Dan, I very much appreciate the sentiment.
Though posted on a thread regarding a Crass model, the shotgun in my photos is of a Lewis (1901). They are so similar to one another. The Crass, however, is designed so that the sear pins screw in from the outside of the receiver. On the Lewis models, they are internal.
I think you are referring to the mainspring strain pins (the little guys at the front of the receiver). While Ithaca may have made some changes/improvements over the years, I believe they are the same. Perhaps it is difficult to see in my photos, but the strain pins do "hang out there", so to speak. Not the most secure, but it's tight enough in there that the springs can't torque very far, let alone rock down into the trigger plate.
Onto the Brownell's "blanks": simply put you are correct. They are quite a bit of work - about the same as just starting with new stock, but you are much better off finding replacements elsewhere. metals4u sells some pretty good stock if you are going to work them yourself. They come in much longer lengths than you'd need, but they're ready to go.
A couple of ideas on original replacements: gunpartscorp.com or hit up the Ithaca Lovers forum on shotgunworld.com, I would suspect someone has a few that may part with (for a price, typically). I'm sorry to say that I don't have any of those pins handy.
I have yet to locate my now grossly illusive notebook containing the dimensions of everything on the shotgun. But, as I recall, the pitch on those pins was a bit "in-between", using TPI. If yours got a bit tweaked on removal, cleaning them up may help. Of course, it can't really hurt anything if you are considering turning new ones to the fit of the receiver. At the very least, my dimensions will get you close. How you finish the radius on the head will be up to you.
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