That gun is a bit late to be chambered for the old 3 1/4 inch 12-gauge shell. They seem to have been dropped from the ammunition company catalogues during the teens. Most of my early ammo catalogues are UMC, and they offered 3 1/4 inch cases for bulk smokeless powders, but the longest cases they offered for dense smokeless powders were 3-inch.
The only Ithaca Flues-era catalogue I have that mentions chamber length is the 1925 and it states -- "Unless otherwise ordered Ithaca 28 Gauge and 20 Gauge guns are chambered for the standard 2 1/2 inch shell, 16 Gauge and 12 Gauge for the standard 2 3/4 inch shell and 10 Gauge for the standard 2 7/8 inch shell. Longer chambers are furnished if ordered on new guns without extra charge, but it should be remembered that shells of standard length do not give quite as good results in chambers which are longer than the shells and it should be remembered that extra long shells are more expensive and it is much harder to find a dealer who carries extra long shells in stock." I find that 2 3/4 inch pretty strange in the 16-gauge, because 2 9/16 was the "standard" 16-gauge shell until WW-II!?! The NID period catalogues from 1926 through 1933 give 2 9/16 inch as the standard chamber for the 16-gauge.
Last edited by Researcher; 08/09/11 10:32 PM.
