Ithaca Trench Gun Serial Numbers

The Inland M37 Trench Shotgun all-American-made combat shotgun is faithful to the original from its bead sight, Parkerized finish, oiled stock, and ventilated hand guard to its hard-to-miss bayonet lug that fits the long 1917 bayonet. The Inland M37 Trench shotgun is manufactured in a joint effort with the Ithaca Gun Company, Upper Sandusky, OH.

See thats were my problem lies,everyone arround were i live see this gun and has told me it was a flash supp. And that could have been used for training purposes but why would you need a flash supp. For training so the skeet cant see you, LOL, now so far its starting to make sence what, you are talking about. But i wish i had some good facts on this gun were it could have been used, what the purpose of this gun was, see a few pictures, and maybe a price figure on ths gun so i know if i should take out insurance on it just in case it should ever get stolen. A super hindi 10 fonts. Hi John: I have now had time to pull my copy of Bruce Canfield's 'Combat Shotguns' book off the shelf.

Canfield reports that the Ithaca M37 was made in both trench and riot gun versions. The trench gun is considered to be the scarcest of all WW2 USGI shotguns. What you appear to have is the riot version which Canfield says came with a 22' barrel, with a few 20' guns. He goes on to say that 'Most of the WWII contract riot guns fall into the 48,000 to 51,000 serial number range.'

He cautions that '.the serial number range is not as definitive as the Model 37 trench gun serial number range.' The trench gun serial range is reported to be 57,820 to 61,450. Your serial number is considerably below both of those ranges. On the Ithaca riot guns the receiver markings are reported by Canfield to be somewhat different from those on your shotgun.

On the riot gun the upper left side of the receiver has the US like your's does, but also has a P-proof marking in the upper corner. The Ordnance bomb is found on the left barrel marked 'sideways', not on the receiver, and it also has a P-proof. The trench gun receiver markings are also different from what your shotgun has. I hope that this additional information is helpful to you. Regards, Charlie Flick •.

With the serial number being that low and the bomb marking being in a different place than what the book says would this maybe have been a test gun befor they were actually issued? I mean with my serial number being 30 thousand lower what do you make of this? John: I see several possibilities here which I will list in no particular order. Your gun is legit and was stuck in the back of the vault at Ithaca when the order came in for military shotguns. This does not explain why your markings are different.

Your gun is legit and its non-standard markings are just an anomaly in the marking prcess. However, there is no proof of that and Canfield does not cite any other examples. Your gun has had the military markings applied by a faker to create a scarce martial M37.

If you paid a significant premium for the gun based on the markings I would be suspicious. However, the very well used condition of your gun and the presence of the compensator (which most martial shotgun collectors dislike) suggest otherwise.

Your gun was purchased under the Government's Blanket Procurement Program. This was a program initiated in February, 1942 to quickly purchase 12 gauge shotguns on the civilian market because of the urgent need for them. These were new and used civilian shotguns purchased by roving representatives of the Ordnance Dept. The Program closed down in March, 1943 after almost 200,000 new and used shotguns had been purchased. Canfield notes that many of these guns were marked with an Ordnance bomb and/or a small US. Since your serial number is so much earlier than the known WW2 contract guns and because it has a compensator on it, my best guess would be that your gun was purchased under this Program.