Weaver chokes?

[Lawyerman]

I came into an Ithaca 37 yesterday. It is a 12 gauge, decent shape, wood is sound but needs a refinish, barrel is about 24 inches long and was originally an improved cylinder bore.

However, a sleeve was added to the end of the barrel, it is threaded internally for screw in choke tubes. The sleeve was made by Weaver, the scope people, back when they were still in El Paso. There were no chokes in the sleeve. I think I will take it to my smith and have him remove the sleeve, not sure how it is attached, soldered on or..... and just use the IC barrel. Or I suppose I could try to find some Weaver chokes. Thoughts?

 

[TrapperReady]

Since you haven't been getting any responses, I did a little searching on the internet, and didn't find much (which isn't usually a good sign).

The one related post I found indicated that they were in fact hard to come by, and that it might be best to have it removed/replaced.

BTW, that same post included the line:

"Choke tubes were invented by a wife who wanted to eliminate her husband's reason for buying another gun."

...which I found quite humorous.

 

[Dave McCracken]

In all this time, I've seen ONE shotgun altered to take Weaver chokes. I'd trim the thing off, remount a bead, and enjoy one fine plainjane shotgun.

TR, me too.

 

[Lawyerman]

Talked to my friendly gunsmith. He says that the sleeve is actually threaded onto the barrel and we can turn it off easy as it is just aluminum but to get rid of the threads we'll have to cut back, this will lose most of the choke I fear.

If I'm gonna cut it back and lose the choke I might just as well trim it to 18 inches and call it good?????

 

[TrapperReady]

Is there enough barrel thickness to have different aftermarket choke tubes installed?

Given your situation, unless you needed to use it right away, I might spend a little time trying to find a Weaver choke. With all of the gun-related boards and auction sites (including E-Bay), something might turn up if you were patient.

OTOH, if you want it primarily for a HD gun, then chopping the barrel down might be a good option. Personally, I prefer 18.5"-20" over 18". The extra bit gives you some "wiggle" room, and the ability to cut down again if you drop it and ding the barrel.

 

[Lawyerman]

I dunno that I want to spend the money on choke tubes. It's a $100 pawn shop gun. Nice, and a decent shooter probably but I can buy another one for the same money or maybe $25-30 more without the tube sleeve.

I just figured that if I was going to be left with only a cylinder bore that the shorter barrel made sense, no reason not to shorten it all the way, powder burn will be unaffected so why not a shorter gun?

May check Ebay for choke tubes, course they're probably $25 apiece!