Ithaca 37 choke removal question??

[mauser]

My son just bought a 12 ga. Ithaca Model 37 that's pretty ugly. It functions well but the metal finish is in real bad condition, (no rust, just badly worn and uneven), and it has a huge ugly adjustable choke that looks more like a suppressor, it's almost 6" long.

By the serial number the gun was manufactured in 1949.
The stock has been shortened by about an inch - 1¼" and it was apparently cut with a hack saw in one hand while holding the gun in the other hand. (I can square it up but that's irrelevant). I figure the gun has no collector value but the action is so smooth and solid that it deserves to be put back into service.
My question is about the adjustable choke.
The markings on the choke are JARVIS MFG INC WICHITA KANSAS.
I've never seen anything like it.

The barrel is stamped MOD, that makes me think that the choke was an aftermarket addition rather than a factory installed feature but I've been known to reach wrong conclusions before.
Is anyone here familiar enough with this choke to tell me if it's threaded, soldered or attached some other way?
Was it a feature that was offered by Ithaca or was it an add-on?
We would like to take it off without doing any damage to either the barrel or the choke.

My next question is; if this choke can be taken off without doing any damage to the barrel, can the barrel be adapted/threaded to use choke tubes, preferably Remington?

[justashooter]

interesting question.

this adjustable choke is definitely aftermarket, put on a gun that ithaca made as a 28" modified (possibly 30). it is truely an ugly SOB, but that was the fashion in 1955.

most of the adjustable chokes installed in the 50's had a core cylinder that was silver soldered onto the barrel after the barrel was turned to exact diameter. the rest of the parts then screwed on. dunlap discusses this in detail.

pulling it should involve dissasembly of the mechanical parts and application of a MAAP torch. this should reveal a turned barrel that will have to be cut down for safety, as well as esthetics. a reduced diameter barrel should not be shot.

installing removable choke tubes would require the gunsmith to have an accurate lathe or an appropriate reamer, and the correct tap. the barrel wall would also have to be thick enuf. having recently converted a similar 37 junker into a VN style parkerised riot gun configuration i can say that the barrel is prolly not thick enuf to accept the screw in choke.

if i were you i would just cut it down and jug choke it with a brake cylinder hone. or, you could sell it to me at cost so i could make another riot gun. oldest son saw mine on thanksgiving and took it home with him.

[mauser]

Thank you justashooter.
That's what I was afraid I was going to hear.
A few things make me wonder about all of this.
Why would someone put something so ugly on a decent shotgun?
Why would someone put something so heavy on the front of a shotgun?
If the barrel was born as a modified choke, putting a 3 position adjustable on it would only utilize 2 of the 3 choke settings, modified and full, unless the barrel was shortened before the monstrosity was added.
As it is now, the barrel length is 29½ inches, if we cut the choke off it'll be 23½ inches. That'll certainly make it easier to handle.

If I'm not mistaken the Ithaca 37 barrels are fairly thin and light in the first place, if we take a few thousandths of an inch out of it just before the muzzle by jug choking or back boring it we'd be making it a little bit thinner and weaker in that area. Would that be a problem if we use high brass/heavy loads?

And no, it's not for sale, this is my son's first project gun. We have the butt squared up and found a recoil pad for it, now we have to decide what to do about the abomination of a counterweight that hangs on the front of it. Once we decide on that e wants to try his hand at refinishing the steel. Not much to lose, it's a cheap gun that's already ugly, he just wants to make it look a bit more presentable so he isn't embarrassed to be seen with it.
Maybe he should just get used to it and be proud of it because it's unique, and it certainly seems like it could reduce the chance of someone wanting to steal it.

[justashooter]

ugly was in fashion in 1955. it was the space age. look at the car designs.
the heavier front end will tend to make a gun lead better in pass shooting at extreme range.
the barrel choke section had obviously been removed in making the new assembly near design length.

jug choking is enlarging a section of the bore by about 8 -10 thou (modified choke), with the enlarged area about 3" in length and leaving 1 inch of bore unchanged between the jug and the muzzle. this can be done with a cylinder hone, or with a wooden dowel, split to accept a flapper of sandpaper. either way, you need to start with a cutting grit, and polish with an 800 grit paper, or you will have a lead collecting device that actually makes patterns worse.

for your project, i would suggest preserving as much barrel length as possible, so it still points well. cut it off behind the existing adjustable choke with a hacksaw and file square. drill and tap TDC for a new front sight (6-48 brass pan head screw). locktite new sight in place and trim off excess threads inside bore.

make up your jugging dowel from a 4" piece of 5/8 hardwood with a 5/16 pilot hole dead center and true on one end and a 3" slot on the other. screw in a 3/8 lag bolt with unthreaded shank (3-4" bolt). hacksaw head off of bolt so the jugging tool can be chucked in a hand drill. add 250-400 grit sandpaper flapper for snug fit in bore.

pattern the gun on newspaper with 7 1/2 shot at 20 yards for reference. insert jugging tool to end of wood dowel (we made it 4" long for a reason) and spin for 30-45 seconds. change paper to 800 grit and spin for 60 seconds. look down bore to see effect. pattern for evaluation and reference. repeat as necessary till you get desired pattern improvement. re-test pattern at 40 yards. looking for a "modified choke" type pattern, in which about 75% of pellets land in a 30" circle. this is suitable for everything from rabbit to squirrel to wingshooting. pattern will be less uniform with larger shot, no matter what you do.

refinishing the gun should be easy. 400 then 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper and a sanding block on flat surfaces (control direction of paper movement for uniform polish). brownell's oxpho blue is a decent quality and durable cold blue. salt water browning and waxing is an old style low tech option that is more labour intensive, but quite pleasing. parkerising is a neat and durable finish, but should be preceeded by a glass bead or alox blast for uniformity (no sandpaper necessary). blasting will hide pitting and give a satin finish under blues or browns, and is faster than polishing.

ithaca made 40K model 37 in 20" riot gun parkerised configuration for VN. they made them in blued for comercial sale, as well. i just refinished one into this pattern from a junker sporting gun and my oldest boy promptly took it to his house. i paid 85 bux, and could sell it on gunbroker for $350 tomorrow. took me 4 hours to do.

[mauser]

Thank you for the additional input.
I'll see my son this weekend and we'll figure out what to do. I know he wants to fire it and check the patterns before he does anything to it. If the adjustable choke gives a better than expected pattern he may decide to leave it on and use the gun for card shoots/block shoots and other casual recreational use. (Adjustable and interchangeable chokes are allowed where we participate). He has a Remington 870 to hunt with.
As far as the finish is concerned, the wood looks plenty good enough now that I've squared up the butt and put a decent looking recoil pad on it. We're not going to do anything more with it.
But the steel is a different story, it's going to get some attention. What's left of the finish that's on it is brown, I don't know if he'll want to finish it brown again or go with cold blue. I have the Birchwood Casey chemicals to go either way. I'd like him to do it with my help rather than just do it for him, he'll appreciate it more and learn something from it as well.
Whatever gets done will be his choice, I'll share your replies with him and let him make the call.

[mauser]

ugly was in fashion in 1955.

I guess that explains why I look like I do.

[wa3ra]

Have it powder coated in semi-flat black, right over the barrel AND choke.

Add a bi-pod.

Instant Tacti-Cool!

[mauser]

Have it powder coated in semi-flat black, right over the barrel AND choke.

Add a bi-pod.

Instant Tacti-Cool!

I'd paint it flat black with a rattle can from a "dollar store", but I wouldn't put any money onto powder coat or parkerizing.
If we leave the choke in place it'll damn near need a bi-pod.

I'm seriously leaning toward plum brown finish, cut the choke off and jug choke it, but it ain't my gun. My son has the final say.
I think he wants this to resemble it's original configuration, but tacti-cool would be easy enough to do and it's not out of the question.

[justashooter]

lebanon isn't that far from york. i am just south of york. if you have a free saturday and want to parkerise it i have tanks and solution and a sandblaster and aluminum tape and a tubing cutter (how i cut mine) and you can bring the cylinder hone and the sandpaper. i can give you access to the equipment and some burgers on the grill for a small ammo donation.

back in the day when parts kits were cheap we had some hellacious gunbuilds at my place...could use some new blood. i have a high standard pump i am getting ready to cut down to riot length and parkerise, so we could do a gang boil.

[mauser]

lebanon isn't that far from york. i am just south of york. if you have a free saturday and want to parkerise it i have tanks and solution and a sandblaster and aluminum tape and a tubing cutter (how i cut mine) and you can bring the cylinder hone and the sandpaper. i can give you access to the equipment and some burgers on the grill for a small ammo donation.

back in the day when parts kits were cheap we had some hellacious gunbuilds at my place...could use some new blood. i have a high standard pump i am getting ready to cut down to riot length and parkerise, so we could do a gang boil.

Thanks for the offer, sounds like a good time.

He finally had a chance to shoot it and decided the choke is going to stay on it.
He'll just use it for a fun gun. If we decide to do anything with the finish it'll either be plum brown or cold blue, the choke gets the same treatment as the rest of the gun. If it turns out a different shade of brown or blue due to different steel that's OK too.