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<  16ga. Guns  ~  Best pump action?
Ted Schefelbein
PostPosted: Fri Feb 21, 2020 8:32 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 1480
Location: Mpls, MN.

I think I’ve owned all of the pumps mentioned, save the Nobel. I have found all of them to be reliable and useful. My son got one of the youth model Mossberg guns that had two stocks and an 18” barrel. The blast out of the short barrel is the last thing a new shooter needs. Because the magazine tube only holds two rounds, to keep the length and weight down, the only barrel you can get for the gun is 18”. I relocated the lug on an older 20 gauge 500 barrel to fit the youth model. Fitted with the longer stock, a 26” barrel, and a Wolf Creek safety, it is a slick little bird gun. 6 1/4 pounds, loaded. I have an 8 pound Mossberg 12 (use it for trap and trap doubles) but, I also have a Mossberg 500 12 that weighs 6 3/4 lbs. Not svelte, but, not heavy. The .410 Mossberg isn’t heavy. None of them have broke. The trap gun is old, and has been shot a lot.
My favorite pump is the Remington model 17. Not a 16, but, all of them came out of the gate with 2 3/4” chamber, and interchangeable barrels. Reliable, high quality little gun.
I have a Ithaca 37 3” (ever seen one?) and a first year model 12 in 20 gauge. Both a good guns.
All of them are good guns.

Best,
Ted

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8mmFan
PostPosted: Fri Feb 21, 2020 11:04 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 203

Another vote for the 37’s and the old, nickel steel Model 12’s. I like them all, but if I had to choose I’d take the 37 Featherlights. I like the light weight, short, smooth travel, and bottom ejection. I also like the longer, slimmer “wrist” on the stocks of the old 12’s.

That said, I killed my first pheasant with my dad’s full-choked, long-tubed 870 Wingmaster 12 gauge way back when. My little brother has it now. A fun story too long to tell is the the time my little brother—the best natural shotgunner I’ve personally known—shot a 94 at sporting clays with it at the Northbrook Sports Club in Illinois when he came to visit, about twenty years ago. We had been paired up with some more well-heeled types than us for the round who not-too-quietly bristled at being loaded down with me in my beat up old Filson stuff and my brother in street clothes carrying “Old Poop Tube.” By the end of the round they were surprised, to say the least! That old shotgun has a special place in our hearts.

I also enjoy a short barreled, beat up old Mossberg Maverick 88 home defense pump that I had fitted with a Polychoke in Fond du Lac a few years back. I take it out for skeet once in a while. It shoots well.

8mmFan
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oldog
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2020 9:14 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 22 Feb 2019
Posts: 63
Location: United States

Ithaca M-37 from early - mid '40's no rib, no checkering, very fast to target.

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oldbeek
PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 3:36 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 29 Sep 2011
Posts: 8

I have my dads Mod 31, 16 We mostly hunt quail and it had a full choke on it. I installed a broadway Herters rib and poly choke on it. Had to hand build and harden a new ejector for it. Like that old gun, but over the years I have become a light weight over and under guy.
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kgb
PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 10:21 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1256
Location: Nebraska

oldog wrote:
Ithaca M-37 from early - mid '40's no rib, no checkering, very fast to target.


Was your gun's stock replaced, or its checkering removed at some point? The early guns had nice grip checkering that met at the top.

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waggo71
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 2:43 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 31 Dec 2010
Posts: 191
Location: SE Michigan

The Winchester model 12 is my all time favorite, though I would say that the Ithaca 37 is every bit as good, I just have a personal preference for the safety in front of the trigger guard. Often overlooked and worthy of honorable mention would be the Stevens 520A and variants---a little heavier than some like but a lifetime worth of sturdy and sight like an auto 5 with that hump back.

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Brewster11
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 3:54 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 1301
Location: Western WA

Notwithstanding the most excellent squad of M12s and 870s resting in the cabinet, our favorite pump is the one we don’t own: the M37 Deluxe 16 ga, plain barrel, brass bead, modestly dinged wood, sitting in the same spot on the rack for years at the dealer down the road with a $450 tag. So light, so perfectly balanced, silky action, points easier than my finger...perfection in walnut and steel. I pick it up, swing it across the light fixtures, and limit out on pheasants whenever I go into the store.

But the dealer says I don’t need it, it’s just another toy for me, and he’s right. I DID need that sturdy Beretta 686 he sold me because I didn’t own the single most basic scattergun, a 12 ga O/U. So the lovely M37 is still there...quietly waiting.

B.
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case 1775
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:08 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 28 Jan 2018
Posts: 159

waggo71 wrote:
The Winchester model 12 is my all time favorite, though I would say that the Ithaca 37 is every bit as good, I just have a personal preference for the safety in front of the trigger guard. Often overlooked and worthy of honorable mention would be the Stevens 520A and variants---a little heavier than some like but a lifetime worth of sturdy and sight like an auto 5 with that hump back.
I agree with you on the 520 and 620. I would also give honorable mention to the Winchester 1200 & 1300.

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Lloyd3
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 10:45 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Jan 2014
Posts: 1365
Location: Denver, Colorado

I'm normally a doublegun guy, but I do appreciate a well-made artifact that works especially well for it's intended purpose...

[url=https://imgur.com/Zbl1J5A] [/url]

Model 31L, circa 1947. It's current owner/operator is battling Stage 4 cancer. Sure hope to hear it singing again next October.

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Brewster11
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:44 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 1301
Location: Western WA

Very best of luck to the pair of hands that carry that particular M31L.

B.
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Lloyd3
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:41 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Jan 2014
Posts: 1365
Location: Denver, Colorado

Bless you, Brewster. He's doing way-better than I could've hoped for last Fall. Lots of answered prayers I suspect, along with the modern-day miracles of medical science.

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kennedy756
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:41 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 30 Sep 2015
Posts: 637
Location: NEW SALISBURY INDIANA

my 1946 m37 with prewar wood is my favorite shotgun, fits me like a part of my body, does great at trap with a mod choke, but can not stand up to the large amount of shots taken during trap, so had to retire it. I miss shooting it.

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16ga 3-Win 37
16ga Ithaca 37 1946
16ga Western Auto Revelation
16ga Browning A-5 1929
16ga Marlin 90 1939
16ga browning citori lightning grade 3 2003
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PIOBill
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:25 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 Sep 2013
Posts: 136
Location: Fort Worth, TX

I guess that growing up shooting pump guns makes me a little preadjust even though I have a model 37, and a western field 16, I still prefer the 870. I guess that is why I have 4 from 1954 to 1962,

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Swampy16
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:38 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Oct 2019
Posts: 453
Location: New Jersey

I’m a sxs guy but own several pumps. It’s hard to beat an old wingmaster but I’ll take an old model 37 if I could only have one. They’re light, well balanced, and bomb proof.
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Cold Iron
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:12 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Mar 2016
Posts: 746
Location: Mn.

My first shotgun and only for quite a few years was an Ithaca 37 in 16 ga. almost a half century ago. Owned quite a few other makes over the years and to me only the 870 is second. Followed closely by the M12 but a few of the parts are in the wrong place on them Very Happy

I'm down to 5 Ithaca 37's in 16 ga. now. But these 2 get most of the work.



Lloyd I like your taste in literature. Much Mojo still being sent to your friend.
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