The M37’s bottom ejection makes the shotgun ambidextrous however, southpaws will need to replace the original right-hand safety with a left hand-specific piece, if they so choose. The receiver is still machined from a single block of steel the slide release remains set at the front right edge of the trigger guard, with the simple lightly checkered crossbolt safety at the rear. Even the Deerslayer III, with her heavy fluted barrel, drilled receiver and high Monte Carlo stock, displays all the tradition, class and elegance you would expect from a 73-year-old shotgun.īut for all her high-tech achievements on the range and in the field - NOTE: Ithaca claims 4-inch three-shot groups at 200 yards - the M37 Deerslayer III remains almost as basic as the original. And many would say the M37 is the essence of traditional field shotgun styling - slim and light, yet rugged, dependable and low-maintenance, a trait due in part to the gun’s bottom loading and ejection port. However, with the expiration of the original patents for Remington’s M17 in 1937, the Ithaca Gun Company, tooled and waiting for the new piece since 1933, began producing what’s now known as the venerable M37. What you might not be familiar with is the history behind the gun, which began life as the Remington M17, and which itself would eventually morph into one of the most recognized pump-guns of all-time, the Remington M870. Technically SpeakingĮven if you’re never owned one, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Ithaca’s classic Model 37 pump-gun. The answer, as evidenced by Ithaca’s Model 37 Deerslayer III, is a resounding no. Thankfully, there’s an answer for those wondering if traditional looks must be sacrificed in order to achieve Year 2011 performance from a slug gun. All was right in the slug-shooter’s world, save, perhaps, for the fact these ultra-modern shotguns, though undeniably effective, little resembled the guns of our fathers. Accuracy improved dramatically likewise our confidence in our ability to consistently drop these high-tech slugs into something the size of a baseball at 100 yards, if not a little more. Round-nosed Foster slugs were relegated to the shelves, replaced by the new sabotted projectiles designed specifically for these cutting-edge rifled barrels. The ammunition we fed the guns changed radically, too. The open sights quickly gave way to B-Square saddle mounts, and 1-inch fixed four-powers. We had earlier swapped our smoothbore M1100 barrels for fully-rifled tubes outfitted with adjustable iron sights.
Minute-of-angle? I don’t think so.įast-forward into the 21st century. Accuracy with the old girl was everything on a 9-inch paper plate, with the forearm rested, at 50 yards. The barrel was smooth, as shotgun barrels were back in the day, and her optics consisted of a single silver front bead. The firearm? A plain-Jane M1100 autoloader 16-gauge. My first Ohio deer fell to a Foster-style Remington Slugger rifled slug at a distance of 25 steps. Not to be left behind are the dedicated whitetail shotguns. So, too, are digital trail cameras that wirelessly transmit images to a hunter’s PDA - that’s personal data assistant, if you happen to be technologically challenged such as I am. Scent elimination suits are as common as old-school two-slice toasters. Now here’s a statement we hunters, or at least those of us having long celebrated our 40-year birthday, will find quite elemental - outdoor equipment has come a long way.