Bach Melick,

Back in March, when I originally posted the question, Jeff was unable to locate the photos. I have since completed the refinishing and repairs on the shotgun. However, it was returned to its owner and as much as I had wanted to take photos toward putting together an assembly/disassembly guide, I had run too short on time; failing to do so.

So, unless you find someone else with detailed instructions, I am willing to give it a whirl via email. If you would like to, I can PM you with more details.

Coincidentally, I ran into the owner of the Ithaca that I worked on just this morning and found out he is going out of town for a couple of weeks on January 5th. I can ask him if he'd leave the shotgun with me for the two weeks to take photos for you, walking you through what I learned the hard way and some tricks to make it go a bit easier. Though, I can't foresee having a useable guide for you before January 15th. Just another route if time is not an issue.

Either way, good luck and I'm willing to help you as much as I can.

-Al

Al, thank you for the offer of assistance. I would much appreciate anything you could offer, emailed parts description and assembly instruction, or even better yet, pictoral guides. I have absolutely no reference to aid and follow in reassembling this bag of parts I have, and so it could certainly wait until after January 5th, as this project has been sitting around for 3 years now anyway... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that owner may let you borrow his Ithaca Crass for photos to help me...

Many thanks again!

No problem, at all. I'll give him a call tomorrow and see what can be arranged. He was interested in purchasing a decent takedown case for it anyway and wanted my opinion.

I'll keep you posted.

He's fine with it. I'll pick up the shotgun the day after Christmas.

However, I leave the following day and will be out of town until January 6th. But, it should only take a few days after my return to have something together that will help.

I'll see how it goes, but am expecting to either put together a .pdf that I can email to you, or just record the entire process with a video camera and upload/email to you the video. If you have any preference on format, pass it along and perhaps I can accommodate it.

Though I have no idea about how mechanically inclined you are, or how familiar with double guns you may be, I still commend you for your commitment to reassembling the shotgun. Honestly, it is not that difficult. While a soft jawed vice is not a requirement (like it would be on an A.H. Fox - good luck seating those hammers without one), it is certainly helpful. If you have strong hands, you can get by without one.

Happy Holidays to you and yours, and Happy New Year!

-Al

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

A recorded video would probably be most beneficial, and I would gladly pay for any costs of a DVD or thumb drive and shipping costs. Any video format is fine.

I am very mechanically inclined and have owned, collected, competed and tinkered with firearms for the past twenty-five years (although I have never owned a SxS shotgun, especially one as old as this Ithaca Crass), so I shouldn't have any trouble following your instructional guide, preferably a video tutorial.

Many thanks again, Al, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in the meantime.

- Bach

Bach,
I found some photos and resized the files. I will email them to you now.

It sounds like Al is all over this. Please count me in on what he puts together.
My photos are a minimal help for assembly at best.
My Ithaca project has been apart for at least two years now awaiting a
replacement buttstock which I have recently found. Time to reassemble.

Best regards,

Jeff

Thank you, Jeff; the photos you sent are definitely a start, and in conjunction with Numrich Gun Parts Corporation, I am slowly able to start figuring out which parts I have and which parts I may potentially be missing...

Once Al furnishes additional information (photos, video and/or written tutorial) after early January 2014, I will begin the process of re-assembling my own Ithaca Crass and intend to document the process to aid others in the future.

Thanks to each of you for the assistance in this collaborative effort.

Happy New Year!

You are more than welcome, Bach and Happy New Year!

UPDATE: I'll be getting into the shotgun this weekend. I should have a complete parts list with photos of each group for you by Saturday evening. Hopefully you aren't missing any parts, but I will provide the critical dimensions of each in the event of having to make any replacements.

A note on NUMRICH: I'm fortunate to live less than an hour long drive from Gun Parts Corp. and have a most active account with them. Their website is quite good, but occasionally a part listed as one thing will differ from what it actually is. Their return policy is very good for this reason. While dimensions will help you in making replacement parts, it will most likely be of no use to Numrich. Their customer service has never included gunsmithing questions, in my experience. Most, if not all, parts that will be listed on the Crass model will be used parts anyway - but if it works, rock on. And, of course, their posted schematic of that model is helpful. I have a box full of Ithaca parts that I have yet to organize. Some, I suspect, are from their hammerless models and may help should you find something is missing.

Thanks, Al. I know for a fact I am missing a few parts, I just do not yet know enough about this Ithaca Crass to know exactly what I'm missing, so your tutorial and photos will help me initially identify what I still need to buy (hopefully from Numrich/Gun Parts Corp) or have machined somewhere...

When I get back home, I can take photos of what I have, and that would be another way you can hopefully also let me know what I am missing...