I went and bought a Ithaca NID, 16 bore with 26" barrels today. A friend down the street was selling her Father's bird gun and I had a weak moment. It is ok as far as the wood but the barrels are in bad shape on the outside. It has some pitting and some rust probably from storage for forty years.
It has the stars on the receiver so not sure what years it was made. It is open choked as cylinder and improved cylinder. I don't even have any 16 gauge shells.
I was planning on having a minor restoration done, re-black the barrels and hardware and freshen up the wood. I would need to replace the original Joston pad as it is starting to split.
But I would have more in it than it would ever be worth.
That's what happens when you get that funny feeling a nd your brain goes to sleep on you.

Everyone needs a reliable American shooter. Congrats. May it cost you less than a few of your past girlfriends, with greater rewards afield.

Best,
Ted

Say what.....

Mike, that NID variation was made from 1929-‘34’ (but I have seen one earlier.). I’d go easy on yourself. Assuming the price was reasonable you’re fine. Start by having the barrels inspected and a strip and clean done. If all checks out, you won’t have much more in it and you’ll know if it’s a safe shooter or not. You can go from there.

(PM me the serial number if you’d like the exact year.)

nids were built 1926 to 1948. Very few after the war.

The first quality double I ever owned was a 16ga NID 28" IC/F. It was built in late 47/early 48 when they were cleaning out the parts bins. One of the last few hundred made. Field gun, except they apparently only had high grade wood sets left, because the stock is spectacular. The gun was little used. I had just gone to work so I kept it a few years and had it re-cased and the barrels polished and blued. I refinished the stock. Over the years I have found it to be my idea of the best dove gun in existence. I ws naive as to old guns at the time(everyone was). I found out a long time later that the bores were original ID but the barrel walls were 0.025 at the front and the chambers were 2-9/16. I had been feeding it any ammo I could find, but the strong characteristics of the model handled it fine.

I traded an old farmer even for a Ithaca 51 Trap gun with 3" of the barrel cut off due to a corn stalk and a dove hunt. I had bought the Ithaca Trap from my cousin who's wife had the faux pas for $150. The farmer wouldn't sell the gun; he only wanted to trade for a good automatic to give to his son as a gift. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to take the money and find a gun for him.

The thing is, I paid a total of $ 300 in the mid 70's for the cold blue and bone charcoal finish. That put me at $450 in the gun, way upside down. I didn't care, because I have probably hunted doves in 40 or more dove seasons with that gun, and probably has lead to buying and selling a hundred or more doubles in that period. I have owned that gun for 50 years and have owned it longer than any other gun. It also looks like a great investment in retrospect, both from a dollars and use point. It is the one gun that I can gaurantee will be available to put in the pine box with me. Don't hesitate to do what you want to enjoy the gun. It's all not about dollars.

The first quality double I ever owned was a 16ga NID 28" IC/F. It was built in late 47/early 48 when they were cleaning out the parts bins. One of the last few hundred made. Field gun, except they apparently only had high grade wood sets left, because the stock is spectacular. The gun was little used. I had just gone to work so I kept it a few years and had it re-cased and the barrels polished and blued. I refinished the stock. Over the years I have found it to be my idea of the best dove gun in existence. I ws naive as to old guns at the time(everyone was). I found out a long time later that the bores were original ID but the barrel walls were 0.025 at the front and the chambers were 2-9/16. I had been feeding it any ammo I could find, but the strong characteristics of the model handled it fine.

I traded an old farmer even for a Ithaca 51 Trap gun with 3" of the barrel cut off due to a corn stalk and a dove hunt. I had bought the Ithaca Trap from my cousin who's wife had the faux pas for $150. The farmer wouldn't sell the gun; he only wanted to trade for a good automatic to give to his son as a gift. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to take the money and find a gun for him.

The thing is, I paid a total of $ 300 in the mid 70's for the cold blue and bone charcoal finish. That put me at $450 in the gun, way upside down. I didn't care, because I have probably hunted doves in 40 or more dove seasons with that gun, and probably has lead to buying and selling a hundred or more doubles in that period. I have owned that gun for 50 years and have owned it longer than any other gun. It also looks like a great investment in retrospect, both from a dollars and use point. It is the one gun that I can gaurantee will be available to put in the pine box with me. Don't hesitate to do what you want to enjoy the gun. It's all not about dollars.

Hmm. I have just a little experience with Ithaca 51s. I wonder if the farmer or his son still feel it is a “good” automatic?

A buddy bought a 16 NID years ago, and lost it (and, a bit more) to a psychopath masquerading as a girlfriend. The gun is entered in the stolen gun database, but, we doubt it will ever turn up.

I remember it was a sweet handling old gun.

Best,
Ted

Please don't do that. Leave it to a kid if you don't have any of your own suitable. Remember, we're only stewards of these things...
JR

My only experience was watching the barrel split 25 feet away from me, and shooting it on a trap range for a few months with a cylinder bore barrel barrel. My cousin was a dealer and the gun was not too popular. He saw a dealer special somewhere for a Trap Deluxe model with killer wood.He bought is a gun for his wife due to recoil.It was really a good looking gun.

No need to worry. Like everyone else in KY, I have a concealed carry permit in case it is a closed casket service..

Also, I have a firearms trust leaving all the meat of my collection to my only Grandson. I really believe in letting someone use one. I gifted several guns to friends of kids last Christmas and over the last 2 years. I build a lot of musical instruments and never sell them. They either stay with me or I gift them to people I know who are real pickers or kids I don't really know but who I have seen and they show talent or a real effort but can't afford a decent instrument. A lot of the guns I gift are classics I rescue and rebuild into useful condition.

I have done the same- have 2 grandsons, the oldest is 17, will graduate HS 2023 and plans to attend MIT-He shot his first deer with his Dad and me this past Nov. lots of woodchucks and squirrel too-and went out with me for waterfowl as well- He's a safe gun handler, and will end up with his choice of my pre-1950 Winchesters, Colts and S&W pistols- a bit like Corey Ford's letter to a grandson I suppose- MIT is top choice for a physics major, but he won't be be home on Fall week-ends to go hunting with Grandpa very often. Fortunately, he is right handed, as I am, and his Dad is a Southpaw, so we are A-OK in that area. My younger grandson is 11-is a baseball all-star, and as his Mother, my youngest daughter, is an anti-gun, anti-hunting Biden and Obama lover, he will never even do any target shooting with any of my .22's (Winchesters)-- Damn shame, but one of the cannons of the ethics of grandparenthood is to stay the hell out of your children's family life and beliefs- his Dad is a good guy, works hard in his Yuppie careers, and loves golf-and also fishing- just not fly fishing as I do. So, to be as fair as one can be in a basically unfair world that is "chiefed by the double tongued", he will inherit my "working" collection of Winston, Leonard and Goodwin Granger cane rods, and my assortment of Hardy and Bogdan fly reels- Plus a few Heddon and Garcia fiberglas rods and spin reels, and misc lures and tackle boxes. Not quite the same dilema as the Hebrew king and the "baby splitting" decision, but I'll do my best. Son-in-law that shoots with gets the remaining Colts and S&W---RWTF

I wouldn't leave the rustiest Walmart $3.99 reel to an Obama-Biden loving grandson. Let them use a handline.

Appreciate your concern, but Robert is only 10--it's his Mama, our youngest daughter, that has those Demmy-Crat , Pro-Afro-American leanings. She got started on the wrong foot with Carter over Ford, and my late father blew a gasket whenever politics came up on Sunday family dinners- and later on, she graduated from a Fem-Lib college, then grad school- she sure as hell didn't get that crap from me--now Sleepy Joe is selected a colored female to be the next Scotus appointee- Robert Byrd and Strom Thurmond, we sure could use you gents back on the Senate now.. As for the tackle, Robert is already using the spinning gear at the family cottage on Torch Lake (MI) and likes worm fishing. RWTF

Oh well.

A kid with a libbocrat mom is a lost cause, not to be trusted with your inheritance until he is old enough to change his colors and prove himself. That is usually long enough for him to sell the guns and smoke up the money. I am in the unfortunate situation that I have no one to give them to.

No grandsons, then? Mae and I have a "brace" of both grandsons and granddaughters, our three daughters are married and except for the "libocrat" youngest gal, are normal (by my standards anyway)-- howinhell she turned out to be a niggerlover is beyond me-- I just bite my tongue and hope some day she will see the error of her political views as Biden and his blackVeep piss our Country down the drain. RWTF

Go ahead Fox,
Tell us all how you feel about the Jews while you are at it.
I’ll bet there’s a cabal in their someplace.

I’ll give your Halifax a good home, and make sure it goes into the rotation.

Best,
Ted

Mike, I hope the barrels measure up to be safe. If so, my reading would suggest that the NIDs were mechanically at the top of the heap of American SxS’s.

Dewey Vicknair certainly thought so in his classic 2016 critique of American double gun classics which deserves re-reading:
https://vicknairgunsmithing.blogspot.com/search?q=Comparison+of+American+gunmakers

An NID with thin bores would be rare, indeed. The last 12 I looked at, a friend and I joked you could probably bore it to 10 gauge and rifle the barrels.
Joking, but, they were thick.


Best,
Ted