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Scolari
PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 7:18 am  Reply with quote
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Location: Sothern Illinois

Does any one shoot Ithicas. I have a model 37 pump that I love to Dove hunt with. I just wanted to know if anyone else liked them as much as I do.
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Parker Trojan
PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 3:17 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: San Rafael, CA

I had a beautiful Ithaca 37 for upland hunting; could never remember to pump after the first shot so I traded for an Ithaca Lefever Nitro Special s/s.
Guess that I've shot s/s so long that I never could get used to pumps or autos. I spent the last 20 years working in a gunshop and I can tell you that the Ithaca 37 was one of the top 2 or 3 pumpguns ever made and the others aren't Remington 870 or Browning BPS.
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Scolari
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 6:45 am  Reply with quote
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Parker, I have the same trouble. But, I'm getting better. The gun is just so well ballanced that I enjoy using it. I do better with Doves than I do on Quail and I can't explain why. Maybe there is a little more time to think.
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Scolari
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 12:06 pm  Reply with quote
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Parker, a couple of years ago a friend and I bought a couple of Ithica 16 gauge 37's. He bought the classic model and I bought the deluxe model. Earl was able to buy a skeet choke from Colonial. He shoots it well on sporting clays although he normally shoots sxs's. Both of us experience a little problem with the guns ejecting some brands of shells. The Ithica has a small cut out area in the barrel where the extractor slides over the rim of the shell. Winchester, B&P and Fiocchi shells don't work well in our guns. The brass swells out in this little cut out section and the ejector slides off the rim on ejection. I can only guess the base wad is of a design that lets pressure behind it to push out the brass in this unsupported area. Remington, Nobel and Federal shells do not do this. I joined a low pressure group and will be loading those hulls with low pressure loads to see if the brass still swells at the unsupported area. All in all, it's a great gun.
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Parker Trojan
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 5:37 pm  Reply with quote
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Scolari: It's amazing how brand fussy guns can be; 22 ca. rifles and pistols in particular. The 16ga. Janssen s/s that I shot before the Parker had short firing pins and wouldn't fire Federals in the right barrel; I found that it loved Westley Richards and stuck with them; the guy I sold it to wants to shoot cheap , promo ammo so he is having the firing pins lengthened. Stick to the ammo that your Ithaca likes and you'll live a long, happy life free of stress. Good Hunting.
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john555
PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 6:19 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 76
Location: western canada

Scolari, you are correct in your theory of shell brands for the Ithaca 37. Federal and Remington pose no problems for the extractor. I have reloaded both heavy and light loads with these shells for years with no problem. Fiocchi shells will not eject with any regularity out of a Model 37 in all gauges. Brand new out of the box or reloads, it makes no differance.
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Scolari
PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:55 pm  Reply with quote
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I'm glad to hear other people have the same problem. I actually sent my 37 back to the company explaining the problem and hoping to get it fixed. It was sent back but the same problem exists. John, don't bother buying B&P shells. They are the worst. I wonder if there are other shells that are hard to eject from the Ithica? If you try others and have that problem, let me know. I won't bother buying them.
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john555
PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 5:01 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
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Scolari, thanks for your information. You have just saved me a lot of hassle and money as I was going to place an order for BP hulls.
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Scolari
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 11:41 am  Reply with quote
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John, someone in our low pressure group mentioned that B&P hulls and base wads have changed recently. Maybe that will make a cifference but I know those from 2 years ago would not function in my 37.
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Scolari
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 11:44 am  Reply with quote
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I was wondering if anyone has tried the Lightfoot sabot slugs in the rifled barrel that Ithica sells. I see that they still sell the barrels and the sabots are still made but I have never seen a write up about them.
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Crow 99
PostPosted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 2:38 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 25 Sep 2004
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Location: Northeast

My 16 ga. Ithaca 37 Classic would regularly leave Winchester Game Load empties in the chamber. They exhibited the above mentioned swelling into the extractor grooves. The chamber was rather rough. Honing to a 500 grit finish, particularly the rearmost section of the chamber, seems to have cured this. Check the finish in your chamber.... I bet it's rough. Ithaca's barrel making machinery is reputedly 125 years old, and I think some of their reamers are too. And frankly, I don't think there's anybody left at their factory who gives a @#$% about making good barrels anymore. But that's another story.. I love the handling of this gun and will keep it no matter what.
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Scolari
PostPosted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:02 am  Reply with quote
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John wrote:
Scolari, thanks for your information. You have just saved me a lot of hassle and money as I was going to place an order for BP hulls.


John, we may be talking about two different things. I think you are talking about Ballistics Products hulls. I have never used those. When I said B&P shells, I was talking about Bascheri & Pellegri (something like that)shells sold by Mike Dotson in Texas. They were supposed to be wonderful.They were an Italian import that didn't work well in my Ithica 37.
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Scolari
PostPosted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:04 am  Reply with quote
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Crow 99 wrote:
My 16 ga. Ithaca 37 Classic would regularly leave Winchester Game Load empties in the chamber. They exhibited the above mentioned swelling into the extractor grooves. The chamber was rather rough. Honing to a 500 grit finish, particularly the rearmost section of the chamber, seems to have cured this. Check the finish in your chamber.... I bet it's rough. Ithaca's barrel making machinery is reputedly 125 years old, and I think some of their reamers are too. And frankly, I don't think there's anybody left at their factory who gives a @#$% about making good barrels anymore. But that's another story.. I love the handling of this gun and will keep it no matter what.


I had thought about that myself. Now I will try it. Hope it works.
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Crow 99
PostPosted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 3:57 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 25 Sep 2004
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Scolari: Just be careful not to remove too much metal when you hone. You don't want to make the chamber appreciably larger, or you may just aggravate the problem. Do the majority of the honng with the fine (500 grit) hone, and maybe touch up with some crocus cloth when finished. Best of luck.. Crow
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Mr. 16 gauge
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:02 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 18 Apr 2005
Posts: 44
Location: Troy, MI

A friend gave me his dad's Ithaca M37 after his father passed away....he wasn't a hunter and wanted to make sure that the gun was used for it's intended purposes. I have done my best not to disappoint him! I have used the gun to take duck, quail, grouse, woodcock, chukar, pheasant, and rabbit. I bought a slug barrel for it and hope to use it to take a deer some day. It's a Great gun!

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