Ithaca Out of Business???
- Thread starter Ruger4570
- Start date
FYI, during my lifetime Ithaca has gone through several Chapter Whatevers and returned to the fray. There's been something like four Ithaca companies since the 60s, including the one in 1987 that had the model 87s substituted for the 37. Parts remained the same, but the finish and fit weren't as good, IMO. I'd say the chances are good of a revival. While the 37 is not my first choice in a pump, it's a strong second.
45-70, IIRC the little lever action single shot was the Model 49.
45-70, IIRC the little lever action single shot was the Model 49.
DaveMcC: I was aware of Ithaca's several corporate changes and yes they managed to "return". I hope that this is simply a change of location, maybe some internal restructuring and whatever. I saddens me to think they might go away for good. If they are to survive there will have to be some other changes too. It was quoted that they made about 7000 guns a year, at $400.00 per gun that only comes up to a maximum of of under 3 million dollars a year. If you take out the cost of materials, rental, wages, insurances, Fed contributions, etc, etc. it can't leave a lot of profit. When I toured the Kings Ferry plant they had something like 20 employees there. At any rate I hope it works and they come back stronger than ever.
Thanks for the model number of the lever single shot, for the life of me I couldn't remember it
Thanks for the model number of the lever single shot, for the life of me I couldn't remember it
Let's hope the Ithaca Phoenix rises again from the ashes. Gotta say that the pump gun market is as competitive as any other gun niche.
The 870 is the 600 lb gorilla of the pumps. Between that and the many fine pumps already made and for sale on the used market, it's tough to make money.
And like other JMB designs, complicated milling and machining raise the prices. The 37 will never be as cheaply gotten as some of the competition. A shame, like I said, it's a fine shotgun.
The 870 is the 600 lb gorilla of the pumps. Between that and the many fine pumps already made and for sale on the used market, it's tough to make money.
And like other JMB designs, complicated milling and machining raise the prices. The 37 will never be as cheaply gotten as some of the competition. A shame, like I said, it's a fine shotgun.
I own a model 87 and the finish is definitely below the '37s I've seen, including the latest 37 models. I have no complaints about the fit however, and internally the machining seems quite good. I'd have to look at a stripped 37 receiver.
Their base guns are in the 400s, but their dressed up models go for around 800.
One nice thing about Ithaca is they maintained continuity of service for the models made under prior ownership as if they were their own product.
I'll be distressed if they go down.
Their base guns are in the 400s, but their dressed up models go for around 800.
One nice thing about Ithaca is they maintained continuity of service for the models made under prior ownership as if they were their own product.
I'll be distressed if they go down.
The latest up to the minute news: I went by the Ithaca plant at about 4:15 and the parking lot was empty and no sign of life. Now,, they may close at 4:00 PM and that is the reason, don't know yet, but I will continue to see what is happening the best I can for those interested.
DaveMcC: I keep hoping they would get their receivers precisin cast and eliminate the many hours of machine time to mill out the receicer from a solid chunk of steel. Or, the need a CNC machine to do it rather than all the hand labor required now. They might even consider subbing out some of the small parts to an outside "American" vendor to help reduce some costs. Ithaca's are not a cheap shotgun any longer. They need to be competative or else.
DaveMcC: I keep hoping they would get their receivers precisin cast and eliminate the many hours of machine time to mill out the receicer from a solid chunk of steel. Or, the need a CNC machine to do it rather than all the hand labor required now. They might even consider subbing out some of the small parts to an outside "American" vendor to help reduce some costs. Ithaca's are not a cheap shotgun any longer. They need to be competative or else.
Sorry to rain on everyones parade but was Ithaca really that good to begin with? I had one of their guns, my first gun was a lever actuated single shot 12 gauge. Had to pull the hammer back to fire and I'd broken the hammer off the thing 4 or 5 times in the years I owned it. You fire the thing and hear "ping" and the hammer would be gone. My brother had an Ithace pump that always felt sloppy to me. I moved on to Browning O&U and Remington 870's and never looked back.
www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20050623/localnews/2167506.html
Ithaca Gun closes after 124-year run
The Associated Press
AUBURN -- Mired in debt and struggling to compete, the Ithaca Gun Co. has ended production after more than a century in business.
"We're just tapped out, we can't do it any longer," Andrew Sciarabba, one of seven investors who own Ithaca Gun Co., told The Post-Standard of Syracuse.
Closure of the company, which had 26 employees, comes less than a year after it received $150,000 from Cayuga County for operating expenses. Ithaca Gun had missed its May and June payments on the loan, for which it had put up its equipment as collateral.
The company reportedly had recently completed a move from King Ferry to Auburn.
Sciarabba, whose group acquired the company out of bankruptcy in the mid-1990s, said Ithaca Gun was several hundred thousand dollars in debt.
Sciarabba said the company also owed several years worth of back excise taxes to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The gun company, which had operated on a 2-acre site on Ithaca's Lake Street continuously since 1880 manufacturing shotguns, went bankrupt in the 1980s and was bought by new owners in 1989 and relocated to King Ferry.
Even though the company moved away from Ithaca more than 15 years ago, the news of its closure came as a disappointment to local hunting aficionados who admired its products.
"I think it's a terrible thing," said Joe Ripchick, who answered the phone Wednesday at Jay Street Rod & Gun Inc., a local gun store that is owned by a friend.
"They are an awful good gun. They have a lot of product out there," Ripchick added. "At one time it was one of the bigger things down here (in Ithaca).
"It gave Ithaca a good name," he added.
Ithaca Gun began production in 1880, and soon became known for making affordable and durable shotguns such as the Deerslayer and Deerslayer II.
"The closing of Ithaca Gun is another sad, but not unexpected, chapter in the life of one of America's oldest gun companies," said Dave Henderson, a lifelong sportsman who writes a twice weekly outdoors column for The Journal and other area newspapers.
"This marks the third financial failure under the 124-year-old Ithaca Gun name in the last 20 years and, frankly, wasn't unexpected given the shaky status of both the company and the firearms business in recent years."
Sciarabba said investors hope someone will buy the company's well-known name and resume production in Central New York.
But, he said, "I don't know if that is going to happen."
Meanwhile, that could shake the confidence of consumers who own or would like to buy an Ithaca-made gun -- and those who sell the firearms.
"More than a few people have guns at the Ithaca Gun service department awaiting repair and have no recourse to recover them," Henderson said.
"Certainly consumers will be reluctant to purchase an Ithaca from a dealer with no guarantee of customer service after the sale, which leaves dealers with guns in inventory that they cannot move."
In addition to more than a century of gun production, the company's legacy in Ithaca also includes decades worth of lead pollution.
Spent lead shot was disposed on land near Ithaca Falls as part of operations. A federally led clean-up program, begun in 2002, removed thousands of tons of lead-contaminated soil from the area at a cost of around $4 million.
Some buildings remain standing on the factory site, where a North Carolina man has for several years been considering redevelopment plans that would include lead clean-up in that area.
*post contains personal opinion only and should not be considered information released in an official capacity*
Ithaca Gun closes after 124-year run
The Associated Press
AUBURN -- Mired in debt and struggling to compete, the Ithaca Gun Co. has ended production after more than a century in business.
"We're just tapped out, we can't do it any longer," Andrew Sciarabba, one of seven investors who own Ithaca Gun Co., told The Post-Standard of Syracuse.
Closure of the company, which had 26 employees, comes less than a year after it received $150,000 from Cayuga County for operating expenses. Ithaca Gun had missed its May and June payments on the loan, for which it had put up its equipment as collateral.
The company reportedly had recently completed a move from King Ferry to Auburn.
Sciarabba, whose group acquired the company out of bankruptcy in the mid-1990s, said Ithaca Gun was several hundred thousand dollars in debt.
Sciarabba said the company also owed several years worth of back excise taxes to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The gun company, which had operated on a 2-acre site on Ithaca's Lake Street continuously since 1880 manufacturing shotguns, went bankrupt in the 1980s and was bought by new owners in 1989 and relocated to King Ferry.
Even though the company moved away from Ithaca more than 15 years ago, the news of its closure came as a disappointment to local hunting aficionados who admired its products.
"I think it's a terrible thing," said Joe Ripchick, who answered the phone Wednesday at Jay Street Rod & Gun Inc., a local gun store that is owned by a friend.
"They are an awful good gun. They have a lot of product out there," Ripchick added. "At one time it was one of the bigger things down here (in Ithaca).
"It gave Ithaca a good name," he added.
Ithaca Gun began production in 1880, and soon became known for making affordable and durable shotguns such as the Deerslayer and Deerslayer II.
"The closing of Ithaca Gun is another sad, but not unexpected, chapter in the life of one of America's oldest gun companies," said Dave Henderson, a lifelong sportsman who writes a twice weekly outdoors column for The Journal and other area newspapers.
"This marks the third financial failure under the 124-year-old Ithaca Gun name in the last 20 years and, frankly, wasn't unexpected given the shaky status of both the company and the firearms business in recent years."
Sciarabba said investors hope someone will buy the company's well-known name and resume production in Central New York.
But, he said, "I don't know if that is going to happen."
Meanwhile, that could shake the confidence of consumers who own or would like to buy an Ithaca-made gun -- and those who sell the firearms.
"More than a few people have guns at the Ithaca Gun service department awaiting repair and have no recourse to recover them," Henderson said.
"Certainly consumers will be reluctant to purchase an Ithaca from a dealer with no guarantee of customer service after the sale, which leaves dealers with guns in inventory that they cannot move."
In addition to more than a century of gun production, the company's legacy in Ithaca also includes decades worth of lead pollution.
Spent lead shot was disposed on land near Ithaca Falls as part of operations. A federally led clean-up program, begun in 2002, removed thousands of tons of lead-contaminated soil from the area at a cost of around $4 million.
Some buildings remain standing on the factory site, where a North Carolina man has for several years been considering redevelopment plans that would include lead clean-up in that area.
*post contains personal opinion only and should not be considered information released in an official capacity*
DucksOnThePond
New member
hey Greybeard guess that is kinda like they did out west tying the trigger back on one of those old revolvers and fannin' it.
got to say my favorite shotgun was an old ithaca sxs. hate to see them close.
got to say my favorite shotgun was an old ithaca sxs. hate to see them close.
Ithaca Gun is Back
Ithaca Gun is back in business
Ithaca Gun is back in business, but, for the first time since the company was founded in the 1880s, it is headquartered no where near Ithaca.
It is now Ithaca Guns USA, LLC, and headquarters is Upper Sandusky, Ohio, rather than Ithaca, King Ferry or Auburn. But they are making familiar Ithaca Gun models.
It all happened, or is happening, fast. When I ran across the Web site (www.IthacaGunsUSA.com) last week, it was still under construction, and I was only the 700-and-something visitor.
Craig and Floyd Marshall, owners of MoldCraft, a molding and tool and dye company that makes plastic molds for fast food chains, salad bowls and the like, purchased the rights to the Ithaca Gun name, designs and inventory in December. Using their 30,000 square-foot CNC machinery-equipped plant and Ithaca Gun plans and specs, the new company is already turning out variations of the Model 37 pump that has been the flagship of the troubled Ithaca Gun name for nearly 70 years.
Ithaca Gun LLC, which was formed in 1995 to purchase the company's name and assets following the failure of Ithaca Acquisition Inc. in King Ferry, failed itself last summer. The company moved from its rented factory quarters in King Ferry last spring in anticipation of being purchased by a Rhode Island entity. When the deal fell through, Ithaca Gun LLC — which had defaulted on a development loan from Cayuga County and faced significant federal and private debt — closed its doors.
The Marshalls entered the picture in the fall with a purchase offer, and a deal was negotiated a week before Christmas.
“I think the former owners deserve credit in that they turned down a larger offer to assure that manufacturing would remain here (in the United States) and quality would be maintained,” said Marshall.
The guns are identical to those made in the past, but the use of better steel and new manufacturing processes will improve the quality. The company is building variations of the Model 37 bottom-ejection pump right now and has plans to eventually re-design and build the Model 51 autoloader, the NID double and possibly the elaborate Knickerbocker trap design.
They have a service department in place that will service all Ithaca models with the exception of the SKBs. The new company cannot honor the warranties on guns built by Ithaca Gun LLC, however, because of pending legal consideration.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/app...=/20060207/COLUMNISTS26/602070318/1006/SPORTS
Ithaca Gun is back in business
Ithaca Gun is back in business, but, for the first time since the company was founded in the 1880s, it is headquartered no where near Ithaca.
It is now Ithaca Guns USA, LLC, and headquarters is Upper Sandusky, Ohio, rather than Ithaca, King Ferry or Auburn. But they are making familiar Ithaca Gun models.
It all happened, or is happening, fast. When I ran across the Web site (www.IthacaGunsUSA.com) last week, it was still under construction, and I was only the 700-and-something visitor.
Craig and Floyd Marshall, owners of MoldCraft, a molding and tool and dye company that makes plastic molds for fast food chains, salad bowls and the like, purchased the rights to the Ithaca Gun name, designs and inventory in December. Using their 30,000 square-foot CNC machinery-equipped plant and Ithaca Gun plans and specs, the new company is already turning out variations of the Model 37 pump that has been the flagship of the troubled Ithaca Gun name for nearly 70 years.
Ithaca Gun LLC, which was formed in 1995 to purchase the company's name and assets following the failure of Ithaca Acquisition Inc. in King Ferry, failed itself last summer. The company moved from its rented factory quarters in King Ferry last spring in anticipation of being purchased by a Rhode Island entity. When the deal fell through, Ithaca Gun LLC — which had defaulted on a development loan from Cayuga County and faced significant federal and private debt — closed its doors.
The Marshalls entered the picture in the fall with a purchase offer, and a deal was negotiated a week before Christmas.
“I think the former owners deserve credit in that they turned down a larger offer to assure that manufacturing would remain here (in the United States) and quality would be maintained,” said Marshall.
The guns are identical to those made in the past, but the use of better steel and new manufacturing processes will improve the quality. The company is building variations of the Model 37 bottom-ejection pump right now and has plans to eventually re-design and build the Model 51 autoloader, the NID double and possibly the elaborate Knickerbocker trap design.
They have a service department in place that will service all Ithaca models with the exception of the SKBs. The new company cannot honor the warranties on guns built by Ithaca Gun LLC, however, because of pending legal consideration.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/app...=/20060207/COLUMNISTS26/602070318/1006/SPORTS
Looks like they will start the new release with a turkey gun. They also are planning to reintroduce the Model 37 in three versions, Deerslayer, Upland, and a redesigned Law Enforcement. What good news for this cold day in February.
http://www.ithacagunsusa.com/firearms.html
http://www.ithacagunsusa.com/firearms.html
http://www.ithacagunsusa.com/firearms.html
http://www.ithacagunsusa.com/firearms.html
it seems the american gun companies are falling right and left..just cant survive todays generation...then again american companies are falling right and left..if we get in a major conflict..who the hell is going to produce this countries needed products when the overseas companies are no longer available to us...that is one reason we could do in ww2 what we did...self-reliance...one more time..self-industry...not made in chin'er..bush doesn't realize this but he is short-sighted like others...
jacktalley
Inactive
As an older guy (41 year life member of the NRA) I grew up in a world of Parkers, Ansley H. Foxes, Model 12's, Model 37's, and a little later the Model 870. Most kids graduated from the doubles to repeaters and that meat, mostly, the Winchester Model 12 with all of it's mystique or the simpler, bottom ejection, Ithaca Model 37. I own all of the above and, were I to have to chose only one, it would be the 37. From the standpoint of weight, reliability, simplicity of operation and tradition, all things considered, the 37 would be my choice. Some 20 or so years ago I bought a 20 gauge 37 at some place like a K-Mart or Wal-Mart at a clearance price. It had a non ribbed barrel and was bored Full. Last year I refinished the stock and ordered a new ribbed barrel with chokes from Ithaca. I thought the barrel would never come and, after a dozen or so calls to the factory, and numerous excuses, lo and behold, one day it did arrive. I was worried that the Company was indeed in trouble and I would not be able to complete my project. I am now especially thankful that I got the beautiful deep blued, ribbed barrel to keep me going the rest of my life. At least my grandson, and perhaps even my grandaughter, will have the pleasure of knowing and shooting a gun that was a part of the nostalgia of the South -- when wild birds were the rule and not the exception.