doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Unusual NID?

Purchased at auction this weekend NID Field grade 4654xx. (1939?) The unusual thing to me is that it has "VA-1432" stamped on the right side of the frame. Also on the barrel flats there is what I think is a military ordinance stamp (circle with flames on top), the lone letter "P", letters RLB, and a small symbal which, for lack of a better description, resembles an acorn. (Sorry, I can't do pictures.) Any ideas? Walt, I see your on line. What do you think?

Sure sounds like a military purchased gun to me. The RLB was the inspection initials for an inspector(Roy L. Bowlin) out of the Rochester Ordnance department. Have seen it on M-37s but not on NIDs. But the government did buy a lot of them.

Thanks, Walt. I remember reading somewhere, that during WWII, the Army Air Corp. sometimes used shotguns and clay targets to teach gunners on bombers to lead targets during battle.
This gun is in excellent condition with lots of case colors, excellet barrels inside and out. Mod and full 30 in. barrels and the full is .048!

There is one on gun broker right now that is just like it item #105783052. Interesting that it has a single trigger.

Nicely marked military item but the wood looks a bit strange to me. What do you think?

I don't think much looks original except for the markings. it is hard to tell for sure from the pictures whether the the reciever has been blued but it looks to be. The forend looks the most out of place to me. I would be more interested if it was an early cocking indicator model. Nice piece of Ithaca history none the less. Curous how many went to the Armed Forces.

Yes, those are the same markings I referred to on mine. (Except I still don't know what the two "acorn" shaped markings are. One on each barrel flat) Not sure about the wood. Mine has splinter forend marked with matching serial numbers on iron and wood. Mine has no double beads or single trigger. I paid quite a bit less.

I talked with the seller of this gun and, yes, the receiver has been blued and the forend is aftermarket and has no checkering on it.

Anthony, I believe the acorn like marks is the mark of Amzi Tubbs,the Ithaca employee, who proofed your gun.

Thanks for that info, Walter. (The check is on the way to you for your book. Then I can look all this up for myself!) Funny thing! The mail just came and I received a 1939 Ithaca catalog I had won on e-bay a couple of weeks ago, which was before I acquired the NID. As stated in my opening post, 1939 is the year the gun was made!