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i picked up an S grade 28 bore at the Southern in similar condition
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A 28-gauge gun with the S in the grade stamp location on the left watertable would be a Flues Model.
261586 14 Flues 1S 28-ga top apart.jpg
Ithaca Gun Co. used an S for the grade stamp for receivers used for both the Field Grade and the No. 1 Special, (they were the same) from the introduction of the Flues until after WW-I when the No. 1 Special was gone. Perhaps the S stood for
Steel barrels which they both had. Around 1920 they began replacing it with a F for Field Grade, but I've recorded Field Grade guns marked with the S into 1922 serial numbers. From before the Flues Model the Field Grade Ithacas had a round knob half-pistol grip stock and Smokeless Powder Steel marked barrels, while the No. 1 Special had a capped pistol grip and Cockerill Steel barrels. Between the July and December 1919 Ithaca Gun Co. catalogs, well after the No. 1 Special was no longer offered, the Field Grade got a capped pistol grip.