taylorj

Hi All, No, you are not crazy. I own a 16 gauge, fully rifled Ithaca Deerslayer II. When the Original Ithaca Gun Company went out of business in Ithaca, NY, the equipment was purchased by an investment group & they began manufacturing in Kings Ferry, NY, about 45 minutes from me. They reintroduced the Deerslayer II Model 37 in 12 & 20 gauge, a Monte Carlo stocked, rifled (20" or 26"), free floated gun. They produced in fits & fizzles, always on the edge. Right before the went out, they got a new influx of $$$ and came out with the Model 37, 20 gauge Ultralight pump (if I remember correctly, 25", 5# gun) AND a fully rifled Deerslayer II 16 Gauge Model 37, PLUS they also began to produce replacement 16 gauge rifled barrels for older, interchangeable model 37s, PLUS a 16 gauge Model 37, vent rib, interchangeable choke model. Currently, First Stop Gun Shop has one of the 16 gauge vent rib models on Gunsamerica for I think $699,NIB. Of course, the Kings Ferry shop went out of business, being sold to a consortium in Ohio who also fell apart after a year. Now a new Ohio group in Sandusky is producing the Ithaca 37 again AND are starting to once again gear up for a reintroduction of a 16 gauge model. So you have a either rare gun or at least barrel. I think I read that only something like 200 of the Deerslayer II 16 gauges made it out of the shop and even fewer rifled replacement barrels. Lightfield of course makes sabots in 16, and others can be used too like Brenneke, etc. I grew up shooting a smooth bore 16 gauge Model 37 & loved it. I found my rifled 16 gauge Deerslayer II used about 2 years ago from a shop here in NY. I have not shot it, knowing it is real rare. And it now sounds like my hunting area is converting to a rifle area also, so I won't be using any shotguns now anyway. I will probably sell mine & use the $$ for another project.