Ithaca M37 Featherlight Deerslayer 20ga

[50caliber123]

A friend of mine asked me about this shotgun. He might have a hance to buy one and had a few questions the selle didn't know the answer to.
1. What choke is it? Improved Cylinder?

2. It has surface rust and bluing worn off the receiver. How much would it cost to restore it?

3. How reliable ar these old Ithaca's? Comparable to a Mossberg 500 or Remington 870?

4. It's Chambered for 2 3/4" shells. Is it safe or possible to lengthen the chamber to 3"? How much could that cost?

 

[mnrivrat]

The old Ithaca 37's are very good guns. Most all smooth bore slug guns have been choked Imroved Cylinder and I suspect the 20ga Deerslayer is the same.

Re-finish is generaly not practical if one want's to return it to factory simular specs. Hot bluing cost $200 or more these days on a shotgun. Clean it and keep it oiled and there won't be a problem. Or , bead blast it and Duracoat it for a tuff finish, and under $100 doing it yourself.

No reason to do a 3 inch chamber on these guns if shooting slugs, or buckshot . Barrel is too short for waterfowl and that is where a 3 inch load would be needed.

I guess my vote is to go ahead and recommend a buy if the price is reasonable, and the gun fills the roll he/she has in mind for it.

 

[straitnate14]

I have 3... two are full choke, 1 is improved. I was looking for a modified but all I came up with was a ithaca model 51. I will never have any other shotgun than an ithaca because nothing is better in my view.

 

[Kingcreek]

I have(had) an older 20g mod37 FW deerslayer and the slug barrel is choked a little tighter than most smooth slug barrels. It is surprisingly accurate with the standard forster type slugs, esp winchester brand. I killed a bunch of deer with it before my sister borrowed it and killed several more. I haven't seen it in a few years- I think I'll ask for its return.

 

[50caliber123]

Would it be a simple process to get the bluing stripped and the gun given a parkerized finish?

 

[artee]

In the 60's and 70's, Ithica advertised their deerslayers as having a 'special tighter bore for accuracy with rifled slugs'. What that means for a "choke" I'm not sure. My 12 ga deerslayer barrel seems to support the ad copy. It feels (pushing a ball of cloth or paper with a cleaning rod) to have a constant bore from the end of the forcing cone to the muzzle. I feel no tightening at any point. I believe that would make it Cylinder bore. It is on the small diameter side for 12 ga, and it shoots 7/8th and 1 oz rifled slugs very well.

 

[MachIVshooter]

It feels (pushing a ball of cloth or paper with a cleaning rod) to have a constant bore from the end of the forcing cone to the muzzle.

I don't know about being able to feel the .010" constriction of IC in a .614" tube by resistance of a cloth patch. Don't think I could.

To the OP:

In my experience, most shotguns geared toward big game hunting that aren't dedicated slug guns have fairly short barrels (since swing momentum is not beneficial and trumped by handiness in the woods) and IC choke so that they'll still perform reasonably well with buckshot. Some have slightly tight bores ( like, say, .725" on a 12 gauge, as opposed to the normal .729"-.730") as well, I presume to make better use of the "rifling" on Foster-type slugs, or perhaps to promote a better gas seal.

I've also heard of straight-rifled chokes being used to cancel out any swirling of the shot load induced as it travels down the bore. Never seen one myself, though.

 

[50caliber123]

Range report: So my friend and I went to the range, set a target up at 25yds and proceeded to shoot offhand. This shotgun, without any rest or support was punching holes in the center of the target consistently. Another friend of mine has a mossberg 12 ga with a fully rifled barrel, scope, and sabot slugs. We were shooting 3/4oz foster-type slugs at least as accurately with iron sights at the same range. I have never seen a smoothbore shotgun shoot slugs this accurately before.

 

[artee]

"I don't know about being able to feel the .010" constriction of IC in a .614" tube by resistance of a cloth patch. Don't think I could."

I also have Ithica 26in IC and 28in Mod and Full Choke barrels. I can feel in EACH exactly where the choke begins with this method. So, I stand by the statement that my mid 70's deerslayer barrel has NO feel of additional constriction past the forcing cone.

50caliber123 Range report: I concur with your results. While your eyesight is good, your accuracy will rival your buddies to 75 yards or better. My results with 12 ga only deerslayers is that after 75, "the wheels start coming off the cart". Maybe the 20 will hold up better to 100, maybe not.

 

[Kingcreek]

Mine would put 3 slugs into 3-4" from a rest at 75 yards which has always been just fine for me.

 

[50caliber123]

My buddy has decided to get his Ithaca Parkerized, since there is rust and bluing worn off and he wants to use it for deer hunting. Has anybody on here done that to one of these shotguns?

 

[Kingcreek]

I hunted with a guy that park'd his 12g M37. It looked sorta ok, just like you would expect a park'd model 37 to look. IMO its only an improvement if you have a rusted hunk of gun to start with.

 

[50caliber123]

Another surprisingly different range experoence: Shooting the Brenneke KO 3/4oz load, I noticed thes slugs hit the target at 25yds, low, and in a rather large group with the wads hitting the target about 5" above the slugs occasionally. I thought the wad was supposed to stay attached? I've heard from several people how accurate these Brennekes are, I'm surprised that this Ithaca doesn't shoot them as well as everything else I've tried through it. Has anyone else had similiar experiences?