New house gun-failing to cycle

[David LaPell]

I picked up this older Ithaca 37 12 gauge about 2 weeks ago, its clean but not worth a great deal because there are just so darned many of them around here, so I had the barrel cropped back to 20 inches and kept the raybar front sight. It has one of the smoothest actions of any pump, even better than some of my other Ithaca 37' I have owned over the years.

 

[luvmyruger]

lots and lots and lots of police depts and prisons trusted those perfect model 37's for years. Yours appears to be in great shape and for a house gun. Plus, at that length it could be used as a nice slug gun also.

 

[oregon73]

That is sweet! I have a couple Winchester Defenders to cover the 12-ga. pump role but now I want one of those. Did they ever make them with a 20'' barrel from the factory?

Nice gun!

Rob

 

[Mike Armstrong]

LAPD street units still have many Ithaca 37PDs still in their brackets. In a hassle, it is the gun to stand behind!

 

[nnero93]

Nice shotgun, i love plain shotguns with wood stocks. But as soon as i saw this I had to buy it

 

[6GUNSONLY]

When the SHTF, all you have to do is hold the trigger back and shuck the slide. Yes, there are factory 20" M-37s, Deerslayer model. I've also seen them in plain barrel 18". I'll see if I can get Nimrod 308 to post some pics of his, he has a few.

 

[David LaPell]

I took the Ithaca out today with some Remington 2 3/4 inch OO buck and noticed that the gun is having a very hard time cycling shells after firing. They do cycle but it takes some work. I am seeing no scratch marks on the rim of the shell or damage there, and I did not see any shiny fresh scratches inside the receiver where anything is hanging up. Any ideas? I already cleaned the gun when I got it and the slide is like glass, (typical Ithaca) when the gun is empty or when the slide release is used.

 

[Old22mag]

Try a different brand of ammo, Winchester or Federal

 

[wixedmords]

I wonder if you are getting some weakening in the springs DL. Might be the extractor spring.

The schematic is here:

http://www.e-gunparts.com/productschem. ... el=076Zz37

I like how you modded the title. Quite the bridge.

 

[sceva]

Check the barrel to see if it's installed correctly. Check for a small gap between the frame and barrel shoulder. It's possible to be one thread off when seating them and they will fire but are hard to cycle fired shells.
Try removing the barrel and re-seating it making sure it's fully seated before giving it the 1/2 turn.

 

[David LaPell]

I talked to my local gunsmith, and we decided to give the Ithaca another try before I brought it to him. I picked up another box of Remington 2 3/4 inch OO buck, same box of ammo as before. I took it out this morning, and what followed were five quick shots with no problems what so ever. Apparently it was the ammo and not the gun, since there was nothing done to it between yesterday and today. So now it's all good and working just fine.

 

[wixedmords]

That's cool DL.

Glad it worked out for you.

Looks like it's a keeper now.

 

[Tommy F]

I have a 37 12 featherweight I considered cutting back to 19. Interested in grouping after cutting barrel. Please email me an answer.
Thanks
Tommy

 

[Bozack]

It was hard for me to believe there was a problem with an Ithaca. I am glad it is running well.

 

[tek4260]

Guess I am the only one in the world that gets the duds when it comes to M37's. I have literally owned 15-20 of them from nib to dogs. Every one I had would drop a live round when I pumped it. The shell stop would release before the carrier was low enough and would drop the empty and the live round. If I fired it 20 rounds, it would drop about 5. I finally had to remove a bit from the end of the shell stop where the bolt pulled it open, to slow down the release of the shell a bit on every single one of them. Could it have been the way I pump one? :?