WWII Ithaca M37 - Was it a Training Shotgun ?
Hey Guys,
I have an Ithaca M37 12 ga. shotgun that is not in its original configuration.
Would you care to speculate on what that configuration was?
Some Background.
I was working in a big shop and this guy says he's got a military shotgun from Viet Nam.
Said, his dad had bought it many years ago at a flea market in Petaluma CA.
After getting a brief description of it, and that it was an Ithaca M37, I gave him the $50 bucks he wanted for it on the spot.
First thing I saw when I looked at it was the / UNITED STATED PROPERTY / P / R.L.B. with Ordnance Bomb / stamped into the receiver.
I Was Smiling, Big Time.
It has a deeply blued steel barrel and receiver with game scenes.
A beautiful colored and grained butt stock with a checkered pistol grip capped with a black plastic cap.
I was promised the wooden fore end and the other screw in chokes, but they never materialized.
In a June, 1995 article in "The American Rifleman" magazine, titled "World War II G.I. Shotguns", by Bruce Canfield, he writes on page 44,
"That in Nov. 1941, guns procured from Ithaca by the US government included commercial guns with engraved receiver game scenes."
He also has a photo of a 20 inch barreled M37 w/game scene and a checkered pistol grip and fore end.
In a May, 2015, article in "The American Rifleman" magazine, titled "Ithaca Earns Its Stripes" , by Bruce Canfield, on page 64,
he shows a photo of a long barreled training shotgun with game scene, checkered pistol grip and cannalured fore end.
a link to a Bruce Canfield article in The American Rifleman mag online
://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2015/5/18/the-ithaca-model-37-in-us-military-service/
M37 butt left .jpgM37 butt right.jpgM37 Choke .jpgM37 full lenth .jpgM37 left side .jpg
I wonder if my now, 18 inch barreled Ithaca M37, started out as a long gun, and was swept up in the WWII war effort
and was later modified with the -PATTERNATOR- choke system, probably on the west coast.
It was MFD. BY / WISLER WESTERN ARMS CO. / S.F. CAL.
I think it was a long gun because it had/has a full choked barrel. I don't think a 20 inch barreled riot gun would have a full choke.
It came to me with a Ithaca Gun Co. black plastic stock with a pistol grip like an AR-15 on it. The wood stock was in a paper bag.
Makes me shudder to think that the beautiful butt stock could have been lost like the fore end was.
It came with the, White Line / Trade Mark / Pachmayr Gun Works / Los Angeles 15, California U.S.A. marked butt pad.
It might be old too but probably not original to the gun.
I feel very fortunate to have a martial shotgun in my modest martial arms collection. I had written it off as too expensive.
I think that "if" it still had its long barrel and wooden fore end, it would be unique example of a martial shotgun.
But I don't know, maybe there are lots of training shotguns still in existence.
But there couldn't have been too many off these Ithaca Commercial / Martial shotguns to begin with.
Well, I will add 5 photos and see what you think.
I have 3 more photos but I'll have to put them in a reply to my own post.
Thanks,
Take Care - Stay Well,
jm
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