doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ithaca 5E single barrel trap

Trying to date this gun. Serial #404037 sadly, with a hydra coil stock that is aftermarket of course.

The first Ithaca 5E Knick was serial #402559 made in 1941.

Serial # for Ithaca Knick models were
400000 through 402789 - 1922 through 1944.
( info released by Ithaca before going out of business)

So your gun was made after 1944. Thats as close as I can
get with the references I have. HTH BOB

Yeah that's as far as my info goes too. They made the gun all the way to 1988 surpisingly.

Gents:

The chart in Walt Snyder's "The Ithaca Gun Company from the Beginning", 2nd Edition, page 351, shows Knick Model SN 404037 as being made in 1954.

Flues Model Single Barrel Trapguns run from 246892 in 1914 to 344215 in 1923. Knicks run from 400000 in 1922 to 240405737 in 1980, which is where Snyder's chart stops.

Hope this is of interest.

Regards

GKT

Bob, I'm going to respectfully disagree with that statement. I owned a 5E about 10 years ago that had a 400xxx serial number. My gun had to have been very early in the prodution, maybe even the first year.

Doug

Thanks fellows I knew I could count on you all.

regards,
David

Doug,
I stand corrected. If I hadn't been in such a hurry to go for supper I would have read my reference a little more carefully. Serial# 402559 was made in 1941, but was not the first. In fact I found an example of a 6E serial# 400039.
Thanks for the correction. BOB

This post prompted a question I had when I saw a very nice looking 4E a while back. Will these guns hold up to modern shells? I know that most recommend using relatively lower pressure shells for the old doubles, but how do the SBTs compare? I can understand handloading or buying lower pressure shells for a game gun, but find it hard to justify doing so for a trap gun, so I passed. Did I make a mistake?

Rifle:

Any Knick should work just fine with modern SAAMI standard American shells.

The modern SAAMI standard is almost identical to the first one adopted in 1925, except for variances in statistical methodology.

I would hold Flues Model SBT's to CIP shells. In fact, something like Rio "Top Trap" is both CIP standard, approx 8500 psi, would work fine in either gun, and is readily available . Rio is the house brand at American Shooting Center in Houston, for instance.

Hope this helps.

Regards

GKT

Correct me if I am wrong, but were all of the 5E definitely Knick guns? I thought the Knicks were a different line of guns. So, just because it is a 5E, doesn't necessarily mean it is a Knickerbocker gun, does it?