New Shotgun - Savage/Stevens Model 350

[bruce drake]

Bought a new 12 Gauge shotgun a week or so back for just a little over $200 from our Army Post Exchange.

Its Chinese made, but imported in by Savage under their Stevens trademark.

A Stevens Model 350 shotgun which is a 95% copy of the old Ithaca 37 but with two major product improvements - a twin action bar on the pump and a safety improvement to prevent slam fires from cycling the pump while keeping the trigger down.

Taking it out of the box, I found a nice blued steel shotgun with a hard polymer stock and fore-end. The steel receiver gives it some heft to offset the polymer stocks.

I took it to the range and using the provided Security Barrel I was able to keep 5 Winchester 1oz slugs in a 6 inch circle at 50 yards. Not bad for not having shot a 12 gauge for the first time in about 10 years. Most of my Shotty work over that time has been with 20 Gauge light skeet/slug loads so I assume the accuracy will get better the more I shoot the shotgun.

The slug barrel of course created a huge pattern at 25 yards with Estate 7 1/2 shot loads but the recoil from both the shot and the slug loads were very manageable. I expected the patterns to be very open at that range but at 5 yards, this Security Barrel ripped holes in the target frame with this load which would clean any home intruder's clock.

As a lefty, I really appreciate the bottom ejection port which allows me to not worry about getting a shell back in my face during the ejection phase of firing. A downside for being a lefty is that the Safety button is located in the trigger guard where if you are a lefty, the fire button will rub your trigger finger when you fire it. The safety is smoothly out of the way for right handed users. This safety button will be reshaped with a dremel shortly to match the same height as the right side of the button so it is flush during firing for me. If I wear a glove, the safety isn't an issue but if I was to shoot an entire Skeet string without that glove, my trigger finger would be feeling it from the checkering on the button.

I've already ordered the optional 28 inch Field Barrel which has a vent rib sights and uses WinChokes from my local gun shop to complete the set on this very nice and affordable shotgun.

Bruce

[Bret4207]

A happy gun owner is a joy to behold! Glad you got a good one Bruce. I'm an Ithaca fan myself. Love those bottom eject designs.

[bruce drake]

I figured I should put a review out since other people probably grew up with Ithacas or would appreciate a bottom eject pump.

Also Savage undercut the Ithaca company on its price by a couple of hundred dollars as well by having a chinese company make the shotgun under their direction.

Bruce

[starmac]

Being a lefty, (shooter wise) I am glad to see your report.

[richhodg66]

I own four Ithaca 37s of various configurations, I wondered how those would stack up when I first saw them.

They looked to me like they had an awful lot of drop on the comb of the stock, to the point that it would be painful to shoot, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

By the way, the Browning BPS is a bottom eject too, and has a tang safety so it is truly ambidextrous. I bought a 20 gauge one for my boys since youngest is a lefty.

[bruce drake]

Rich,
I should have the 28" field barrel by the time I get to Kansas and I'll let you shoot a round of skeet with it to see how you like it.

I had no issues shooting the slugs and 7 1/2s earlier through the 18" slug barrel.

Bruce

[nanuk]

is there a way to "Reverse" the safety button?

[bruce drake]

is there a way to "Reverse" the safety button?

Not sure. I'd have to look at a schematic to see if I could.

Did have an issue with the shotgun today with some Estate brand #8s. out of ten shots I had two cases stick in the chamber and fail to extract after firing. I had to take the barrel off and pop the cases out with a clearing rod.

The temperature when I was shooting was around 10 degrees so not sure exactly why they failed to extract although it didn't affect my feeble attempts at shooting some skeet clays with a cylinder bored slug barrel.

did I tell everyone I'm not a great skeet shooter? I'm hoping the new Field Barrel with IC and Mod chokes will help the attrocious skeet shooting...

[fatelk]

I don't know about the extraction issue, but it sounds like a good gun otherwise. I have two old Ithacas 37's, my brother-in-law has one, and a good friend has another; all made between about 1940 and '53. I love the design.

[Reload3006]

the ole Ithaca was a great shotgun. Being a Lefty and its bottom eject I had always intended to get one but put it on the back burner. Well they went out of business and I was left wanting. Great job on getting a fine shotgun.

For the guy asking about getting the safety turned around I have had it done on some Remingtons. I don't know about the Stevens.... Browning BPS is pretty much the same design and has a safety on the base of the receiver and not behind the trigger. You may like those.

[richhodg66]

the ole Ithaca was a great shotgun. Being a Lefty and its bottom eject I had always intended to get one but put it on the back burner. Well they went out of business and I was left wanting. Great job on getting a fine shotgun.

For the guy asking about getting the safety turned around I have had it done on some Remingtons. I don't know about the Stevens.... Browning BPS is pretty much the same design and has a safety on the base of the receiver and not behind the trigger. You may like those.

The 37s can still be had reasonably, but you have to hunt them up. My main one is a standard field model with about a 28" barrel, modified choke which was made late '40s. I think I payed about $175 for it. People have generally gotten kind of crazy with their asking prices on them, but deals are still out there.

The Brownings are really nice, very high quality gun. I don't often buy new guns, seems I like old stuff, but if I were to buy a new shotgun, they'd be at the top of the list.

I am intrigued with these Chinese Ithacas, though. You often see them advertised really cheap, would be a good thing for keeping behind the barn door or whatever. A short barrelled pump shotgun is one of those things that it's good to have a few of around, they don't take up much space and could come in real handy in certain situations.

[bruce drake]

I've got notice that my Field Barrel has shipped so I'm thinking I'll be able to get a progress report by next weekend.

Bruce

[jimlj]

I know this is an old thread. Please forgive me for bringing it back up.
In the past 4 plus years, has anyone reversed the safety on one of these?
To the OP, did you take the dremel to the safety? Any pictures or feed back on the results?
Does anyone know if the left handed safety that Ithaca offers will fit this gun?
Being left handed my only complaint with the 350 is the safety, and it's more of an annoyance than a complaint.

[Texas by God]

I don't know about the safety. I have a Remington model 17- the Grandaddy of the Ithacas. I love to eject a hull straight up in the air and hit it with the next shot. Also the older Ithaca 37s you could hold the trigger back and go pump auto..... The 17 has a disconnecter as do the later 37s. I bet the Chinese copy isn't a Featherweight!

[OnHoPr]

The 37s were capable of being reversed for the safety. I am not sure about this model though. Back a few years ago when a lot more slug reloading was being discussed in the forums over on SW site there was mention a number of times of a gunsmith in NY named something like Les Westhoven or something like that more or less a Ithaca specialist so to speak. Maybe you could do a little retro research for the info on SW for the info.

[bdicki]

You can order Model 37 left hand safeties from Ithaca, the right hand safeties cannot be reversed.
http://diamondgunsmithing.com/

[bruce drake]

As a fellow Lefty, I will tell you that sometimes the safety does get engaged during the recoil of the first shot but I don't see it as a major hindrance to shooting this pump 12 gauge.

[TheCelt]

Not sure. I'd have to look at a schematic to see if I could.

Did have an issue with the shotgun today with some Estate brand #8s. out of ten shots I had two cases stick in the chamber and fail to extract after firing. I had to take the barrel off and pop the cases out with a clearing rod.

The temperature when I was shooting was around 10 degrees so not sure exactly why they failed to extract although it didn't affect my feeble attempts at shooting some skeet clays with a cylinder bored slug barrel.

did I tell everyone I'm not a great skeet shooter? I'm hoping the new Field Barrel with IC and Mod chokes will help the attrocious skeet shooting...

A friend of mine bought one and we shot it last week. There were several times the fired case "stuck" in the chamber. A sharp rap of the butt on the bench will holding the pump grip got them out. I had the same problem with a Win 97 replica "made in China". I bought a 12 ga cylinder honing tool (looks like a large brake cylinder ball hone) and spun it in the chamber while well lubricated with light machine oil. This polished the chamber well and I had no further problem with stuck fired cases. The hones are inexpensive and last a lifetime, I've used mine on several shotguns to polish the chambers with excellent results in all.

[bruce drake]

The Ithaca shoots and ejects just fine now after several hundred hulls have been loaded and fired through it. I went to using high-brass shells for a while but now it shoots the economy loads just as well.

[jimlj]

I had asked here, and searched many other sites to see if the left handed safety from a Ithaca 37 would fit the Savage/Stevens 350. No one seems to know so I decided to be the test subject and ordered one. I'll report back when it gets here and I have time to try installing it.