What about Ithica?

[mjolnir]

The Remington Model 17 (20ga), designed by JMB, was the progenitor of the Ithaca 37.

The Remington Model 17 was ALSO the progenitor of the Remington Model 31...it is basically a side-ejecting 12 ga Model 17.

* * * * * * *

Browning's Model 17 patents had expired by the time Ithaca decided to build a pump.

Ithaca designers basically just scaled up the Model 17. HOWEVER, one of the design goals was a LIGHTWEIGHT gun. Therefore, some parts are not as beefy as JMB had intended.

You can see this if you compare a 12 ga Remington 31 next to a 12 ga Ithaca 37.

The Remington 31 outclassed all other pumps in durability testing in WWII (the Winchester Model 12 was second).

This is not to say the 37 is not durable...it is one of the most durable designs around!

* * * * * * *

The next owner of Ithaca (pray God there is one) will I hope have the resources to procure new CNC tooling. While I love my 37s, and willingly paid more to get all-steel, all-machined shotguns, a major factor in that higher price is hand labor and old tooling (as was mentioned).

I do however have a Chinese 37 knock-off with dual action bars(!) that cost me the princely sum of $90. There's nothing like cheap (slave?) labor to lower a gun's price.

The 37 just can't compete with stamped part shotguns like 870s and 500s.

However, with new production methods, perhaps the old gal can make a comeback...I am personally waiting for a CNC-machined all-stainless Ithaca 37 with black walnut furniture...I may be waiting a long time.

* * * * * * * * *

I've read nothing but positive things on this board and elsewhere; my only question is this - does the 37 only take 2 3/4" shells, or 3" as well?

37s up to a certain point (70s? relying on memory) only took 2 3/4"; the 37 was then modified to handle 3" shells

 

[webbee]

Quote mjolnir
I am personally waiting for a CNC-machined all-stainless Ithaca 37 with black walnut furniture...I may be waiting a long time.

Sign me up! However we may be waiting a loooooooog time as all the hard goods from Ithica have been auctioned. No buyers are on the horizon as far as I can tell.

 

[Ruger4570]

I can't "verify" if Ithaca's equipment was in fact auctioned off or not, but I do know they used the equipment as collateral for their last loan. I would guess that it is entirely possible that the Bank in fact finally auctioned off the equipment to mitigate their losses. I have my doubts if Ithaca will ever come back to life, even under another manufacturer. Browning probably wouldn't buy the rights as they already produce a bottom ejecting model, Mossberg would have no reason because they sell all they can make, why take on a "loosing" brand. Same with Remington, they have all the business they need with the 870 even though Illion is only 100 miles or so up the road. I doubt that Winchester would be up to another model of pump because their 1200 isn't that popular. Smith and Wesson might be a good place to look, they have always been known for quality guns and we all know they ain't cheap.My best hope would be Ruger, as they could investment cast many of the parts and re create the 37 much more cheaply than Ithaca could hand machine all of the parts. Lets keep hoping someone pulls the Ithaca 37 out of the Trash Bin. I am not gonna hold my breath though.

 

[webbee]

Ruger4570-"I can't "verify" if Ithaca's equipment was in fact auctioned off or not, but I do know they used the equipment as collateral for their last loan."

http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2005/11/30/news/local_news/news01.txt

125-year-old company sold off at auction

By Anne Gleason / The Citizen
Wednesday, November 30, 2005 9:35 AM EST

AUBURN - Some came to Tuesday's auction looking for parts, but others came to bid farewell to a 125-year-old company they say was known for high-quality guns not often found anymore.

It was a sad day for many gun enthusiasts as the venerable Ithaca Gun Co. sold off equipment in its going-out-of-business liquidation auction.

“I just love Ithaca Gun. There's a lot of history,” said Louis Proulx of Auburn. “It's too bad. It shouldn't have went down. I came to look and to see it go and say goodbye.”

The company, which was founded in 1880 in Ithaca, moved to King Ferry in the 1980s. In April, it moved to Allen Street in Auburn, in anticipation of a sale to a Rhode Island investor. When that sale fell through around Memorial Day, Ithaca Gun closed its doors.

At the time, the company owed several hundred thousand dollars to various creditors, including Cayuga County. Cayuga County planning and economic development director David Miller said the company has since paid off its roughly $150,000 debt to the county.

On Tuesday, people picked through the remains of the long-standing company.

“People who grew up here own these guns and hunted with them as did their fathers before them,” said Gerard Marco, an area gunsmith. “Ithaca Gun provided high-quality, inexpensive shotguns for the masses.”

Ithaca Gun moved to King Ferry under new ownership in the 1980s, after encountering fiscal trouble and an expensive environmental cleanup in Ithaca. It went bankrupt and was bought by a group of investors in 1995.

This is the company's third failure.

It was diffficult for Robert Neill, who owned the company between 1986 and 1995, to watch the remainders of the company being auctioned off so cheaply.

“It's terrible,” Neill said. “Ithaca was a wonderful gun company.”

Neill, a World War II veteran, said the company was one of two firms making revolvers for WWII officers. As a soldier, Neill wasn't given an Ithaca Gun firearm during the war, but he was an avid hunter and used the guns for hunting at home.

Marco called the company historic. Among its patrons were John Philip Sousa and Annie Oakley. But Ithaca Gun, he said, was a one-gun company. Part of its problem was that it couldn't compete with the larger national and foreign markets.

“They had to struggle so hard just to survive in a different market,” he said.

Others also believe the company was mishandled as it changed hands.

Norm Wightman, who worked as the sales manager at the company in 2003, said it was a shame to see the company in the position it's in, but he wasn't yet ready to rule out a comeback.

“Ithaca Gun is one tough name,” Wightman said. “I'm a firm believer in the company, and it's not over till it's over. It has experienced some bad luck in the past and seemed to weather it.”

Wightman said the company made an “all-purpose shotgun” like no other gun.

The guns were lightweight and had high-level accuracy, he said.

“The Ithaca Gun name certainly deserves to be re-established,” he said. “It has a real knack of getting into your blood and that shows in the quality of their firearms.”

Don Thornton, a gunsmith from Liverpool who attended the auction Tuesday, said virtually all the hunters in his family owned Ithaca Gun firearms.

Thornton said he was glad his father wasn't there to see the going-out-of-business auction.

“He'd cry,” Thornton said.

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net

All material is copyrighted by its original publisher. It is reprinted by me without permission, solely for purposes of criticism, comment, and news reporting, in accordance with the Fair Use Guidelines of copyright material under § 107 of U.S.C. Title 17.