Thanks Hellgate
Yes it is a sad end to a great history. The Ithaca is fairly close to the original Hawkens and plains rifles of the 1820s to the 1850s. Cherry Corners did a great job back in the day of building them. So few parts were available in any quantity back then much was hand made. As the black powder interest grew more parts were factory made in quantity. As stated in your article, Cherry Corners sold to Ithaca who made a great gun but no a lot of money on it, sold to Navy, same thing, and finally to Uberti. In the mid 70s the Jonathan Browning Mountain Rifle, and the Ithaca Hawkin were excellent rifles, however they could not compete with the much less expensive Thompson Center guns, those were not original, but great quality and much lower prices. Mine has been well maintained and is in very good condition, with few minor bumps but still a good shooter. I thought the nipple was a 1/4-28 as in my Browning Mountain Rifle, but it pretty snug, however a 1/4-28 will start to thread. It may be when this particular rfle was made in 42 years ago the tap was just a little worn-out. I have contacted Track and they said it is probably the 1/4-28.
