doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Disertations On The Perfect Grouse Gun

Larry, is your 24” Flues Ithaca well balanced?
I have 28,30, and 32” Flues model Ithaca’s, and they are definitely weight forward.
Just curious
I’m sure you shoot it very well.

I haven't shot the little Flues all that much to date It fits me about like a Parker VH16 ga that I've had for quite a few years. That gun shoots very well for me. dates from 1904. I seem to see pretty much the same sight picture when I mount both of them: A'll of the top rib down to the bead at the end.

I haven't examined a large enough sample to be anywhere close to statistically significant, but I have bought several Flues buttstocks at Gun Shows or from Ebay, and all had a fairly large hole drilled into the butt, apparently for weight reduction. As I recall, they all appeared to be about the same, so it seems likely it was done at the factory. Quite a few old Ithaca Flues advertisements tout their light weight. So being muzzle heavy might be a consequence of efforts by Ithaca to make their upland guns as light as possible by reducing weight in the butt. I have no proof of this, but it might be interesting to examine and compare notes.

I've examined many more Syracuse Lefevers, and only recall one G grade that had a hole drilled into the buttstock. However that one was packed with heavily oxidized lead shot that expanded to the point that it split the wood. I had suspected that when I saw the pics in the GunBroker auction, and it sold very cheap as a result of the damaged wood and the buttplate pushed outward. I removed all of the shot, glued the crack with Titebond II and rubber tubing for clamping. Then filled the hole with a close fitting walnut dowel epoxied in place. Also heated the original buttplate in boiling water to correct the distorted curvature.

I never paid much attention to the balance points of my own Flues guns, but the barrels of my 20 and 16 gauges seem to be struck pretty thin. I also have a couple 20 ga. Flues parts guns that each have one barrel ruptured ahead of the forend, and the wall thickness at the blow-out is about the thickness of a matchbook cover. I have not removed their buttplates to check if the butt is drilled out.

Keith, based upon my observations over the years, it is doubtful that any of the major American gun manufacturers ever made a gun In the 20th century, with fluid steel barrels that were matchbook cover thin, in front of the forend or anywhere else for that matter...