Fudd Friday: Ithaca Is America's Old-School Pump Gun Manufacturer

There is no firearm more closely associated with American hunting than the pump-action shotgun. Like lever-action rifles, pump-action shotguns are super-popular in the U.S. market and a much less common choice for hunters in Europe or other markets. But stateside, many hunters begin and end their career with a pump gun, and it’s been that way since the early 20th century. And in 2025, if I were going to pick one company as the definitive manufacturer of classic pump-actions, it would be Ithaca.

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That might sound shady, but it’s the way the American gun industry has always worked, and buyers didn’t seem to care; they purchased truckloads of these shotguns once Ithaca restarted production post-World War II. It was a solidly-built shotgun that came with bottom-eject, a feature unavailable on any other shotgun built at that time (and also unavailable on any sporting shotgun today, since Browning discontinued the BPS).

This might have been the first shotgun ever sold in a configuration specifically for deer hunting. The Deerslayer version came out in the late 1950s with iron sights for more accurate slug-shooting, instead of a bead. It still had a smoothbore barrel, but the improved aiming system made it much better for longer shots on whitetails.

Ithaca moved on from hunting sales to hawking cut-down versions of these guns to the military; the Ithaca 37 was used in World War II and Korea, but most famously in the Vietnam War and in other skirmishes against communists around the world. Ithaca also sold thousands upon thousands of these shotguns to arm police officers and jail guards, in various short-barrel configurations. Departments like the NYPD and LAPD bought them; some specialized units like New York’s legendary Stakeout Unit used sawed-off Ithaca 37s to blast bad guys through the 1960s and 1970s. And in the world of make-believe, Detective Ricardo Tubbs toted the super-short-from-the-factory Ithaca 37 Stakeout (with 13-inch barrel) on the hit ‘80s TV show Miami Vice.

Ithaca firearms in 2025

The Ithaca Gun Company is now based in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. They aren’t a major player in North America’s shotgun scene, but they still sell the Model 37 in its classic Featherlight and Deerslayer configurations, along with a home defense and waterfowl version and 1911-pattern pistols, too. Some shooters might think the new guns aren’t quite as nice as the old ones made before the 1980s. I can’t say for sure myself. I haven’t had a chance to handle the recent-production guns, although I will say I do like the engraving on them, and I appreciate Ithaca’s drive to keep the Model 37 alive when the Model 12, the Model 1897, the Auto 5, the Model 31 and the other classic pre-World War II shotguns it competed against are long-gone.

But if you don’t have the money for a new Ithaca 37, take cheer; they’re readily available on the used market, and usually at very good prices. The only drawbacks are, the most common configuration is a 12-gauge with a 2.75-inch chamber and a full choke, not exactly desirable. If you pick one up and work the action, though, it’s almost as if something magical happens. Those parts (hand-fitted, on an older model) are slicked up by decades of use and practically beg you to take the gun afield. For that reason, I try to steer clear of these shotguns when I see them at gun stores now—sooner or later, I’ll pick one up and won’t be able to leave without it.