My father purchased this gun when he got home from the Pacific in 1946. He was in the 78th Fighter Squadron. This was his pride and joy for many years. In the early 1950’s he loaned it to a relative that subsequently lost it in the duck woods on the St. Francis river. They miraculously recovered the shotgun several weeks later. Dad washed it out with gasoline and continued to use it. I was born in 1959. Been on many many duck hunts with dad and this gun. It always looked awful, but it was a killing machine. In the early 1970’s one of my brothers stuck the barrel in the mud when he fell down on a hunt. He thought it was cleaned out but unfortunately when he fired the next shot, it put a swell in the end of the full choke barrel about the size of a red bean with a split in it. The gun went unused after that for nearly 20 years. When Ithaca was back in business, I believe it was in the mid 1990’s. I got the gun, unbeknownst to dad and sent it to Ithaca. They cleaned it up, reblued it, replaced the buttstock and the barrel. The Corncob fore end was cleaned and refinished, it is original to the gun. It now has a vent rib barrel with screw in Browning choke tubes. I surprised dad on his birthday with his Refurbished treasure. He said it was the best birthday present he ever got. He used it well into his 90’s. I was with him on his last duck hunt. We lost dad in 2019, he was 97 y/o. Lived by himself until about three months before he passed. He was as sharp as a tack until the day he died. He was a true American Sportsman, hunter, fisherman, and trapper. We were lucky boys to have such a father. I can hardly shoot this thing..... it kills on both ends.
I believe the military used this gun some. It will fire every time you pump it while holding the trigger.
I believe the military used this gun some. It will fire every time you pump it while holding the trigger.