doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How many Ithaca 7E single barrel trap guns made

Researcher, I've admired those old Stevens ads for years. Where are the guns though??? I never see them on the market...Geo

One of these days I'm going to gather up a bunch of doves and have a single-shot only dove shoot. I think that would be a lot of fun, and I doubt it would create that much of a handicap for the guys I shoot with...Geo

A few years ago someone around here had a .410 only shoot. I went and watched the guys shooting their son's single shots punching themselves in the nose with their thumbs because the stocks were so short. My impression was that there were way too many cripples sliding off into the woods...Geo

For a number of years I kept track of Grade 7 Knicks that appeared on the market. I kept at this until it got to a point where the same guns kept turning up; at that point I had logged 34 guns. I was rather surprised at the turnover. My surmise is that maybe half again that number are tucked away as lifetime purchases, guns that will only be released when the owner can no longer hold them.

Nearly all the guns showed at least some evidence of having been used as working trap guns, i.e., worn finishes on wood and metal, re-blues and re-cases, aftermarket recoil pads, buggered screws, stock mods, replaced stocks, etc. Even the gorgeously finished 7E that was in the NRA collection (and later auctioned by Julia) had been restocked.

Back in the day when those high grade J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. hammerless single barrels were offered, they cost as much as a K-Grade Remington Hammerless Double, a DS-Grade Lefever or a 00-Grade L.C. Smith, and more than an Ithaca or a Winchester Model 1897. Fire power won out in the marketplace.