doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lightest pumpgun ever made?

I looked at the new Ithaca Gun Company web page and they don't list any Ultras. As to old guns, I guess I qualify as a curmudgeon since I already don't think that newer is necessarily better.

Steel shot in the uplands is a whole 'nuther issue that I guess I'm not ready to face just yet. One battle at a time.

A stripped Stevens 200 receiver and trigger guard weigh 1# 8oz together. The receiver alone is 1# 3oz.

I don't know what the weight difference would be if they were aluminum but it would have brought the 6# gun down some.

Shorten the bbl and add a lighter stock wood and it goes still further oz by oz.
The bbl is already thin walled in manufacture.

I'm not sure the design would allow it as the carrier is the locking lug, not unlike a 97.
This one pivots on the large cross pin at the rear of the frame though and I'm just guessing it would batter the alloy out of round quickly. Especially being a 3" chambered gun.

Things can get too light weight too. Unless you're designing an aircraft survival weapon ,,I do like them to still handle nicely and not kick the snot out of me..

The Remington 17 or an early Ithaca 37 in 20ga,,can't argue against either of those choices.

The last time I bought a 'new' from the manufacturer gun was 1971.

Older guns are just more interesting to me. I'm hoping to see examples of some of the early and more-obscure varients at the upcoming Denver show. I'd like to handle a Model 31L and see how it compares to a Model 17 or even an early Model 12. I'm also hoping to get a close look at a Stevens Model 520 sub-gauge gun as well. I suppose it's too much to hope for seeing a Stevens Model 200? I really don't need another pumpgun (as I'm running out of deserving relatives) but I'm having fun learning about this genre of guns.

This will probably come as a news flash to you, but ULTRA FEATHERWEIGHT aluminum receiver model 37s WERE produced at King's Ferry. They came in 12, 16 and 20 gauge. They were light, but not as light as the first generation, since they could and did handle steel shot. All of them are serial numbered with the pre-fix ULT.
Further, a very few ULTRA FEATHERWEIGHT aluminum receiver guns made it out of the Upper Sandusky plant before they were discontinued.
Mine had a walnut stock. If the first generation had a mahogany stock, that fact never seemed to make it into the print adds I saw.
I'll bet Walt would know.

Best,
Ted

Functionally, no, for a while. The M16 does not use an interupted thread to attach the steel barrel to the aluminum receiver. The Ultra Featherweight uses steel threads on the barrel and the receiver mates to them with aluminum threads. Because there is no extension from the barrel to the bolt on the Ithaca design, this interface becomes critical for headspace.

They can and do wear to the point of not being usable. I have not, however, seen or heard of an Ultra cracking with use. That honor goes to the aluminum framed model 31L.

As Tim aluded to, there were also issues with the aluminum trigger guard on the Ultras, as well. The last versions had steel in this area for good reason.


Best,
Ted

Anyone know whether Ithaca ever issued any warnings not to shoot steel through Model 37's? I expect they might have put out what was pretty much SOP re steel shot, especially in the early days of steel: Don't shoot it through full choke guns. But steel loads function within the same pressure parameters as lead, under SAAMI guidelines, so it shouldn't be a pressure issue. And the other likely issue might be a thin barrel, but I don't think that's the case with the 37's. But Browning does say no steel through any of its Belgian-made guns, including A-5's, because of potential ring bulges. So I suppose it's possible Ithaca went with the same precaution on older guns.

Larry, the newer ones built in Ohio are steel rated, I hope I'm not wrong on that. You want a nice sweet little pump look at Ithaca's new 28 gauge with its scaled frame, not to light and not to heavy but a sweet swinging shotgun. And, even though they are a dream to carry all day in the woods, ultra light guns are, to some people, hard to learn how to swing and shoot.

I've never seen anything in print on steel through 37s, Larry, but ownership of Ithaca was in flux when steel was coming on strong. My 12 gauge King's Ferry gun has two barrels and both are 3" chamber, choke tube, steel shot safe. The gun carries like it, too, nobody would think "Featherweight" with this particular copy. I think the model 87s that were produced for a while were steel shot guns also.

A lot of the Ithacas I see have been rode pretty hard and put up wet. I'd bet lots of those specimens have seen steel, for better or worse.

I have shot steel through my Dad's old (1952) Browning A5 standard many times, Larry. But, the original 29" solid rib, full fixed choke barrel was at home, in the safe, when I did it, and a Hastings replacement barrel was in place. I don't think you can get them new anymore, but, if you have to shoot steel through an A5, a Hastings barrel is the way to fly. They turn up on the auction sites regularly. I have two of them for that gun, a 26" vent rib and a 32" vent rib, my Dad was big on versatility.

Best,
Ted

So, there are examples of cracked Model 31Ls? Was this a common failing?

Do you own one of the 28 gauge Ithaca 37s? My wife is showing an interest in at least going along for the walk, and I have thought about unloading a couple of little used pieces to get a copy of that gun. I was thinking of getting two stocks, a short one and a longer one, and both barrel lengths, thinking as my six year old son grows, it could be adapted to him. The recoil from my model 17 can be stout, and my wife weighs 113lbs, the last thing I want to do is start her on a gun that hits her too hard. What hits too hard for me will be different than what hits too hard for her.
Has anyone used one of the 28s from Upper Sandusky?

Best,
Ted