Click here to download the catalog as a PDF file. To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. SHOTGUNNER • HOLT BODINSON • ITHACA’S ON A ROLL The Model 37 is a petite 28-gauge gun. n the hands and in the hunting yarns of Major Charles Askins and I Elmer Keith, their Ithaca 10-gauge magnum doubles made history in the marshes. Composer and band leader John Philip Sousa shared his design ideas for the ultimate double and the ultimate single barrel trap gun so today an Ithaca “Sousa” model might bring anywhere between $15,000 to $40,000 at auction. At the end of the day, however, John Browning’s inspired design, introduced by the company in 1937, has been the bread-and-butter gun of the company. Today, the Ithaca Gun Company’s Model 37 pump is the finest Model 37 ever made, and it’s available in a surprisingly wide range of models. Something about the magic of 28-gauges draws me to them like a pointer to a covey of quail. Walking into the Ithaca booth at the 2009 Shot Show, I was handed a petite, scaled down, new Model 37 in 28-gauge no less. I was an immediate goner and readily admit to being an unabashed fan of the 28-gauge for doves and early season upland game. A Delight The intriguing qualities of a 28-gauge are how well they normally pattern with 3/4-ounce loads, how well most people can shoot them, how nice they are to carry afield all day, how easy they are on your shoulder, how fast they are on target and how hard-to-find and expensive their shells are. Standing there in the booth with love and lust in my heart for that dainty pump gun, I was informed the Ithaca 28 would be available only on a special order basis for the initial year of production but, just possibly, a sample might be available later in the year for testing and review. It was a long six months until I opened a box marked Ithaca and found myself looking, not at a field grade, but at an attractively engraved and gold inlaid, Fancy AAAgrade 28-gauge. Embellished or not, the new small frame Ithaca proved to be a delight to handle and deadly in the field. The Model 37 Ithaca is an interesting and highly functional design — it’s one of Browning’s classics. With the ejection port at the bottom of the receiver, it is truly an ambidextrous shotgun. As a Model 37 user, I’ve found there are other advantages with a bottom shucker as JohnBrowning’sclassic well. The enclosed receiver is bottomejectingsystem highly weatherproof, and the (above)protectsaction action does not tend to collect partsfromtheweather weeds, seeds and other grime from the field. Also, shooting andkeepsempties a Model 37 in a duck blind outoftheway.The is a very compassionate newIthaca28-gauge act because your hunting shotgun(below)hasa trimmerreceiverandis companions don’t have to worry about hot shells flying lightandlivelyafield. Ithaca’sFancyAAAgradesexhibitnicely engravedandinlaidhuntingscenes. about their faces or dropping down the back of their necks. Model 37 receivers have always been machined from a solid billet of steel or aluminum. That’s been a point of pride at Ithaca, and the level of precision has been enhanced today by the use of 3D CAD design systems and CNC machines. Improvements One of the improvements in the current Model 37 barrel design is the ventilated ribs are not soldered or brazed on but mechanically secured to the barrel by supporting lugs and one small screw. The purpose in not applying any heat to the barrel in the production process is to minimize deformation or stresses which can play havoc with patterning and actually alter the point-of-impact as the barrel heats up. And should you damage an Ithaca rib (always a possibility), it 10 WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM • DECEMBER 2009