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View Full Version : Info wanted on WW2 era Ithaca 37 Riot guns



jonnyo55
03-23-2016, 08:25
Hello to all. In Bruce Canfield's "Combat Shotguns" (fine book, BTW), mention is made of a contract of Ithaca Model 37 riot guns with 22" barrels that was purchased by the "New York Police" in 1941-42. Does anybody know any more about these guns? Were they destined for the NYPD, or the state police? Were they finished to commercial standards, or otherwise? Any property markings known? The 22" barrel is a non-cataloged length, so these ARE a bit unusual...

TIA for any information received!

scosgt
03-23-2016, 04:19
You will know one when you see one, probably never.
They are marked US with a sideways P on the barrel and in a very specific serial range.
They do no appear in the Ithaca records in the National Archives.

scosgt
03-23-2016, 04:20
ALL Ithacas in WWII had commercial blue finishes, and all except the contract Trench Guns had the game scene.

Tom Doniphon
03-23-2016, 05:07
22 inches is the same barrel length of many of the WW2 Military contract riot guns.

jonnyo55
03-24-2016, 09:56
So...I'm gathering that this was a NY order that was subsumed by the Ordnance dep't upon war's outbreak, and they were never delivered to whatever NY authority ordered them. Correct?

scosgt
03-24-2016, 11:22
No one knows. You have to be more specific in your questions.