Was looking at a local sale ad paper last week.Ad said old guns for sale.Some shotguns,some rifles.I was bored so I figured why not.Got directions and went to take a look.A lot of old single shot shotguns and not much at all in the rifle dept.that was really of interest or value.Then I saw this pump back in the corner of the garage.I asked to see it.The guy(kind of a yuppie)said that old Remington had belonged to his brother-in-law.I knew it was no 870 before I picked it up.I said son "That ain't no Remington that's an Ithaca."He says never heard of that kind.As you can see Bubba has been at work here so I got my work cut out for me,but I had to bring it home because the price was irresistible.I didn't even have to make an offer,gave him what he was asking.Thinking Duracoat or maybe even sending it out for Parkerizing.Should be fun.

A little Flitz and that will clean right up!

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Still Running Against the Wind

Good for you, rescueing that old girl. She needs a little TLC doesn't she.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Does Flitz come in a 5 gallon bucket?I borrowed a Deerslayer from my son-in-law several years ago to hunt in a neighboring county that is slug gun only.Took a nice 8 point with it.He sold it shortly thereafter.When I'm done with this one I will be able to to point to that head on the wall and say "Yeah I took it with an Ithaca just like this one"

Ithicas are great guns. Wish I needed one.

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Inconsistently consistent

Tacreload,
You can buy different length barrels from Ithaca if you want to hunt ducks with that shotgun. I had my Model 37 Deerslayer hard-chromed years ago to make it an all-weather gun; I bought mine in 1974 and it is a great shooter.

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

What's need got to do with it??

Had a friend purchase an Ithaca Lighting 15 .22 caliber self loading rifle several years ago. Really nice little 22. Only Ithaca I have.

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I am a sheep dog!
1601 (ret)

Ithaca?

I think they used to make trap guns

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

Ahhh the Ithaca Deerslayer. There is a fascinating story how that gun came to be. One of the higher ups at Ithaca was out deer hunting when someone shot a large buck with a shotgun but did not recover it. Then the Ithaca exec found the deer, a large 10 pointer later on but it was pretty much a loss. Then the guys at Ithaca set out to make a shotgun with a slug barrel that would shoot as accurately at 100 yards as a .35 Remington. The secret behind the Deerslayer barrel is that it only slightly larger in diameter than the slug coming down it. They have been a hit ever since 1959 and Ithaca offered Model 37 owners the ability to send their guns in to have the Deerslayer barrel fitted to their gun (in 1966 Ithaca changed it so all barrels were interchangeable). I have had a long love affair with the Deerslayer ever since I was a little kid and spotted my Uncle's Deluxe Deerslayer in 16 gauge. In addition to deer, he killed turkeys and coyotes and other small game with it. In 2002 he retired from hunting and gave the gun to me and I have been putting it to good use ever since. I have killed dozens of grouse with it, a large coyote, and deer including my biggest, a nice 10 pointer a couple of years ago. Accuracy even with a smoothbore barrel is phenomenal, at 25 yards with Winchester slugs is under an inch at 25 yards. You will be surprised at how well that gun shoots. I would get some copper scouring pads and use plenty of oil on those pitted spots and then either reblued or Duracoat the gun.

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Vaya con Dios

One of my associates went to Ithaca College. When I see him wear an IC sweatshirt, I always say ' great college, only one that I know of that makes its own shotguns.'

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I've got a seven shot Ithaca Deer Slayer Police Special. I bought it when I was in college. It was my first modern firearm. I got it from a gun store in Harvey, Illinois outside of Chicago.

That gun's been through a lot with me, including death threats from the room temperature IQ wannabe "hitman" pal of the dope dealer across the hall from me in the dorm, and teaching Korean contract security guards to shoot their new shotguns.

The finish is in terrible shape. Some day I'd like to get it worked over and refinished, especially since Ithaca has moved to the United States (Upper Sandusky, Ohio).

Bead blast (or maybe it needs the cover up of sand blast!) and parkerize it. The wood looks very nice.
It's a Kings Ferry (NY) mfg gun,,made after the orig company went bankrupt.
Not that it makes a difference.

Interchangeable bbls on the M37 started at ser# 855,000. Before that #, extra bbls had to be fitted to each individual gun at the factory.
I worked w/a gunsmiths that would TIG weld the threads on an orphan bbl and re-thread to match the lead-in on the older receivers and give proper headspace.
The pre 855k# guns still had a source of extra fitted bbls. Don't know of anyone currently doing that though. Probably cost too much to do now anyway.

Ithaca made some very nice doubles from field grade to highly engraved.
Around 1947 or 48 I didn't have a shotgun and I needed one for quail hunting and I frequented Andy Anderson's Sporting Goods kinda drooling and torturing myself because I really didn't have the money to buy one.
They had a 20 ga. Ithaca double that was a factory made quail gun with 25 inch barrels and cyl. and imp.cyl. chokes and it fit me perfectly.
The price was $80 and every way I figured there was no way that I could afford it. That is one gun that I have never quit wishing that i could have owned.

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Mighty 90's,Trying 4 a 100!

Their Supreme Grade M-37's are really nice with exceptional wood.

The original Ithaca was, of course in Greece, like Syracuse and some other cities whose names are now used here.

I'm now trying to recall the name of the King of Ithaca from Trojan Wars days. Anyone know?

The king of Ithaca was Odysseus.

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Vaya con Dios

David-

Thanks. That's who I had in mind.

I need to get out my DVD of, "Helen of Troy", starring Sienna Guillory as Helen. The guy who played Odysseus did a good job. The guy who played Agamemnon (Rufus Sewell) was also good, but I doubt that many will like him. I suspect that many who saw the film cheered when his wife stabbed him in a bathing pool for sacrificing their daughter to the gods in return for a fair wind to sail his fleet to Troy in pursuit of his pride, lust for glory and wealth and ambition.

I read Homer as a child. I'm not one of those who knows about things like Helen just because I liked the A&E movie. I just couldn't remember Odysseus's name for the moment. I need coffee.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Though Homer worked at a nuclear power plant in Springfield...........

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Even older, even crankier....

My dad bought me my first (shot)gun when I was 11 or 12; an Ithaca single shot 20ga. Loved that gun, still have it! Just nostalgic I guess.