Ithaca Trench Gun Serial Numbers
Observed trench gun serial numbers range from: #61038 to #61856. All known original WWII Model 37 trench guns have the 'RLB' marking on the left side of the receiver So 6 rows is the key.
Pictured above is the Ithaca Trench Gun as issued in Viet Nam. 20' barrel, no heat shield attachment. I remember seeing a few, (damn few!) trench guns in Viet Nam in '69-'70, maybe two, and I don't remember what they were. Neither had heat shields, both were pump guns with 20' barrels and slings like the Ithaca pictured above.
Ithaca Model 37, trench gun, riot gun, Ithaca, shotgun Ithaca Model 37 Trench and Riot Gun Though not nearly as famous as the Winchester Model 1897, Ithaca’s Model 37 served with distinction in multiple conflicts. By Rick Hacker (RSS) April 18, 2011 The United States Army had been using smoothbore shotguns since the Revolutionary War, although the formidable weapon didn’t come into its own until World War I with the introduction of the Winchester Model 1897 “trench sweeper,” a 12 gauge, 20-inch-barreled pump-action scattergun. The weapon was so devastating, the German government unsuccessfully petitioned to get it banned from combat. The Model 1897 went on to fight in World War II, but by then guns and parts were wearing out and replacement armament was needed. One of the most unlikely—yet obvious—candidates to carry on the effectiveness of an open-choked, short-barreled shotgun for close-range military use was the Ithaca Model 37, which, sharing a link with the Model 97, was based on the Remington Model 17, both John M. Browning designs.
Advertisement Up until this time, the Ithaca Gun Company, located in western New York, was known for finely crafted double-barreled sporting smoothbores and superb single-barreled competition shotguns. Founded in 1883 by William Henry Baker, this well-respected company had become a favorite of such luminaries as trick shooter Annie Oakley and John Philip Sousa. But in May 1937, Ithaca introduced the appropriately named Model 37—a single-barreled pump shotgun. Patented by factory manager Harry E.
Howland, and working with Ithaca designer Nestor Smith, the gun was ready in May 1932, but production was halted due to patent infringement. It seemed the hammerless new Ithaca repeater ran afoul of mechanisms used on the hammerless Remington Model 17 as well as the older, exposed-hammer Winchester 1897. Although the Model 17 was discontinued in 1933, the patents did not expire until four years later. Ithaca Model 37, Model 37, Vietnam, shotgun, Model 37 in Vietnam The Ithaca Model 37 served in a variety of wars, including World War II. Here it's seen in the hands of a G.I. Photo courtesy of the U.S.
Army The Model 37 was a much more efficient design than the Remington 17, although both shared the dual bottom loading- and ejection-port feature. But, the Ithaca was lighter and used fewer parts. Its short-stroke pump was faster, a reversible cross-bolt safety made the gun adaptable for southpaws and unlike the Model 17, the Model 37 was brought out in 12 gauge. A 16-gauge version was introduced in 1938 and a 20 gauge came a year later. Although Ithaca’s commercial firearms production was halted by World War II, it was the Model 37 that brought Ithaca into the government’s arsenal.
By 1940, with war raging in Europe but the U.S. Remaining out of the fracas, the Ordnance Department nonetheless realized the need to shore up its lagging supply of combat shotguns.
At that time, the Ithaca Model 37 was one of only six commercially produced smoothbores deemed suitable. As a result, an initial order for 1,420 Ithaca Model 37 trench guns—with factory-fitted 20-inch, open-choked barrels, ventilated steel heat guards, lugs for the M1917 bayonet, sling swivels and without the standard Model 37’s takedown feature—was placed in November 1941. One month later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Rather than being Parkerized, these six-shot, World War II-era Model 37s sported finely blued steel and were stamped with a U.S.