doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Chambers in an early Ithaca NID. loads for same???

I have shot many flats of 7/8 oz loads in a 16 ga. I use 17.5 grains of Green Dot. So pressure with 7/8 is certainly under 9,000 psi. Check out the Reliant Reloaders Guide

Remington case
209 Winchester primer or Cheddite
Gualandi Wad from Grafs

Perfect fit for the Remington case a very good load for target and small birds. If ordering wads from Graf, order the one that holds 1 oz of shot, not the one for 1-1 1/8.

Ithaca4me, that gun would have had 2 9/16" chambers from the factory.

Many thanks to everyone for the informative responses on this subject. I've read all of them with much interest.

Chuck, can you tell me where to find the articles by Sherman Bell? It seems to me that a 15% rise in chamber pressure caused by shooting a long cartridge in a short chamber could be significant in terms of safety. In any event, I plan on using shorter hulls.

After reading the responses by Researcher, I went back and re-measured the chambers on my NID. I believe my method is okay: I made a three-inch-long wooden plug that just barely slides into the chamber, pushed it ahead until it met resistance, then drew a fine pencil line flush with the breech end of the barrels. This again measured 2-11/16". It does not appear to me that the chambers have been lengthened (no milling or polishing evident), all of which makes me wonder exactly how the chamber length was measured back in 1927. I've been assuming it's measured from the face of breech to the beginning of the forcing cone. Is that correct? Because I will be using short,low pressure loads, it might not be all that important, but I'd like to know just out of curiosity.

Any suggestions for further reading on the NID will be much appreciated. This seems to be a fine old shotgun and one I look forward to shooting and taking to the grouse woods.

They probably had some old underpaid guy running a chamber reamer who sneezed when he got to the 2 9/16 stop mark and went a bit deep. Self serving, but there is an "Ithaca Gun Co. from the Beginning" book. I hope you enjoy your fine old Ithaca. I shot 3 rounds of skeet today with a 1940ish Grade 4E NID Skeet gun. Much fun!!

Thank you, Mr. Snyder. I suppose better that the old boy sneezed and went long than fell asleep and left a 2-1/4" chamber.

I don't regard it at all self-serving that you should mention your book. I look forward to reading it.