Ithaca 37 featherlight questions?

Never tried to shoot slug through it, but for the record i have an ithica featherlight in 16ga and its a great gun, absolutely love it. For 100 bucks, i cant see how you can go wrong.

Check the choke. If he had an especially tight choke in it, it would be a very bad idea to shoot slugs through it.

If it's a standard Ithaca barrel, the tightest choke is probably "full".

May not be the best for accuracy, but it's perfectly safe to shoot with slugs.

If nothing else, you can sell it to someone who will appreciate it for what it does well, and recycle the money to get what you really want for your purposes.

A Featherlight in great shape is worth a good deal more than $100 to a bird hunter. I think they're wonderful upland shotguns, and I don't even like pumps much. I'm not alone, by any stretch of the imagination.

Got any pictures of it?

I got a guy wanting to trade me a winchester 1400 semi auto 12 gauge for my ithaca 37 featherlight is that a good deal?

No way. Your Ithaca is a far better shotty than a Win 1400 and worth more unless it's in just horrible shape. I know. I have owned both and I still have the Ithaca, but not the 1400. Nuff said.

The Ithaca is a classic pump that everyone should shoot a few times. The 1400 is a decent gas gun, but not in the league of the model 37 when it comes to lifetime ownership. However, the 1400 is sure a lot easier on recoil!

Most likely a 27" barrel does not have a full choke. I don't see why you can't shoot slugs.

Sounds to me like some firearm education would be in order before you go out deer hunting with any shotgun. You need to learn about chokes and slugs in general. It is not mandatory to be a slug barrel to shoot slugs depending on what slugs you shoot. Educate yourself before risking an accident you will regret.

That is of course unless you are yanking my chain in the first place!

If you don't want to use it for birds you can shorten the barrel which will result in a "cylinder" bore.

Why don't you buy some rifled slugs ( not sabots) and try out your barrel as is, if you are not satisfied think about chopping it down to 18 1/2" - 20"

Slugs, rifled for a smooth bore and saboted for a rifled bore.


I suppose you could chop it down and get it threaded for chokes as well if you want.

If you are wanting to sell it, and find another gun send me a PM. I would be interested in it for my doughter. As for as cutting the barrel, sell it, and find another gun, you will save some money. I love the 37, great phesant gun.

the Ithaca is an easy gun to swap barrels. I believe Hastings still makes a rifled slug barrel with either rifle sights or cantilever scope mounts for the model 37.

If you don't want to use it for birds you can shorten the barrel which will result in a "cylinder" bore.

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One of the worst suggestions I've ever seen here.

A 12 Gauge Featherlight will kick like a mule with slugs, and it's worth more to sell it as it is. Saw off the barrel, and it's worth $100 less in 1 minute. Maybe more than that. We still don't know if it's a ribbed barrel.

corbin- does the barrel have a rib? What kind of bead is on it? Fiber optic or metal?

Seriously, you probably got a totally inappropriate gun for deer hunting, and not just because of the barrel, but the good news is that it's worth a good deal more than you paid for it, as a pheasant gun.

I second what ArmedBear said

Do not shorten the barrel of your Ithaca and do not trade it for another gun because at that price you have a dandy pump shotgun. Like he said, use it for what it was made for and buy a deer gun to shoot slugs. I have 3 Ithacas and would not trade them as they are light, fast, and a very smooth action. A great gun for bird hunting.

One of the worst suggestions I've ever seen here.

A 12 Gauge Featherlight will kick like a mule with slugs, and it's worth more to sell it as it is. Saw off the barrel, and it's worth $100 less in 1 minute. Maybe more than that. We still don't know if it's a ribbed barrel.

corbin- does the barrel have a rib? What kind of bead is on it? Fiber optic or metal?

Seriously, you probably got a totally inappropriate gun for deer hunting, and not just because of the barrel, but the good news is that it's worth a good deal more than you paid for it, as a pheasant gun.

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Do I get an award for "worst advice ever"?

Hard to imagine his $100 dollar Ithaca depreciating to $0 because of a barrel chop...but since it is worth more like $250-$300 if it's in good shape I guess he would be reducing the value to $150-$200... according to your values.

As far as the weight of the gun and slugs, I'd go with a modern recoil pad and enjoy the light weight of the gun in the woods....might not be the most comfortable shotgun for shooting slugs at the range all day but shooting a few deer shouldn't cripple an average sized man.

You might have missed it in my previous post but I also suggested trying the gun as is with slugs first....

why don't you just trade it for a decent slug gun? You ought to be able to sell it/trade and get your self a near new Mossberg 500 or the like with proper rifled slug barrel if that's your need/desire.

No sense keeping a pheasant gun when you want a deer gun. But also no sense in destroying the Ithaca (and losing cash).

My Ithaca 37, circa 1942, was handed done to me by my grandpa; it's the first gun I'd grab if I had a fire.

That was my point. It's pheasant season. If you really don't want to hunt birds, sell the gun for 300 bucks and buy a slug gun for 300 bucks with sights on it and a slug barrel.

You're still not out any more money, but you have what you really want, not a trashed bird gun with a sawed-off barrel and no sights.

I don't have a blue book in front of me, but if the gun is really in great shape, it would go for 300 bucks around here AFAIK.

Simply put, you CAN shoot slugs. You can shoot slugs through any choke, even the most extra full you can find. The slug is hollow for most of its length, and simply swages down to bore size. The choke may affect accuracy, but not necessarily, Ithaca sold police guns that were full choked to many PDs, and the US military and they worked fine with slugs. As to sabot rounds, first of all shooting them in a smooth bore is a waste of money, but they are way undersized, and the sabot is plastic which will squeeze down to any choke, no problem.
Not to shoot slugs out of a full choke barrel is an old wives tale. Some smoothbores shoot slugs best from a specific choke, usually-but not always-improved cylinder. I have a Winchester 97 30 inch barrel with a full choke, and it shoots slugs much better than I can hold at 60-70 yards. I also have dedicated smoothbore "slug guns" that are all over at 50 yards. You have to try and find what ammo your gun likes best.
Use your Ithaca however you want, it sounds like buckshot might make a good deer load from that barrel.

buck460XVR said:

the Ithaca is an easy gun to swap barrels. I believe Hastings still makes a rifled slug barrel with either rifle sights or cantilever scope mounts for the model 37.

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Might be easy to swap barrels on the newer ones, but the older ones were nit interchangable IIRC.

Foster and Brenneke-style slugs normally perform well in smoothbores, especially those bored on the tight side, but seldom achieve the accuracy possible with sabots in rifled barrels or rifled choke tubes.

Ithaca engineers found that 12-gauge smoothbore barrels with about 25 points of choke constriction (Improved Modified) produced the best accuracy with Foster-type slugs.