I arrived home late friday night from a 2 1/2 week stint on Vancouver Island to help my father recovering from a surgery and to help him with some decluttering and downsizing. Shortly after arriving home I discovered a box in the living room. I asked my wife what was in the box and she said "I assume a gun you had worked on as it has Chris'(C.J Dawe) name on it".
I was on the road 18+ hours friday including a 2 hour ferry ride and 900 miles of driving to reach home so the box containing an Ithaca 5E Knick SBT I had sent to Chris Dawe to have refinished would have to wait until saturday morning to be opened after I'd had a good nights' sleep.
Saturday morning held the same excitement as Xmas morning does for a youngster as I proceeded to open the box containing the 100 year old Knick. To say I was pleased with the restoration of the 5E would be an understatement. What a gorgeous gun! The CCH colours? Wow!! And the ways in which Chris brought out the grain in the wood are truly stunning! What a craftsman!
Of surprise and interest to me was when I took out the untouched original 1957 4E Knick SBT I own to compare alongside the 5E was the difference in length and weight of the two guns. The 4E I thought (my memory isn't the greatest at times) was advertised as a 34" bbl gun?
However upon placing the guns alongside each other and confirming with a measuring tape I discovered the 4E is actually a 32" bbl gun and I noticed a significant weight difference in the pair of Knicks.
The 5E was made in 1926 and it is easily seen in hand and to a some degree in photos where some of the weight difference lies. The 5E receiver is deeper with a more rounded bottom and the barrel has larger vent rib posts compared to the 4E and you can very easily see a difference in muzzle thickness. I will have to mic the muzzles to verify chokes but the 4E is stamped #3 meaning Imp Mod where the 5E has no stamp but I suspect its Full choke. Most Ithaca SBT's did not have choke stamps indicated on them but there are a few examples that do wear them.
The outer diameter of the 5E barrel appears to be of larger diameter than that of the 4E as well. I suspect the 34" 5E barrel overall may be thicker walled but I cannot confirm until I mic it. I have been told Ithaca offered buyers of these custom built guns a choice of barrel weights and not just a choice of lengths ranging from 30" to 34".
The 4E feels extremely muzzle light in comparison to the 5E with weight balanced between the hands and the gun feels about 1/2lb lighter overall (yet to be confirmed by weighing) where the 5E has a more weight forward (muzzle heavy) feel and balance to it along with a heftier feel all around and especially in the receiver area.
I'm of course a little impatient waiting for the snow to be gone and the clubs I shoot at to be open once again so I can take the 5E out for an inaugural test run and some practice on the traps, especially handicap as the big heavy single has the feel and slower swing characteristics of a long yardage handicap gun. I shot the 4E this past Christmas break while visiting my father in Nanaimo and the 4E has a quicker amd very smooth swing characteristic more attuned to singles(16yd) and short yardage handicap.
Of course the 5E has a ton of head turning appeal, not that the 4E doesn't but the 5E really has that extra bit of awe factor about it and I'd hate to be "that guy" carrying such a classic beauty, once considered to be the king of trap guns around the ranges.
