Ithaca 4E with straight/parallel comb stock

[Cold Spring]

Wanted to share some information on an unusual Grade 4 Ithaca NID I came across recently. Gun is heavily optioned with ejectors, beavertail forend, factory single trigger, vent rib with twin invories, and straight hand grip. Even more interesting than the straight grip, the gun has a parallel comb stock with dimensions at 1-9/16 by 1-9/16..... first parallel comb I've seen on a double-trap SxS. Take note in this pic how the wrist was made to accomodate the high/parallel comb, and still maintain a conventional ~ 5" butt height. Gun is choked 3 and 4 (I-Mod & Full). Somebody sure knew what he wanted, and with some limited info I'm hot on his trail! Walter Snyder tells me this gun was shipped in early September, 1926. Recoil pad is a NoShoc. Of course the gun has the extra-high NID frame for a smooth sighting transition to the vent rib, a really nice setup like on the Fox Trap Grade guns.

For those of you with factory Miller type triggers in Ithacas, I'll report that extra light loads will not reliably reset the trigger inertia mechanism. At least not on this gun. First round out on a sporting course with the gun (mixed shells) showed that I need something like 2-3/4 DE x 1 ounce loads as a minimum for 100% reliablity. This gun will occasionally double with extra light loads, but not with anything at or above the minimum DE cited here.

[Ed Blake]

What a great gun. I like those short BT forends Ithaca used. I've seen one Parker that had a short BT forend. It's hard for me to tell how the wrist was shaped to accommodate the parallel comb. It appears wide and short.

[Cold Spring]

I forgot to mention this 4 E has 32-inch tubes but my friends probably already knew that.

Sorry, the gun isn't stored here so I can't measure the wrist's cross-section, but I do know it's a trifle wider and not as high as typical for a stock with more drop at heel. I suspect that the frame tangs were bent up for that parallel comb setup but don't know for sure right now.