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Thread: New to Me - M37 Deerslayer

  1. #1
    Boolit Master

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    New to Me - M37 Deerslayer

    Got a phone call from an old friend a couple days ago, he asked me if I was still interested in his M-37 Deerslayer. WOW! "Yes!" I said, "How much?". We agreed on $400. I didn't think he'd ever part with it but he explained that he'd been hunting with a rifle since they became legal about 10 years ago and at his age (75) he wasn't going to hunt with a shotgun again. I picked it up yesterday, unbeknownst to me the deal also included the original 28" mod. choke barrel! "Another one!?" exclaimed Mrs. Centershot, always bemused with my penchant for nice guns (It's OK, she'll get over it........eventually). It's a '70's era 20 gauge, it shows some wear but overall it's in nice shape. I'll need to get an order in to BPI for hulls, wads and cards, can't wait!

    Attachment 261453
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

    Hogtamer's Avatar
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    You must be living right, gonna have to change your handle to scattershot!
    "My main ambition in life is to be on the devil's most wanted list."
    Leonard Ravenhill

  3. #3
    Boolit Master

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    Scattershot?? Hmmmmm............ Thanks Hal!
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    I’ve got a friend that dove hunts each year with a Ithaca 37 20 gauge with the I think it’s a 20” deer barrel . He usually does pretty well I might add well provided the birds are flying . I’d like one in a 16 myself .
    Parker's , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    Gun looks to have a pretty decent piece of wood in the stock figure wise . And I think your deer barrel is the same length as my friends .
    Parker's , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    We had a recent manufacture model 37 in 28 gauge in the shop . I was selling for a past prez of our gun club . That was a nice little gun and very light . I should’ve bought it for my wife but I messed around to long and we sold it online .
    Parker's , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines

  7. #7
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    I have two Deer Slayers, a 16 and a 12. The 16 is a pre 855,000 one with a longer barrel and very nice wood. The 12 is a post 855,000 and a short barrel. Both shoot commercial slugs pretty well, but I want to do round ball loads. The .69 caliber balls I tried in the 12 worked pretty well. Haven't figured out how to do it in the 16 yet.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master

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    A .662" RB should work well in that 16 ga., Lyman makes the mould.
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by centershot View Post
    A .662" RB should work well in that 16 ga., Lyman makes the mould.
    I was thinking that. I also wondered, but haven't tried yet, if a .60 caliber ball would be a good fit in a standard sized shot cup in the 16.

    That Russian outfit selling those slug molds on Ebay seems to be making one for the 16 now, looks like a clone of the Lyman waisted slug.

    Not sure why I have these other than I like guns and have always liked Ithaca 37s, Kansas doesn't have a shotgun restriction except for certain parts of Fort Riley for safety reasons. I read somewhere that Ithaca was the first to make a dedicated slug gun and the bores of the Deer Slayers are tighter to facilitate better accuracy than most shotguns of the day had. No idea if that's true or not, but seems to make sense.

  10. #10
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    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
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    Ithaca figured out that a little choke in the barrel made slugs more accurate. The Deerslayer barrels are choked from cylinder bore down to about .715 or IC.

    Browning followed suit on their Buck Special Barrels and mine is choked down to .715 at the muzzle. I think all this took place in the 60's or 70's

    I'm not sure that putting an IC choke tube in your barrel would work the same way, as the transition may throw things off.

    My Vang Comped barrels are back bored to .745 the the last 2" are tapered back down to .730 so there is a .015 constriction at the muzzle which acts like a funnel centering the slug as it passes thru. Both of those barrels shoot slugs well.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy kaiser's Avatar
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    I have a Ithaca 37 in a 16ga with a plain 28" mod bbl, 26" Deer Slayer bbl, and vent rib 26" Imp/Cyl bbl. I purchased the gun in '68 and just recently have had to replace the ejector spring (finally wore out). The Deer Slayer bbl was originally made, according to Ithaca's literature, as one continual dimension from in front of the forcing cone to the end of the barrel. Mine is very accurate with slugs brands it like; its favorite is the Winchester slug. Even though it is a "smooth bore" slug barrel, I have never fired regular shot in this barrel to see how it patterns. Thanks to those of you for the information on round ball loads.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master

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    The bore of this 20 gauge slug barrel measures .605" at the muzzle, so .010" under nominal bore size? Twenty gauge bore is .615" IIRC. I also understood that Ithaca's barrel shop bored the Deerslayer barrels straight through, no constriction at the muzzle.
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  13. #13
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by richhodg66 View Post
    I was thinking that. I also wondered, but haven't tried yet, if a .60 caliber ball would be a good fit in a standard sized shot cup in the 16.

    That Russian outfit selling those slug molds on Ebay seems to be making one for the 16 now, looks like a clone of the Lyman waisted slug.

    Not sure why I have these other than I like guns and have always liked Ithaca 37s, Kansas doesn't have a shotgun restriction except for certain parts of Fort Riley for safety reasons. I read somewhere that Ithaca was the first to make a dedicated slug gun and the bores of the Deer Slayers are tighter to facilitate better accuracy than most shotguns of the day had. No idea if that's true or not, but seems to make sense.
    Rich, the .600" ball might be a little too tight but I'd try it just to see. If so, the .575" RB should be about perfect for use in a shotcup! Depending on the petal thickness you would have somewhere around .010" compression of the petals.
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    Still use a 1955 vintage m37 for duck hunting. Still have one Deerslayer with the other 6 Ithaca’s. Had 11 at one time now some extra barrels too
    Regards
    John

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    I've had quite a few over the years, down to just three now.

    I've been on a 16 gauge kick lately and wanted a pump. There was a nice 37 in the Wichita Cabela's and I also had a bid in on a Model 12 on an auction. I bid fairly low on the 12 figuring if I lost it, I'd go get the Ithaca, well, I won the Winchester, so now I get to find out what all the hype over the model 12. It is a very nice gun, just seems heavy compared to an Ithaca.

  16. #16
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    The extra weight is a plus when it comes to recoil. The Ithaca does punch hard for its class.
    "My main ambition in life is to be on the devil's most wanted list."
    Leonard Ravenhill

  17. #17
    Boolit Master Dan Cash's Avatar
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    A dear friend of mine in NE Ohio has used a 37 Deer Slayer with great success for many years. It is deadly medicine in his hands.
    To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the trouble with many shooting experts is not that they're ignorant; its just that they know so much that isn't so.

  18. #18
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    Ithaca did make that shotgun correctly for corn cruncher hunters.
    "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
    Male Guanaco out in dry lakebed at 10,800 feet south of Arequipa.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hogtamer View Post
    The extra weight is a plus when it comes to recoil. The Ithaca does punch hard for its class.
    Yes it does! My first shotgun, all those years ago, was a 12 ga. Ithaca 37 with a 26" IC choke barrel. I shot that gun for a number of yeas before I bought an 870. At the time I thought the 870 was heavy, but it fit me better than the 37 did. The first time I shot it I was very surprised how much less recoil it had compared to the 37.
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  20. #20
    Boolit Buddy kaiser's Avatar
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    I too tried the Ithaca 37 in a 12ga because I liked the weight and performance of my 16ga "featherweight" - it was fun to carry, but not fun to shoot! I quickly sent it down the road and bought an 870 and found it to be about the lightest "12" I enjoyed shooting and the heaviest I cared to carry in the field.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check