Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight

The broken Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight pump shotgun on my bench was assembled in 1955 based on its serial number of 618XXX. My father had purchased it for hunting rabbit, pheasant, and quail. True to its name, it is light, easy to swing, and soft shooting. It saw frequent use through the late 1950s and early 60s and then less use over time before it finally ended up in the closet at my parent’s house.

The barrel was removed and cleaned usually after each outing along with a quick swipe of the inside of the receiver, but I don’t think the action was ever disassembled. After Dad passed away I brought the gun home and later taught my kids how to shoot it along with the .22 bolt action rifle that I also inherited. The gun sat idle for along time until I decided to use it for trapshooting.

After many years of trouble-free operation, it had developed a problem where it would not feed from the magazine on fol- Notice the hammer is in the fired position. low up shots. I disassembled the action, cleaned, and inspected it but could not find any issues. Another trip to the range showed that the same problem existed. It would cycle normally without shotshells in the magazine but would jam when loaded.

Turning the gun 90 degrees so the bottom ejection port was horizontal or inverting the gun allowed the action to cycle ammunition from the magazine normally. Typically, I would load the magazine and cycle the first round into the chamber with the gun held with the ejection port horizontal, pointed away from me. Aiming at a clay, I would fire the first round and try to cycle the action but with no luck.

Inspection showed that the nose of the next shell had caught on the chamfer of the receiver below the barrel chamber. Obviously, I had missed something on the previous tear down.

Disassembly Disassembly is simple and straight forward. Make sure the magazine and chamber are empty. Rotate the knurled cap on the magazine tube counter clockwise (looking from the breach) until it is fully disengaged from the barrel lug. Pull the slide back about half way to retract the bolt. Rotate the barrel 90 degrees clockwise so the interrupted threads on the barrel disengage from the receiver. Pull the barrel from the receiver. Remove the plate from the buttstock.

Along screwdriver is used to remove the buttstock screw and the buttstock is removed. The trigger group screw is removed from the left side of the receiver. The hammer needs to be in the fired position so that it will clear the rear of the shell lifter. Slide the trigger group rearward from the receiver. I was able to clean the trigger group without disassembly. The right side interrupter bar is removed. It has a pivot pin that fits in a hole in the receiver.

The shell lifter pivots on the two larger screws and they in turn are retained by the smaller screws that fit into one of four grooves in the bolt head. Removing these screws allows the lifter to be pulled from the rear of the receiver. The bolt will need to be at the rear of the receiver to remove the lifter. Some wiggling of the lifter is required to get it past the bolt. To remove the bolt, it must be disengaged from the action bar.

The spring-loaded pin in the bottom of the bolt is pushed toward the right side of the receiver, disengaging it from the mating hole in the action bar, allowing the bar to be pulled forward. The bolt is then slid from the receiver. The bolt has only two major pieces and is easily cleaned. The left side interrupter bar is held in position by a small diameter screw-pin in the bottom of the receiver. It requires a screwdriver small enough for eyeglass screws for removal.

The interrupter has a small coil spring in a recess; the spring is not retained so it can fall out. The fore grip and action bar can be removed from the magazine tube after removing the knurled cap and barrel support. Repair With the gun disassembled, I found two small burrs on the edge of the chamfer below the chamber, one on either side. They were barely visible but could be readily felt with a finger nail.

The burrs were the edges of the chamfer that had been "rolled up" ever so slightly, most likely by the bolt face hitting the chamfer when cycling the

The opposite side had a burr at the same location. gun without shells. I removed the burrs with a small file, being careful not to remove any additional material. I then turned my attention to the cracks in the buttstock. Each side of the stock was cracked, starting at the receiver end of the stock and extending about 2.5 inches. These were the sort of cracks commonly seen in older firearms. The cracks extended from the outside of the stock into the center hole.

I used the typical repair method of drilling a small hole in each of the cracks, filling the holes with glue, and then forcing the glue into the cracks. Fortunately, the wood was dry and not oil soaked. I very slowly drilled a 9/64" diameter hole in the center of each crack, being careful to follow the angle of the crack to a depth of about two-thirds that of the crack. I compressed the cracked area with heavy rubber bands when drilling to prevent chatter and to prevent the cracks from growing.

I removed the rubber bands and added the glue, forcing it into the cracks with a 1/8" diameter dowel. I repeated this until glue was showing on the outside of the stock along the full length of the cracks. I compressed the cracked areas with heavy rubber bands, wiped off the excess glue, and set the stock aside for 24 hours to cure. Reassembly Reassembly is the reverse of the disassembly. The left side interrupter bar is installed before the bolt.

The interrupter bar will prevent the bolt from sliding all the way into the receiver unless the front of the interrupter is pivoted into the receiver. This allows the small tab on the bolt to slide past the other end of the interrupter. The spring-loaded pin in the bottom of the bolt is pushed toward the right side of the receiver and the action bar slid along the bolt until the pin and the hole in the action bar are aligned. With the bolt installed, the shell lifter is inserted into the receiver past the bolt.

It helps to have the bolt at the rear of the receiver. Again, a little wiggling is required. The shell lifter pivot screws are installed and finger tightened so that one of the grooves in the head aligns with the small retainer screw. The right side interrupter bar and trigger group are reinstalled with the hammer in the fired position. The buttstock and barrel are installed. Test Firing The shotgun was reassembled and successfully cycled with snap cap rounds.

Testing at the range with live ammunition showed that the gun now operated correctly. Apparently, holding the gun sideways or upside down was enough to allow the next shell to get past the burrs and load into the chamber properly. Only when holding the gun in the normal position and lifting the shell against gravity, the slight restriction caused by the burrs was enough to prevent proper function. My fix proved to be just what was needed to restore this Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight. AG