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When I was looking at gun for sale sites on the net last night I saw a Mario Beschi �NID 4E SXS 20 ga� at the William Larkin Moore & Sons site.

Seeing this gun made me to start wondering about the mechanical similarity and quality of the Beschi gun with either the recent Ithaca Classic Doubles (ICD) guns or the original NID Ithaca. I seem to remember that the forgings for ICA doubles were made in Italy and I wonder if the Beschi gun comes from this linage. Since I am unlikely to see either a ICA or a Beschi gun in person I thought I would ask members of this forum to weigh in with their opinions.

Thanks

jlb

Sure looks like a nice double. Can't speak to the origin if the gun or its parts being ICD, but it sure is pretty.

Looked at that one myself a while back. Its on the bargain rack with no returns. It might be a good deal, but with out being able to handle it, I'm not going to risk it.

I have one in 410. My understanding of the history of these guns is from some of our members that followed the Ithaca Classic Doubles story while I was playing with horses or airplanes. My recollection is that Beschi was a supplier of the semi-finished components. Quality assurance problems eventually broke the business relationship between ICD and Beschi. The story goes that the rejected parts returned to Beschi were assembled into guns and sold.

I can't speak to the quality of the guns in general, but my example had some significant issues. The chambers were undersize. The point of impact on one barrel was about 9" off. The Sears were short, causing the main springs of the hammers to push the gun slightly closed in the broken open position.

the icd parts that galazan sold have lots of problems hammers were machined short, short sears,20 ga bbls sold as 28 ga(never finished boring and really heavy)unfinished 410 bbs, machine work unfinished on the inside of the receiver.but for what they are asking for this gun if you could check it out might not be a bad deal but you really need to have a good look.

If I were considering another Beschi NID copy, I'd insist on the gun passing a professional evaluation including patterning by a gunsmith of your choosing. If WLM won't allow it, pass on it. It's a gun. If it doesn't work well as a gun, it ain't worth buying.

Thanks for all of the information. I am not interested in owning a Beschi NID copy but I did wonder about the quality. Your responses have been very interesting.

Are there similar concerns about Ithaca Classic Doubles guns?


jlb

No! Steve Lamboy and his crew weeded out the crap that Beschi sent him and eventually found excellent suppliers for his actions and barrels. It did cause delays in production early on and, I believe, contributed greatly to the ultimate demise of ICD!

Good comments, Bill! The Beschis may look like ICD's, but at least in some cases, you can tell the difference if you look hard. I remember seeing 3 or 4 of them on a dealer's table at a gun show years ago, not too long after ICD went out of business. I looked down the outside of the barrels on a couple and had to stop because I was getting seasick from all the ripples. Maybe the best thing that can be said about them is that they passed Italian proof so shouldn't blow up when you shoot them.

My gunsmith in Pa worked on a number of these ICD rejects over the years. He described them as a crapshoot. Some required just a bit of work to make them right and others were borderline hopeless and required lots of dollars to make them work. Crapshoot might be the best description with the first four letters really describing them the best.