Badger Arms
Member
I just realized looking through all of the posts I've made over the years, that I like to take in abused Ithaca 37's and nurse them back to health. I love the gun and have never met one that I couldn't 'fix'. Here are some of my escapades:
1) Boat anchor: Bought this one at an auction for $50 bucks. It looked like it'd been used as a sinker or boat anchor in salt water an then laid against the side of the dock for a few years. Sandblasted it, cut off the end of the barrel. Paid $80 to have a gunsmith parkerize it. Another $10 for the bead installation. $40 for the Pachmeyr Vindicator grip and Foreend. Good as new!
2) Wall hanger: Well, this is a Remington model 17... same thing. Anyway, bought it at a Pawn shop near Ft. Lewis in 2003. The heel had a chunk split off of it and the wood looked like crap. Couldn't open the action... it was locked up. I fiddled with it and it finally opened. Seemed alright. Took it home ($150 I think). Recontoured and refinished the stock and fore-end. Worked great. Then this happened: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=51621. The gun locked up for good. Thought I'd fixed it but it happened again recently. I took it apart and ended up bending the lifter forks OUT some and that seemed to clear up the problem. It's a wall hanger anyways, but whenever my kids shoot their 20, I need something to play with so I take out the old Remington.
3) Ghetto Ithaca: Somebody at the Puyallup, WA show walked up with this gem: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=17135 It'd been cut off with a dull hacksaw to about 19" and the buttstock had been cut off with the same saw, it looked like. Then they'd reattached the stock bolt and wrapped duct tape around it! I picked it up for $125 or so and brought it home. Cut and recrowned, $10 for a new bead, and put one of my dozens of spare stocks on it.
4) Bag-o-Rusty Parts: Was at a gun show in Wasilla Alaska (actually, the same one I met Sarah Palin at but I digress). Somebody had an Ithaca that was missing its barrel and a spare barrel: The gun had virtually no finish left and was covered in pits. I think I paid $80 for the whole thing trade value... he didn't want the cash. Well, I held on to it... didn't want to try fitting the barrel. Tried to sell it here: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=260832 but nobody bit. I eventually broke down and fit the barrel to it. Really simple. Took a file and a sharpie. Filed some, colored it with sharpie, test fit, and filed where the sharpie rubbed off. Just like inletting. Fits fine now. I took the fore-end wood off and it looked awful. All rust. I'm going to blast it, parkerize it, and Gun-Kote it when I get the time. It functions just fine now, though.
5) Fed-Ex'tra Special Delivery: Bought a full-magazine 20" Ithaca online. The gun was beat-up, yeah, but I got it cheap. They sent it Fed-Ex and this is what I found when I got home. I got a refund from the dealer who got an Insurance claim from FedEx and I got to keep the gun! Sat on it for a few years then finally broke down. Found a bolt the right size and turned it to .729" IIRC. It fit so it took a little tapping with a mallet to get it into a cylinder-choke barrel. Went from the breech and tapped it through expanding it. Dressed the road-rash scratches and a little touch-up blue and it's done.
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So, to sum it up, I'm a sucker for broke Ithaca's. I ended up selling two of these, but still have the rest. Frankly, my back-of-the-door gun is still a Remington 870, but the Ithaca is really a piece of work. And, NO, there is no point to this thread.
1) Boat anchor: Bought this one at an auction for $50 bucks. It looked like it'd been used as a sinker or boat anchor in salt water an then laid against the side of the dock for a few years. Sandblasted it, cut off the end of the barrel. Paid $80 to have a gunsmith parkerize it. Another $10 for the bead installation. $40 for the Pachmeyr Vindicator grip and Foreend. Good as new!
2) Wall hanger: Well, this is a Remington model 17... same thing. Anyway, bought it at a Pawn shop near Ft. Lewis in 2003. The heel had a chunk split off of it and the wood looked like crap. Couldn't open the action... it was locked up. I fiddled with it and it finally opened. Seemed alright. Took it home ($150 I think). Recontoured and refinished the stock and fore-end. Worked great. Then this happened: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=51621. The gun locked up for good. Thought I'd fixed it but it happened again recently. I took it apart and ended up bending the lifter forks OUT some and that seemed to clear up the problem. It's a wall hanger anyways, but whenever my kids shoot their 20, I need something to play with so I take out the old Remington.
3) Ghetto Ithaca: Somebody at the Puyallup, WA show walked up with this gem: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=17135 It'd been cut off with a dull hacksaw to about 19" and the buttstock had been cut off with the same saw, it looked like. Then they'd reattached the stock bolt and wrapped duct tape around it! I picked it up for $125 or so and brought it home. Cut and recrowned, $10 for a new bead, and put one of my dozens of spare stocks on it.
4) Bag-o-Rusty Parts: Was at a gun show in Wasilla Alaska (actually, the same one I met Sarah Palin at but I digress). Somebody had an Ithaca that was missing its barrel and a spare barrel: The gun had virtually no finish left and was covered in pits. I think I paid $80 for the whole thing trade value... he didn't want the cash. Well, I held on to it... didn't want to try fitting the barrel. Tried to sell it here: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=260832 but nobody bit. I eventually broke down and fit the barrel to it. Really simple. Took a file and a sharpie. Filed some, colored it with sharpie, test fit, and filed where the sharpie rubbed off. Just like inletting. Fits fine now. I took the fore-end wood off and it looked awful. All rust. I'm going to blast it, parkerize it, and Gun-Kote it when I get the time. It functions just fine now, though.
5) Fed-Ex'tra Special Delivery: Bought a full-magazine 20" Ithaca online. The gun was beat-up, yeah, but I got it cheap. They sent it Fed-Ex and this is what I found when I got home. I got a refund from the dealer who got an Insurance claim from FedEx and I got to keep the gun! Sat on it for a few years then finally broke down. Found a bolt the right size and turned it to .729" IIRC. It fit so it took a little tapping with a mallet to get it into a cylinder-choke barrel. Went from the breech and tapped it through expanding it. Dressed the road-rash scratches and a little touch-up blue and it's done.
So, to sum it up, I'm a sucker for broke Ithaca's. I ended up selling two of these, but still have the rest. Frankly, my back-of-the-door gun is still a Remington 870, but the Ithaca is really a piece of work. And, NO, there is no point to this thread.
