#Ithaca 37 shotgun stocks full#

Many used the standard pistol grip style, but the company offered straight, English-style furniture as well. While synthetic variations were produced later, the most common 37s wear hardwood stocks. The solid receiver is engineered from a single block of American-made steel, and the 37 is fed by a tubular magazine. One of the most important design innovations is how the Model 37 loads and ejects via its port on the underside of the receiver, making it more friendly for lefties. Choose from bores like 16, 20, or 28 for pursuing upland birds in style, or go with a standard 12 gauge for a do-all shotgun. Be it standard or Featherlight, there is a Model 37 suitable for almost any shooter. The shotgun entered production in 1937 – thus the numerical name – and has been a consistent companion for both bird and deer hunters ever since.įew upland hunters who favor slide actions can resist the allure of the ol’ Model 37. The Ithaca Model 37 is a time-tested shotgun design that, like so many others, can be chalked up to John Moses Browning. It kicks pretty well, and none of the little great-grandkids want to shoot it yet, but I’m pretty proud of it.” Well, he bagged 23 birds, and, he said with a smile, “the gun has never failed me. He wanted to see how many pheasants he could harvest with a single box of 25 shells. Still wondering about the quality and durability of an Ithaca Model 37? LaVern says one of his proudest memories with that shotgun happened when he was picking corn with the gun in tow. Though the gun is no museum showpiece, the memories it carries are worth the gun’s weight in gold. The butt pad is a simple polymer plate – no rubber recoil pad here.

#Ithaca 37 shotgun stocks full#

There’s a fixed full choke, brass front bead, and bird-scene engraving on the receiver. With uncheckered hardwood stocks, a plain barrel, and blued finish, that pump action was destined for both work and enjoyment. The gun he chose from the rack of his local shop was a standard 12-gauge Ithaca Gun Company Model 37. He saved his graduation money and purchased the Model 37 before finishing high school. He has been a hunter since an early age, and when he bought his Ithaca new 60 years ago, little did he know the stories it could tell today. Their farmland covers some of the state’s most desirable pheasant hunting habitat, a fact not lost on LaVern. I can't attest to its dependability because I only spent one day in the field with it, but I can agree with the smooth-operating part.At almost 78 years old, LaVern is the patriarch of South Dakota’s Koupal Angus ranching family. The Model 37 has a reputation for smooth operation and dependability.

A day hunting doves at my family's farm revealed that it's great for such adventures. military, police departments, and prison guards in the short-barreled configurations, but the ST gun is a hunting model, so that's what I put it to for this report. Historically, the Ithaca Model 37 was used extensively by the U.S. The receiver sports the simple engraving that was originally drawn by Ithaca firearms engraver Bill McGraw: waterfowl on the right-hand side and pheasants and a dog on the left-hand side. The barrel has a floating vent rib and the traditional orange/pink Raybar front bead sight. It has three Briley chokes: Improved Cylinder, Modified, and Full. It's the Deluxe vent-rib version and has a checkered pistol-grip buttstock with 0.75-inch-thick recoil pad, checkered forearm, and 28-inch barrel that's threaded for screw-in choke tubes. Improved Cylinder, Modified, and Full chokes came with the gun. The review sample Model 37 was made in 1997, and its barrel is threaded to accept screw-in chokes.