Ugh! How bad is it out there?

[Stan Hoover]

Originally Posted by Ian Civco

How do I figure out the make of the trigger?

Ian,

As noted by Dave, it is an Ithaca produced single non selective trigger, designed by Harry Howland and Ithaca employee.

I have a few of these on Ithaca’s that I use and can never recall an Ithaca non selective trigger ever failing. My favorite grouse gun, a 20 gauge has one of these, never a problem.
I shoot Ithaca single selective trigger on a regular basis, had a few issues here and there, but not enough to scare me away from purchasing another Ithaca single trigger. My experience with more than one Kautsky single trigger has been less than favorable, enough to make me think twice before purchasing another.
These are only my experiences and opinions, so take it for what you paid for them.
The gun you show is all there and original in every way except for a pad having been added. Remove the pad and add a Repro Ithaca Sunburst pad and you have a very strong good looking 16 that will handle any 2 3/4” ammo on the market, of course not steel waterfowl loads.

[MrBojangles]

Originally Posted by Stan Hoover

Ian,

As noted by Dave, it is an Ithaca produced single non selective trigger, designed by Harry Howland and Ithaca employee.

I have a few of these on Ithaca’s that I use and can never recall an Ithaca non selective trigger ever failing. My favorite grouse gun, a 20 gauge has one of these, never a problem.
I shoot Ithaca single selective trigger on a regular basis, had a few issues here and there, but not enough to scare me away from purchasing another Ithaca single trigger. My experience with more than one Kautsky single trigger has been less than favorable, enough to make me think twice before purchasing another.
These are only my experiences and opinions, so take it for what you paid for them.
The gun you show is all there and original in every way except for a pad having been added. Remove the pad and add a Repro Ithaca Sunburst pad and you have a very strong good looking 16 that will handle any 2 3/4” ammo on the market, of course not steel waterfowl loads.

I’m sort of thinking of getting a 20, 28, or .410 ga Ithaca as these are much cheaper than I thought. IF I was to offer my friend money for this, what should I offer? He’s a bit realistic about the current market, and said he was offered $1200 by a dealer 3 or 4 years ago and was going to do something with the recoil pad if he purchased it. He said he had about that into it, which is where I came up with he had $1200 into it. But my offer might be an insult, but such it is.

There’s a lot of junk Ithaca’s on the market, this one seems nicer than 80 or 90% of them but nowhere near as nice as the $1800 example posted to this thread.

I thought until today it to be worth somewhat closer to the $1200 range than the mid 3 figure range simply because I always thought a single trigger added value and I always thought the value of a N.I.D. to be double that of a Flues.

[Mike Poindexter]

Plusses: 16 ga
Minuses (to me): SST, recoil pad
Deal maker or breaker: Fit and chokes.

This is a shooter and has no particular collectors interest. If it fit me, was choked modified and full, and I needed or wanted another pheasant gun, I would bite at $600. JMHO.

[MrBojangles]

Originally Posted by Mike Poindexter

Plusses: 16 ga
Minuses (to me): SST, recoil pad
Deal maker or breaker: Fit and chokes.

This is a shooter and has no particular collectors interest. If it fit me, was choked modified and full, and I needed or wanted another pheasant gun, I would bite at $600. JMHO.

In this market, I don’t think there are many Ithaca shotguns that are collectible and so most are shooters.

I might just walk from this one despite being nicer than most out there.

[Researcher]

The 2 and 4 choke markings on the barrel flats indicate it left Ithaca choked modified and full. A repro Ithaca "bridge trestle" recoil pad and a bit of finish touch-up and it would be more pleasing.

[Bill Murphy]

I don't think that many buyers studying (casually watching) the market understand that field used, abused, modified guns in lower grades have never sold for serious money nor have they sold for what you think they should have sold for, or not sold. Nothing much has changed in the collector market.

[MrBojangles]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

I don't think that many buyers studying (casually watching) the market understand that field used, abused, modified guns in lower grades have never sold for serious money nor have they sold for what you think they should have sold for, or not sold. Nothing much has changed in the collector market.

I thought the one I was offered was better than most with regards to condition and the only “abuse” was the recoil pad addition and possibly the trigger if not original, and if factory, a plus.

The seller, a friend, paid $1200 for it many years ago.

[Steve Hodges]

This is an Ithaca NID 16 Gauge, all original, that sold for about $1800 last year.

[ArtS]

I've bought and sold quite a few NID's. In general, it is considered by a lot of people the strongest of all the classic doubles, is very durable. The fact that it was made in great numbers and they are readily available has kept the price down to an attractive level. Over the last 10-15 years, I have found (and sometimes sold) a number of 16 and 20 gauges similar to the $1800 gun pictured. Most were around the same 1800 to 2000 range. All were Field grade. When you get into NIDs of any higher grade, the price escalates. A high grade NID in good shape is a work of art, particularly their engraving when you get to 4 grade or above. One thing of note is that the later field grades often had exceptional wood for the simple reason they were essentially closing them out from the late 30's until 1948 or so and used whatever wood they had on hand.

I have always shot them well and liked their weight and balance.