doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ithaca Co vs Ithaca Gun Co.

I am convinced Emil imported barreled actions from probably Germany and finished them here, especially when he was in Buffalo, NY. All were high quality work. I base my opinion on the several different design Emil Flues guns I have had the opportunity to examine. This is not to suggest that Emil could not make a gun, he surely could and did. The fellow in Genoa, NY did likewise.

Walt, that is my experience, too. My thought is that the E Flues mark was put on the barrel set at a different time than the other engraving. Most likely before the Ithaca marks.

Mr Snyder,
Other than the engraving that says Ithaca, are the barrels in question configured in a fashion of the Flues models? I guess I'm asking, did the Ithaca Gun Company make changes to the design of the lug, water table,flats etc. that are seen here in the variation between my 28 ga Ithaca Flues barrels and the barrels in question? Or did the "Flues" design remain relatively consistent through that period? The owner of these barrels is telling me that these were very late "Flues" barrels, but I have never seen another set that is so different. I have only ever seen a tiny fraction of the guns that you have seen.

Fred, in my experience, the barrels are consistent with European guns. Certainly not at all like any Ithaca Gun Co. model of the early part of the 20th century. The E. Flues guns [not Ithaca] could more closely resemble the set of barrels in question, but the E. Flues guns seem to come in a variety of mechanical designs.

Thank you

Fred, FWIW, Ithaca did not make a .410 in the Flues model

Yes I am aware of that, which is why the sound of the barrels was so intriguing!

What I meant to ask.. were the" Ithaca Gun Co, Flues" models consistent in the design from the start until the end of the period, and then changes were made to create the "NID"? It seems to me that "Ithaca Gun Co" did make the "Flues" heavier as time went along, but I wasn't aware of other changes to the design of the model.

While the basic design of the Flues Model Ithaca was consistent, there were subtle changes along the way. Early on the top-lever was screwed to the spindle --



and later they were one piece --



There were various styles of profiling the receivers. Rounded --



Slanted --



and sometimes the profiling goes nearly straight up --

There were also a change in the barrel lug on the latter Flues guns. Around 1913 the 3 position safety was changed to a 2 position safety.

In Daryls pictures also note the variation in the style of the breech balls. When I was in High school I used to hunt with a friend who had an Ithaca 12 ga. with the thin breech balls as shown in the first side view. The frame wasn't cracked, but the thin breech balls had bent far enough that you could see the brass of the shells with the barrel closed.