Thanks Daryl. Kathy and I have lived through a few of these before... '78 comes to mind when I was stuck 15 miles away from home and Kathy was here with two babies and for four days had no way to get out or anybody to get in. These things build character.

Yeah, they had what it takes. I fear we would be hard put to find the likes of them today....
but when push comes to shove, surprising things happen.

Thank you for sharing this beautiful little gun. What a find. I hope it goes afield a lot. Jesse

That seems to be the plan now Jesse.

OK Dean. I just read this thread even though you told me right after you picked up the gun. What a cutie.
You make me jealous. You are a cool gun magnet.

My 26" #1-frame damascus GHE 12 has muzzles like that. The bbls seem to obviously have been cut but it letters with 26" bbls. I figure it was maybe originally 28" and languishing unwanted in a lonely factory corner when someone ordered a 26" gun and they just chopped them, put in keels and sent it off. At 6#10oz it's a delightful little gun.

I didn't think I'd like my 24" PHE 16 as well as I do, but that thing is a woodcock slayer extraordinaire that makes even me seem like I know what I'm doing, which takes some doing. I bet this little Ithaca will be the same.

Thanks Richard - that's what I was thinking when I first discovered the barrels were 24" and several years ago I was nearly panic stricken until Mark finally called me back and said "Buy that gun now!!" when I needed to know if the 24" barrels on "Jesse's Little Gun" (28 gauge DHE with the only known 24" Damascus 28 gauge barrels in any grade ever made by Parker) were original or cut. So I bought the gun and the rest is history. I'm just lucky that way I guess.
I'm really looking forward to shooting this little Ithaca... but Kathy wants to try it too, so I think I know what the outcome might be.

A dealer here had an original cased 24" steel bbl'd DHE28 that I could have bought but the price was way out of my budget. The stock had a raised comb and wasn't original, but he had it very nicely restocked to original style and the gun was at least 85% otherwise. I think it's buried for the duration in a well known vault in Duluth Minn now.

[QUOTE=Richard Flanders;
I didn't think I'd like my 24" PHE 16 as well as I do, [/QUOTE]

Richard,
Being somewhat tall I never thought I would like or be able to shoot a 24" gun. Last year I purchased a nice little 6# 4oz DHE straight grip 20 gage with 26" Damascus and 24" Acme tubes. I found that for grouse and woodcock in the thick covers of New Brunswick the short tubes preformed well and the gun was a joy to carry. The gun's weight is within 1/2 oz with either set of barrels and balances right on the hinge pin. This is now my go to gun for upland game in thick cover.

Not for long!! (wink, wink) :bigbye: