Ithaca 37 Police special

[cgjunk2]

Hello all,

Great forum here. This is my first time post, and would like a bit of advice from anyone that can offer it. At my local gander mountain there is a decent looking blued Ithaca Police Special. It has a 20 inch barrel and the magazine goes right up to the end of the barrel. I think that makes it a 7 or 8 shot (not sure).

The sides of the receiver have the engraved landscape scene with ducks. The sight is a deer sight with a day glow pink plastic sight on the front. It has sling attachments.

It is chambered for 2 3/4" shells and has a smoothbore barrel. The wood is in so-so shape with some nicks and dings and with a fair bit of worn varnish coming off. The receiver has a few scratches on the bluing, and two little matching dents on each side of the port on the bottom. Otherwise the bluing is real nice and deep. The serial number seems to indicate it is from 1970 (serial numer list on Ithaca web site).

Is there anything I should watch out for in this vintage of Ithaca? They are asking $159, is this a decent price for the condition? Also, it is from Gander mountain, and they offer a 90 day warranty for labor and parts should it need it. Is gander mountain generally good for it, or do they play hard to get should the warranty be needed.

Should I be worried about this gun being shot out, considering it is a police gun? Or is it hard to wear barrels and the mechanisms out on these?

Sorry for the slew of questions, any help is appreciated.

Carlos

 

[4v50 Gary]

It's cheaper than what I paid so

I'd buy it. Mine was parkerized.

 

[cgjunk2]

Were these produced parked and blued at the same time. Or did they switch from bluing to parked at a specific time?

 

[Fred Fuller]

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Police guns get carried a lot and not shot much. For a working gun, the model you describe is hard to beat, it already has all the addons and accessories necessary.

Wear to the mechanism often becomes evident in the timing of the feed cycle from the magazine. Worn or mistimed 37s will deposit live rounds from the magazine at your feet instead of feeding them- ask if they have dummy rounds you can test it with (no testing with live rounds, ever, please, save function firing). If not, the company is still in business, parts if needed are available and lots of 'smiths know what makes 37s tick and factory service is available. IMHO it is unlikely a retired police gun will be that worn or abused, usually it is field guns with a couple of generations of heavy use that have problems. I'd go for this one were I you.

lpl/nc

Edited to add: They were produced with blued and parked finishes at the same time. A lot of 37s of the same vintage saw wartime service in Southeast Asia, many of them were parked. A good number of PDs ordered theirs parked too, but blued were available at the same time.

 

[TrapperReady]

Thread drift warning...

Worn or mistimed 37s will deposit live rounds from the magazine at your feet instead of feeding them

This fall I shot a couple rounds of sporting clays with a guy using a very old, very beat up, very poorly made Springfield (IIRC) pump-gun.At each station, he would carefully load one shell into the chamber and another into the mag tube. He would then call "Pull", shoot at the first target, rack the slide and swear as the gun would not only eject the spent shell, but also toss the unfired one out the ejection port.

I had a spare gun in the truck, but he seemed to have an unnatural attachment to his pump-action single-shot.

Please return to the thread in progress...

 

[Dave McCracken]

Buy it, today. Good price, great shotgun for deer and "Serious" usage.

Like Lee said, most police shotguns are shot little. They tend to look like heck from years of cruiser use.

If made in 1970, this could have served in Nam. Not all 37s there were parked.

In either case, it's a bargain price on a Forever Shotgun.In your shoes, I'd be there when the store opened......

 

[Gunsnrovers]

I would grab it and shoot the heck out of it immediately. If there are any problems, you have a 90 day parts and labor warranty. Once it passes the shake down cruise, you'll be in great shape with an awesome shotgun.

If I was local, I'd race you to the shop.

 

[cgjunk2]

I went ahead and picked up the shotgun this afternoon. The wood seems a bit better than I remembered from my 1st inspection.

The only problem now is that I don't know a darn thing about shotguns Talk about an impulse buy, huh? My only experience is with handguns (auto and revolver) and a little IDPA shooting.

Does anyone have any resources you know of that cover the DSPS specifically, or is the manual information on the ithaca sight pretty much cover the DSPS?

The counterguy at gander mountain said that he did not know the choke on the barrel, and therefore did not know if you could shoot slugs through it. He said buckshot or birdshot in 2 3/4 inch shells is good until I take it back to the smith so he can measure the choke.

He also did not know if the barrel is removable or not. Would you guys know? According to the serial #, this is a 1970 gun, if it matters.

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate you helping a newbie out.

 

[Gunsnrovers]

It's an improved cylinder choke barrel. It should be great with slugs. DSPS = Deer Slayer Police Special. Buck, slug, and bird shot will be fine.

The barrel is removable. Under the nut at the end of the magazine tube, twist the barrel and it should pull out easily.

Here is a parts diagram from Ithaca:

http://www.ithacagunlodge.com/firearms/parts_service/m37/model37.shtml

They should be able to send you an instruction manual as well. Aside from the longer magazine and different location of the barrel lug (moved forward to accomodate the magazine tube), it's the same weapon as the Model 37.

There is a web page that has down loads of break down manuals somewhere, but I'm traveling this week and don't have my book marks available.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Impulse buy?

Not you! You asked here first and got a lot of endorsements for the gun. That's smart shopping.

 

[cgjunk2]

Smart shopping... I like that. I should have told my wife that as I walked in the front door with a new to me shotgun. That was an interesting expression she had on her face

Wife: What the hell is that?
Me: It's Smart Shopping!

 

[cgjunk2]

Thanks for the link Gunsrovers! Any idea if I should twist left or right on the barrel. Do I need to remove the magazine end cap before twisting. Does it need more than hand pressure to turn the barrel? Sorry for all the questions!

When I try to twist the barrel off, I notice that there seems to be a retainer of some sort coming from that front barrel lug that goes into the magazine end cap. I don't want to force it for fear of breaking something.

Thanks.

 

[Gunsnrovers]

Loosen the mag cap and rotate the barrel with simple hand pressure counter clock wise to remove. As you loosen it, you'll see it back off the lug on the barrel.

 

[cgjunk2]

Hmm, not having any luck with the barrel using my bare hands. I'll keep trying.

Seperate question... is it OK to dry fire my Ithaca? Or should I get dummy rounds?

 

[Skofnung]

Great buy on a good gun. I would have bought it in your place, and I already have two. Ithaca 37s are my favorite shotguns. A better home defense weapon I can not think of.

I suggest that you get (or make) snap caps for it. I was told from a young age not to dry fire shotguns... even though I do every now and then...

 

[cgjunk2]

I finally got my barrel off today. It seems like putting 100 rounds downrange with it helped loosen things up a bit.