a new to me ithaca 37 featherweight

[shrewd]

hey guys, i just picked this baby up at a gun show on saturday, and i had a few questions.

the serial is 631,xxx-2, which i believe means its a '56 manufacture?

from what i understand this means i cannot swap out the barrel, which appears to be a fixed mod choke.

can i shoot slugs through this gun? i've been shooting pistols and rifles for some time now but this is my first shotgun. i would like to get into clays and trap and such, and almost picked up an 870 as a general entry level shotgun but the ithaca was too classy not to take instead.

what do i need to know here guys?

[Mike Irwin]

It's the older 'corn cob' forearm, so IIRC that means it was made prior to... 1963-64, I think.

[jaguarxk120]

If the Ithaca was made before 855,000 serial number then the barrels are fitted. Don't let that stop you, if you find a extra barrel from before 855,000 it can be fitted by www:diamondgunsmithing.com , they specialize in the Ithaca's. The other route is to have choke tubes fitted by Mike Orlin.

Shoot the gun first you may like it just as it is.

If your wanting to cut it down for home defence go looking for a Mossberg 500 with the slug barrel. Please don't chop a real nice classic.

[shrewd]

oh yeah, i'm not touching this baby, i love the look of it.

can this gun shoot slugs though? is it safe to shoot a rifled slug through her, with the fitted choke and all?


all ive shot through her is 10 shells of what i could find at the gun show, just two boxes of winnie 00 buck

[jaguarxk120]

Go pick up a few box's of Remington gun club shells they are on sale right now at Dick's Sporting Goods.
I'm assuming the gun is a 12 gauge, it will do anything you want. Easy to carry in the field and swings great.

[krimmie]

[QUOTE][can this gun shoot slugs though? is it safe to shoot a rifled slug through her, with the fitted choke and all?/QUOTE]

You can safely shoot slugs through it. When you say "rifled slugs", if you are referring to sabots, you can, but accuracy won't be as good as run of the mill foster style slugs.

Here's an old post describing it better than I am willing to:)

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10114

[shrewd]

thanks bud

here's another question. i'm reading on the disassembly and such to do my first proper cleaning and oiling and i notice on youtube most ppl firing a 37 featherweight seem to have 5 or 6 in the tube.

i can only load 2 into my mag. does that mean there's a plug in there, or was this standard in the older ithacas? can i augment the amount of shells that can be kept in the magazine?

don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to make some 9+1 room clearer here, but i'm just curious about any differences i'm seeing between my own and all the others on the interwebz

[Dave McC]

There's a plug. Most 37s have the magazine capacity of 4 rounds. If it runs to the muzzle, it holds more.

[jaguarxk120]

Ithaca made a very nice magazine plug from a dowel rod section, there are instructions on how to install it printed on the side of the plug. Please note the plug fits inside of the magazine spring, any other way will cramp the spring and ruin the spring tension. If you do not have the Ithaca plug then Bubba is alive and well as he would use anything at hand for a magizine plug.

Please note that the Ithaca M37 is still in production and all parts can be had from Ithaca in Ohio.