I just took delivery of my first Ithaca, a very pretty 12 ga damascus grade 2 from about 1909. It happens to be on the light end of the scale at 6lb 15oz and has great dimensions with 2 1/2 drop.
I see that the stock is largely hollow. Is that a common Ithaca feature or a function of lightening this particular gun?

As far as I know, all Flues models have a large oval hollow in the butt. I don't know about the earlier Crass or Lewis models or the later NID. I was fitting a set of 16 Ga. bbls I found to a Flues receiver today, and now need one of those buttstocks. Good luck with yours.

A very nice original one just sold on flea bay.

My 12ga NID has a solid stock (not Hollow) is weighs 7.1 lbs.

The gun is question is a Flues. When I first took the butt plate off I thought it must have a drawbolt like the nitro specials. If the NID had solid stocks, what do you suppose was the thinking behind the hollowed out Flues?

Weight. Ithaca advertising in the Flues era emphasized how light their field guns were as compared to the competition.

Dan

Just about every Flues that I have taken apart was hollow.

I owned a 20 ga. NID (early with cocking indicators). The stock was hollow.

I imagine the thinking behind the lightweight Flues was Emil Flues himself. He may have had a few European insights and biases that the designer of the NID did not.

jack

If the gun maker is targeting a particular weight, an ounce is an ounce wherever it comes from. Of course, where the ounce comes from affects the balance. Depending on the density of the wood, it takes much 'hollowing' of the wood to add up to many ounces, most likely, just a few.
But, to answer your question, I don't usually tear nice guns apart to find out, but I have seen/owned lightweight Flues guns with solid stocks.

I have found stuff in the stock too. A little bag of shot in one to balance it I suspect. Just hollowed out and filled with shot too. I have also found personal info. No $20.00 bills yet.

I did see the Ithaca stock on ebay and it looked decent but the pic was a bit small for me to tell if it was Flues or NID or what. I suppose someone more computer literate than me could blow it up. Also it got a bit pricey considering that even if it was Flues, it might not fit. Then there's the pick-up load of really nice black walnut slabs I bought last summer, though I know a hundred bucks or so won't cover my labor to whittle and checker one. I did buy an unknown double stock on ebay that I was able to identify as Parker from the pics. Turned out to be nice, uncut, no.1 frame size. Seller added info before the auction ended that an expert e-mailed him that he was certain it was L.C. Smith. Close...both were American guns.