Neat gun, but as others have pointed out, the pad and the engraving are non-starters in my book. I've got an early '50's M37 in 16 ga. I picked up several years ago, the metal was about 90% and while the wood didn't have any serious dents/dings, it definitely needed to be refinished; a nice gun, but not collector quality, so I didn't mind modifying it. I refinished the wood with a nice reddish/brown finish identical to the finish on pre-'64 Winchester's and had the 28" barrel cut back to 26" and threaded for choke tubes. I don't shoot it that often, but it's a great handling shotgun!

I's like to pick up another 28 ga., but think I'd go after one of the Jap repop M12's in 28 ga. long before the new Ithaca 28 ga in its current config. Make some cosmetic changes and I'd consider it.