Ithaca Flues ? Side by side 16 gauge help

[philthephlier]

Restoring this shotgun for a friend and upon dissassembly of the action when the floor plate was separated from the rest of the action a broken coil spring fell out and I am not sure where it came from or what it's function is. Where can I get a replacement, what is the name of the part as I have been unable to find a schematic. The gun is probably from the 1920's or 30s. Any help much appreciated.

[stubshaft]

I have two of those 16-gauge Flues and the only coil spring I remember in them as for the barrel locking block. FWIW - it is one of the most frustrating parts to reassemble.

Good luck!

[centershot]

Give Les at Diamond Gunsmithing a call. He was the lead gunsmith at Ithaca Gun Co. when they were located in Ithaca, NY. He's helped me out a couple of times.

https://diamondgunsmithing.com/

[2152hq]

It's probably from the top lever lock.

Look at the bottom of the action with the trigger plate off. There should be a round button about 5/8" in dia with a hole in the center of it.
That is the top lever lock.

The hole in the center of it is where the coil spring came from. It just drops free when the trigger plate is removed.

When in place the coil spring should have enough length to protrude from the round button about 1/4+ inch.
The spring is compressed when the trigger plate is installed onto the action and pushes that button upwards.
On the other end of the button is a lug.
When the top ever is pushed open, the spring loaded button snaps into a notch in th top lever and holds it in the open position.

You can pull tht button/lever lock right out of the frame now with the trigger plate off. Nothing will happen.
Any small coil spring that will fit into the hole in the button and of sufficiant length and strength to do the job is fine for a replacement.
Something from HomeDepot spring selection is likely to fit..

The small flat springs attached to the trigger plate are the sear springs. Simple small screw hold in each in place on each side.

If you remove the hammers,, the main springs behind them are very powerful coil springs, one on each side.
They are difficult to re-install w/o the use of either a clamping tool or other leverage to compress and hold both the spring in compression and the hammer in position to reinstall the hammer pivot pin.
No real need to remove the hammers and main springs unless some problem with them or you need to access the firing pins which are separate from the hammers.
Firing pins are each set into the frame with a set screw. The set screw is heavily staked into place and generally needs to be drilled out and the hole re-tapped for a new set screw to be made and set in place. This is the common Ithaca firing pin set up,,even on the Lefever Nitro Special.
Avoid dry firing ANY Ithaca SxS,,they will break firing pins and you can see they are not a quick and easy replacement job.

If you remove the top lever and spindle, you will be removing the top lever tension spring. On the Flues it is a coil spring that is seated in a hole in the back face of the frame opposite the breech.
It comes out easy, it goes back in with difficulty.
You will need to make a spring compression tool to compress the coil spring and allow for you to re-insert and tighten the attachment screw while you hold the spring in near full compression while doing so.

Wear some good eye protection while working on these or any gun stuff.
Springs especially are fast & unforgiving.

Flues was made up till about 1925/26. Then they brought out the NID (New Ithaca Double) to take it's place. That was Ithaca's last SxS and was made right up to WW2 with some assembled after WW2 as well.

[philthephlier]

Thank you all. New spring and all working great.

[pietro]

.

Those lightweight (compared to an Ithaca NID) Flues models are shooting wands.

Mine is a ca. 1914 Grade 1-S in 28ga ( I only use low-pressure RST loads in it )