position next to the trigger guard.

At the moment that slide latch makes that locking movement,,it releases the hammer from that full cocked+ position.

If your finger is OFF of the trigger,,the hammer falls a very short couple of degrees in rotation and onto the sear tip of the trigger. Ready to fire once again with a pull of the trigger.

If you are holding the trigger to the rear,,the hammer drops with nothing in it's path to stop it. It continues on it's full rotation and strikes the back end of the firing pin in the bolt and fires the shotgun.
At this same moment of firing, the hammer kicks the slide latch out of the 'locked' position under the bolt slide.,,and the action can immediaetly be opened again w/o operating the slide latch release.

The entire trigger set up is not unlike some full auto assemblies in that it can continue to fire (FA) as long as the trigger is held back.
Then Semi auto with one pull and release of the trigger.
It just happens to be sitting in a manual pump action firearm instead of a semiauto design.

Winchester M12 uses the same principle as do others.
It's easy to make and avoids the separate resetting sear and it's spring that are the normal parts seen in most semiauto mechanisms.
JMB got around it in the semiauto A5 and Model 8 with his searless trigger design

Everybody seems to like 'SlamFire'!

IIRC, Walt Snyder, who knows a lot about Ithaca’s in general and the Model 37s in particular (he literally wrote the book), says to never slam fire a Model 37.

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They probably discontinued use because the only practical way to clean a Ithaca 37 requires taking stock off. The fire controls slide out back as well as bolt group when disengaged from slide arm. I’ve never taken a 87 apart.
I only sold 3 of them, the 37 cult didn’t like them. The Rem 870 and Moss 500 aren’t near the gun but are much easier to strip to clean.

i don't see how it could be a problem because bolt is fully forward + locked just like in regular firing operation -

Thanks bushmaster 1313. I have a deerslayer with the sunburst pad that needs replaced . I'll give ebay a look. Your Ithaca's look a lot nicer than mine