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Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 32

I finally got an older 37 to match my 20ga. It's metal needs reblued but the wood was in good condition so for 160.00 I could not pass it up I will have another 130.00 in blueing so I am pretty happy about it. It is hard to find a Ithaca with good wood around here.

Member Joined: 14 Feb 2007 Posts: 110

nice...best shotgun there is...

Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 367

is the S/N on the front right reciever face the same as on the barrel about the five o'clock position?
If not get it to a smith to have the heaadspace checked before shooting!!!
Giver her a good deatailing cleaning and lube then ENJOY.

All I need know is a 20 gauge (Yes, I know HERESY, here) but then I'll have all three gauges and frames.

Now if I can only get some BISMUTH to enjoy shooting with here in "Save the Earth, first" Washington!!!

Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 32

Yes all serial numbers matched it is a 1948 gun and the 20 is a 1952 gun. It is at the gunsmith now just waiting to get blued.

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

That's a decent price---like you said the wood on these working guns often reflect the past---Nice to find one with decent wood Cool

Good shooting Wink

Joined: 28 Jan 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Mechanicsburg, PA.

Hey folks,

Many years ago I bought a Model 37 in 16 Ga, and it has no serial number on the frame. The only serial number is on the bottom of the barrel. I was bluing guns at the time, and since this one was getting thin on the blue, I thought I would reblue it. Once I had cleaned the gun and polished all the surfaces, I put it back together and noticed that my Model 37 in the white looked a whole lot like a modern polished stainless steel. I like the looks of it in the white, and it has remained that way ever since. I keep it oiled and polished, and when I take it to the trap range, I get lots of questions about Ithica making stainless steel guns. I have a slightly newer 16 Ga Model 37 that is still in its original and unworn blue.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 367

as the S/N maybe on it!
Measure the face of reciever to front edge of lower reciever (where you load shells) compare with another M37, just to make certain the front face wasn't ground down????

Congrats! I have a '49 M37 16ga and it is one sweet shooter.

Joined: 28 Jan 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Mechanicsburg, PA.

Hey folks,

In my earlier post, I told how I polished one of my 16 Ga. Model 36s and decided to leave it in the white rather than bluing it. I also said that it had no serial number on the frame - just the serial number on the bottom of the barrel. Then jrothWA stated the serial number should also be on the front face of the receiver. Well I spent a fair amount of time polishing that receiver, and I did not remember any serial number anywhere on the receiver. Tonight I checked it, and sure enough, there on the front face of the receiver is the serial number 273683 just like on the bottom of the barrel. I believe that serial number was produced in 1949. I also have another 16 Ga. with serial number 331910, a 1950 production gun.

I also have a nice 30 Ga. Model 37 that was made in 1976. Over the years, I have had three or four 12 Ga. Model 37s, but none of them were all that nice. In 1996 Ithaca replaced their Model 87 with a return to the quality of the Model 37, and I was finally able to buy a new 12 Ga. Model 37 in 1997. It has beautiful wood, excellent metal finish, and shoots pretty much like my old 37s. I got rid of my not-so-nice old 12 Ga. 37s and have kept the new one. Obviously I like the 37s.

Thanks JrothWA, I can't believe I never saw that serial number on the face of the receiver all those years - especially when I polished it???

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

I’ve had several Model 12s over the years, but my favorite pump, for both sentimental and practical reasons, is the Ithaca M37. My fondness for the Ithaca M37 began in the mid-1970s with the purchase of two 12 gauge 37’s, a plain barrel and a vent rib Deluxe model with factory engraving celebrating the US Bicentennial Celebration, 1776-1976. On one side, it had a bald eagle on top of the Union Shield engraved on one side of the receiver with the Bicentennial dates. They were my favorite duck and snipe guns in the marsh. At the time, my buddies and I were regularly hunting ducks in the dredge spoil area of the Savannah River, a vast area of dikes and shallow water retention ponds that were puddle duck magnets in the 70s. One morning in the pre-dawn dark, Rip flipped the canoe over, dumping dog, guns and dekes, as well as the rest of us, into the shallow water. We could not find my gun. After the “hunt”, I called a hunting buddy stationed at the local Army Airfield, a Huey skipper, and asked him if he could arrange a “flight test” over the spoil area and look for a straight line in the mud, 3 feet long, near the area we usually hunted. In a Huey, he spotted it. With a crew member on a skid, he closed in, but there was too much prop wash with the Huey. He flew back to the base and returned in a smaller loach with lighter prop wash and they were able to fish it out. In less than 12 hours, the brackish water had dissolved the bluing off receiver and barrel. After a thorough cleaning, I shot the raggedy-ass looking gun for years afterwards and eventually gave it to a buddy for parts.

I now have two M37’s in 16. The solid-ribbed was made in 1949 and the round barrel, 1957. Both are in excellent original condition with 28” modified choked barrels.

Gil

I learned to wing shoot as a kid with my dad's M37, 20 ga. serial no 271,307 (made in 1949) Dad had a weaver choke installed with external screw-in chokes of varying lengths depending on the choke. He is now 90 and still has that gun. I bought a new 12ga. M37 in 1972. I still have it. The M37 is definitely my favorite pump. Would like to get a 16 ga. if I can find one "cheap."

I am embarressed to say that a few years ago, I bought a 12 ga. replacement barrel with ventillated rib and 3 choke tubes chambered for 3" shells. Without even thinking about it (or patterning the the new barrel), I took it the next time my friend and I went duck hunting. We only had 3" shells with us. Guess what? The first duck I shot at, the spent shell would not eject because it was too long for the receiver. I spent the rest of the morning just shooting one shell at a time and then taking the barrel apart to get the spent shell out.

I called Ithaca to complain that there should have been a note with the replacement barrel reminding folks like me that early M37's would not shoot 3" shells. The customer service person said that it was clearly stated in the owner's manual that came with my gun--as if after more than 30 years I could even find my owners manual!