John, I collected a bunch of information on Ithaca SKB's for a couple articles I did for Shooting Sportsman 10 years ago. Spoke to an Ithaca salesman who sold 900 of them (both OU and sxs), just in MO and KS, in a single year. The 60,000 figure came from a couple different sources. But given 900 in 2 states in a single year, I see no reason to question it. And they're certainly not rare guns on the used market. How often do they show up compared to NID's--and 45,000 of the latter were made? The SKB sxs sold well enough that Ithaca continued to expand its offerings as time went on. They first appeared in the Ithaca catalog in 1967, but the 280 was not added to the line until 71.
Counting all gauges, I'm quite sure Galazan is well over 1,000 RBL's.
You're inferring and extrapolating a lot with your assumptions there, Larry. The Ithaca/SKB offerings probably sold at a 3 or 4 to 1 bias for the O/U's, and the salesman's results for one year in two states are just a snapshot; everybody who wanted one probably got one within the first couple of years of production, and sales tapered off quickly after that. Assuming 60,000 total from there is a BIG jump, but especially so for sxs's.
There is no way to draw any analogy with NID Ithacas and the SKB offerings either. Different times and all.
My guess is CSM probably has sold 400-500 20 ga. RBL's, less than 100 16 ga., maybe 100 28 ga., and 150-200 12 ga. But even if it's double, triple, or even 5 times those numbers, which is entirely possible, you are still talking a relatively small amount total.
But this is all just speculation and no there's no way to prove anything unless someone associated with each company steps up with actual production figures.
Regardless, there's a reason Browning has not bothered with doing another BSS, and that's profit.
JR
