a crass question

[Rick Losey]

Ithaca Crass that is - stopped in an out of the way shop while we were out, just to get some cleaning supplies my local shop was out of- besides a large selection of primers that had just arrived

the end of the used rack had a few doubles - several Lefever Nitros - all 12s, a fairly good looking 12ga Batavia leader ( barrels were cold blued but the pattern showed. and a 20ga Ithaca - I think a Crass - 52K serial number - field grade, 28 inch, good blue (right tube marked for smokeless powder), , good clean bores and quite a bit of case color, and very good finish on the wood. too much drop of course.

I know they have been discusses a few times here and some of you have one or two - and here is my question- there is a screw in the center bottom at the back of the foreend wood - it that standard on these?

gun is relatively high condition for its age and priced around the 12 nitros :cool:

[Dave Noreen]

52K serial number range? We need to see pictures of this!! According to Walter Snyder's book, the Crass serial numbers ended at 49999 and the Lewis Model serial numbers began at 55000. Walter, even shows a picture of the ledger page showing this on page 292 of the Second Edition of his book. None of the Crass guns shown in Walter's book show a machine screw from the outside of the forearm wood into the forearm metal like many later Ithacas have. I'm not exactly sure when the 20-gauge was added to the Ithaca Gun Co. offerings, but I'm thinking the Crass was only offered in 10-, 12- and 16-gauges.

[Rick Losey]

thanks Dave

I was going by the list on the double gunshop board to determine model- that shows Crass numbers up in the beginning of the 94K range, with the Lewis model starting with 94109.

http://www.doublegunshop.com/dgsnos3.htm

In spite of growing up near there, I never paid much attention to their doubles although there were a lot of them around when i was young.

But the condition of this one caught my eye- if it has not been redone, it has withstood the years well.

you say "screw from the outside of the forearm wood into the forearm metal like many later Ithacas have" so is that a feature on the Lewis

[Dave Noreen]

The screw seems to be common in later Flues Models and NIDs. It is also found on a few Lefever Nitro Specials. A 1921 vintage Flues --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Ithaca%20and%20Lefever/351836UnderneathFluesNo3.jpg

1941 vintage NID --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Ithaca%20and%20Lefever/46799407.jpg

That serial number chronology is worth what you pay for it!! Doesn't have the Minier Models and shows the Lewis in the years of the Minier!! Much better one in the second edition of Walter's book, which is well worth the investment if one is going to play with Ithacas.

[Rick Losey]

Thanks again Dave, from the second edition??

then is this list from the first edition?

MODELS, SERIAL NUMBERS AND MANUFACTURING DATES FOR ITHACA GUNS
Reprinted with express written permission from Walter Claude Snyder’s books

“The Ithaca Gun Company From The Beginning”
and
“Ithaca Featherlight Repeaters: The Best Gun Going: A Complete History of the Ithaca Model 37 and the Model 87”
.
©All rights reserved, copyrighted,no material with in this document may be copied or distributed in any way without the express written permission of the author, Walter Claude Snyder


http://www.ithacagun.com/pdfs/serialnumbers.pdf

like i said - i know little about them, just trying to learn, not sure I need a small bore with a stock that doesn't. But I get curious when I don't know much about a double.

[Dave Noreen]

I've got both the first and second editions of The Ithaca Gun Company From the Beginning, and that list is different. That appears to be an intermediate version.