Pew-Takedown
Guide only. Educational guide only. Some information comes from non-authoritative sources. Always consult your manufacturer's manual and a licensed gunsmith. Verify your firearm is unloaded before every procedure. Read the full disclaimer.

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Ithaca Model 37

field strip ~4 min · reassembly ~6 min · detail strip ~30 min

Before you begin Verify this firearm is unloaded. Remove the magazine or empty the cylinder or tube, lock the action open, and check the chamber both by sight and by touch. Keep the muzzle in a safe direction and remove all live ammunition from your work area.
Ithaca Gun Company limits owner disassembly The maker's own procedure goes as far as: Barrel, magazine cap, magazine spring and follower, yoke, and forend/slide (slide pin). The trigger group is not covered.. Ithaca says no further disassembly is needed for cleaning and to contact its service department if further disassembly is needed; internal problems should go to a qualified gunsmith. (Ithaca Model 37 Owner's Manual — Ithaca Gun Company, p. 21 ithacagun.com [2])

Specifications

Manufacturer
Ithaca Gun Company
Origin
United States
Category
Shotgun
Action
Pump action
Calibers
12 gauge, 16 gauge, 20 gauge, 28 gauge
Capacity
4+1 typical
Production
1937–present (in-production)
Also known as
Model 37 Featherlight, Ithaca 37 Deerslayer

Model-specific safety

Under spring tension

Easily lost parts

Magazine cap · Trigger group pin · Shell stops · Bolt

Tools

No tools required for the field strip.

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 2 Tier 2 — moderate among shotguns, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. Roughly 60-80 key-numbered parts on a bottom-eject pump whose breechblock, slide and carrier must be stacked in the hand and slid in as one group while the spring shell stop is pried aside, then the carrier screws started together and the slide pin re-engaged. A strongly sprung top extractor plunger and a trigger plate that binds unless the stock is loosened add to it, but nothing is timed.

Parts: 80 numbered parts (Highest schematic key number in Ithaca Gun Co.'s own parts store (internal-parts pages, keys 04-80 seen; 01-03 not offered). Includes variant and accessory keys (DeerSlayer sights, scope bases, swivel), from Internal Parts (product category, page 4) — Ithaca Gun Company, p. web page 4 of the category ithacagun.com [6].

Bench time: about 55 min to strip, 85 min to rebuild (estimate). Strip of trigger plate, breechblock/slide/carrier group, shell stops, extractors and stock; rebuild longer for stacking the group in the hand, prying the shell stop and starting both carrier screws.

Small parts: 1 pins, 4 springs, 0 detents or plungers (counted from the manufacturer's parts list (one per key number unless a quantity is given))

What comes off for coating

Special tools

Known pain points

Fit or check on rebuild

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Procedures

Clear and Make Safe

Clear & Make Safe

Bottom ejection means the chamber is checked through the bottom port, not a side port.

  1. Point the muzzle in a safe direction and keep your finger off the trigger.
  2. Engage the safety.
  3. Press the action release and pull the forend rearward to open the action.
    Removed at this step: Chambered shell, if present
  4. Cycle the action repeatedly, catching each shell as it drops from the bottom port, until no more feed.
  5. With the action open, look up through the bottom port with a light to inspect the chamber and the magazine tube.
    WarningThere is no side port. The bottom port is the only way in — use a light and take the time.
  6. Physically confirm the chamber is empty and remove all live ammunition from the work area.

Field Strip

Field Strip tools required
  1. Complete the Clear and Make Safe procedure.
  2. With the action closed, depress the magazine cap detent and unscrew the magazine cap.
    Removed at this step: Magazine cap
  3. Rotate the barrel and withdraw it forward out of the receiver.
    TipThe Model 37 barrel is an interrupted-thread fit rather than a simple slip-on — rotate it as you pull.
    Removed at this step: Barrel
  4. Withdraw the forend, action slide, and bolt assembly forward out of the receiver.
    Removed at this step: Forend and action slide assembly Bolt
  5. Push out the trigger group retaining pin and lift the trigger group out through the bottom of the receiver.
    Removed at this step: Trigger group
  6. Stop here for routine cleaning.

Remove the stock and trigger plate group

Detail Strip tools required gunsmith recommended

On the M37 described in TM 9-285 the stock must come off before the trigger plate group (hammer, trigger, mainspring, slide stop, safety) can be withdrawn; it is held by one screw on the left side. TM 9-285 assigns this to the using arm (troop level): par. 1c says disassembly and assembly 'will be undertaken only under the supervision of an officer or the chief mechanic', and the field-inspection paragraph limits using troops to the removal and replacement of groups described here. Anything further (adjustment, stoning, trigger work, headspace) goes to ordnance personnel. TM 9-285 allows this

Follows TM 9-285, Shotguns, All Types — War Department, par. 32 a (2), p. 102 archive.org [4]

Gunsmith recommendedThis procedure can affect how safely the firearm functions. If you are not confident, stop here and take it to a licensed gunsmith.
  1. Remove the butt plate screws and the butt plate.
    Removed at this step: Butt plate screws Butt plate
  2. With a long-shanked screwdriver, unscrew the stock bolt from the hole in the butt of the stock.
    TipThe stock bolt has a square head; if it is tight a 3/8-inch socket wrench may be used.
    Removed at this step: Stock bolt and washer
  3. Pull the stock to the rear off the tang of the receiver.
    Removed at this step: Stock
  4. With the hammer in the forward (fired) position, unscrew the trigger plate screw from the left rear face of the receiver, just above the trigger.
    Removed at this step: Trigger plate screw
  5. Pull the trigger plate group to the rear out of the receiver.
    Removed at this step: Trigger plate group

Remove the breechblock, slide and carrier group

Detail Strip tools required gunsmith recommended

With the barrel and trigger plate group out, the slide is unpinned from the slide bar and the carrier screws are removed so breechblock, slide and carrier come out the rear together. TM 9-285 assigns this to the using arm (troop level): par. 1c says disassembly and assembly 'will be undertaken only under the supervision of an officer or the chief mechanic', and the field-inspection paragraph limits using troops to the removal and replacement of groups described here. Anything further (adjustment, stoning, trigger work, headspace) goes to ordnance personnel. TM 9-285 allows this to using troops

Follows TM 9-285, Shotguns, All Types — War Department, par. 32 a (3), pp. 102, 106 archive.org [4]

Gunsmith recommendedThis procedure can affect how safely the firearm functions. If you are not confident, stop here and take it to a licensed gunsmith.
  1. Remove the barrel and the trigger plate group first.
  2. Hold the receiver bottom side up with the magazine facing left.
  3. With a fingernail or small flat instrument, pull the slide pin (visible in the forward end of the slide) toward you while moving the slide handle forward, until the slide bar is released from the slide.
  4. Unscrew the two carrier screw locking screws in the right and left walls of the receiver.
    Removed at this step: Carrier screw locking screws (2)
  5. Remove the two carrier screws.
    Removed at this step: Carrier screws (2)
  6. Pull the carrier, breechblock and slide together out of the rear of the receiver.
    Removed at this step: Carrier Breechblock Slide
  7. Remove the positive shell stop from its groove by pushing inward on its pivot stud where it projects through the right wall of the receiver.
    TipThe manual removes it here to prevent its loss.
    Removed at this step: Positive (right) shell stop

Replace the breechblock, slide and carrier group

Detail Reassembly tools required gunsmith recommended

The three parts are assembled in the hand, slid into the receiver from the rear, and the spring shell stop is pried out slightly to let the slide lug pass. TM 9-285 assigns this to the using arm (troop level): par. 1c says disassembly and assembly 'will be undertaken only under the supervision of an officer or the chief mechanic', and the field-inspection paragraph limits using troops to the removal and replacement of groups described here. Anything further (adjustment, stoning, trigger work, headspace) goes to ordnance personnel. TM 9-285 allows this to using troops only under the supervision

Follows TM 9-285, Shotguns, All Types — War Department, par. 33 a (1), pp. 106-107 archive.org [4]

Gunsmith recommendedThis procedure can affect how safely the firearm functions. If you are not confident, stop here and take it to a licensed gunsmith.
  1. Clean, lightly oil and lubricate the parts before replacing them.
  2. Replace the positive shell stop in its groove in the inner right wall of the receiver, thin curved end forward, so it lies flush with its pivot stud flush with the outer right face of the receiver.
  3. Hold the breechblock bottom side up, extractor to the left, in your left hand.
  4. Place the slide on the breechblock so the hook-shaped aperture in the rear of the slide mates with the hook-shaped lug on the rear of the breechblock.
  5. Take the carrier in your right hand, long points to the left and curved notched end up, and slide it onto the breechblock from the rear so the breechblock lies between the carrier's long ends with the slide above it and the small lug on the rear of the slide fits the notch in the rear of the carrier.
  6. Transfer the group to your right hand and take the receiver in your left, bottom side up and open end to the right.
  7. Slide the group into the receiver through the open end, long ends of the carrier first, so the guides on the slide mate with the guideways in the receiver walls, and push it in until the slide is checked by the rear end of the spring (left) shell stop.
  8. Depress the forward end of the spring shell stop, insert a small tool under its rear end and pry it out slightly from the receiver wall until the lug on the slide will pass under it.
    WarningDo not pry the stop out farther than necessary.
  9. Push the group all the way forward.
  10. Move the carrier to the rear until the carrier screw holes in carrier and receiver line up.
  11. Insert both carrier screws and catch the threads on both before screwing down either.
    TipThe pin end of the carrier screw must enter the carrier before its thread will mate with the thread in the receiver.
  12. Screw the carrier screws in snugly until the locking-screw countersinks in their heads line up with those in the receiver.
  13. Replace the locking screws and draw them down snugly and flush.
  14. With the slide forward, move the slide handle to the rear until the bar contacts the slide pin.
  15. Retract the slide pin (visible in the bottom of the slide) with a fingernail or small flat instrument, move the bar rearward until the pin engages the hole in the rear end of the bar, and release the pin.
  16. Operate the slide handle to test the operation of the slide and the locking of the breechblock.

Replace the trigger plate group and stock

Detail Reassembly tools required gunsmith recommended

Goes in hammer first with the hammer forward so the slide stop does not interfere. TM 9-285 assigns this to the using arm (troop level): par. 1c says disassembly and assembly 'will be undertaken only under the supervision of an officer or the chief mechanic', and the field-inspection paragraph limits using troops to the removal and replacement of groups described here. Anything further (adjustment, stoning, trigger work, headspace) goes to ordnance personnel. TM 9-285 allows this to using troops only under the supervision of an officer or the chief mechanic (par. 1c).

Follows TM 9-285, Shotguns, All Types — War Department, par. 33 a (2), p. 107 archive.org [4]

Gunsmith recommendedThis procedure can affect how safely the firearm functions. If you are not confident, stop here and take it to a licensed gunsmith.
  1. With the hammer forward and the slide forward, push the trigger plate group into the lower rear end of the receiver, hammer first, so the guides on the plate mate with the guideways in the receiver walls.
    TipWith the hammer forward the slide stop will not interfere with the slide; if the hammer is cocked, the slide stop must be held disengaged.
  2. Push the plate forward until the screw holes in plate and receiver line up.
  3. Replace the trigger plate screw from the left side of the receiver and screw it in snugly until its head is flush with the face of the receiver.
  4. Slide the stock on over the receiver tang until it is flush with the rear end of the receiver and trigger plate.
  5. Replace the stock bolt and washer and screw down tightly, turning clockwise.
  6. Replace the butt plate and screw it down snugly.
    WarningButt plate screws turned too tight may strip the threads in the stock or crack a composition butt plate.

Reassembly

Reassembly
  1. Install the trigger group into the receiver and insert its retaining pin.
  2. Feed the bolt and action slide assembly into the receiver from the front, keeping the action bar in its track.
  3. Insert the barrel into the receiver and rotate it to engage the interrupted threads.
    WarningSeat the barrel fully. A partially engaged barrel will not headspace correctly.
  4. Thread the magazine cap on and tighten it until the detent engages.
    WarningConfirm the cap is fully seated and the detent has clicked.
  5. Cycle the action several times and perform the function check.

Diagrams

public domain

These are reproduced from government technical manuals, which are not subject to copyright. Manufacturer manual diagrams are not reproduced here — the entry links to the manual instead.

Figure 53 — Disassembled View (Without Barrel)—Ithaca Shotgun M37
Figure 53 — Disassembled View (Without Barrel)—Ithaca Shotgun M37 Lettered exploded view (A–X) of the magazine tube parts, yoke, slide handle, receiver, carrier screws, trigger plate group, stock bolt, positive and spring shell stops — the whole-gun parts map. TM 9-285 War Department Technical Manual: Shotguns, All Types, p.92 — War Department. Source. Public domain (US Government work).
Figure 55 — Carrier, Breechblock and Slide—Rear, Bottom and Right Side View—Showing Location of Parts—Ithaca Shotgun M37
Figure 55 — Carrier, Breechblock and Slide—Rear, Bottom and Right Side View—Showing Location of Parts—Ithaca Shotgun M37 Labels the extractor, extractor hinge pin and spring, firing pin and check pin, slide pin and slide stop lug for the group removed in these procedures. TM 9-285 War Department Technical Manual: Shotguns, All Types, p.94 — War Department. Source. Public domain (US Government work).
Figure 61 — Slide and Trigger Plate Groups—Slide Riding Over Stop—Hammer Locked—Ithaca Shotgun M37
Figure 61 — Slide and Trigger Plate Groups—Slide Riding Over Stop—Hammer Locked—Ithaca Shotgun M37 Trigger plate group with slide stop, slide stop spring and slide stop release spring identified, for checking spring placement when reinstalling the trigger plate. TM 9-285 War Department Technical Manual: Shotguns, All Types, p.101 — War Department. Source. Public domain (US Government work).
Figure 63 — Gun Taken Down—Left Side View—Showing Location of Parts—Ithaca Shotgun M37
Figure 63 — Gun Taken Down—Left Side View—Showing Location of Parts—Ithaca Shotgun M37 Locates the carrier screw and locking screw, trigger plate screw and spring shell stop screw on the outside of the receiver. TM 9-285 War Department Technical Manual: Shotguns, All Types, p.104 — War Department. Source. Public domain (US Government work).

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

What the manufacturer does say: The manufacturer's documents give no torque value. They say: "With a small screwdriver screw in the yoke screw, but be sure not to over tighten it (Figure 23)." (Ithaca Model 37 Owner's Manual, PDF p. 14) "Once the barrel is seated, center the yoke to the barrel and snug the screw but do not tighten." (Ithaca Gun Co. FAQ)

Materials and factory finish

As stated by Ithaca Gun Company. Prep, masking and cure depend on these; a polymer or aluminium part, a nitrided or anodised finish, and a blued steel part are each a different job. Variants with other finishes may exist — check the maker's page for the exact SKU on the bench.

ComponentMaterialFactory finishWhere it comes from
Stock
Model 37 Featherlight 12ga 28in, SKU FL1228VRAA		Walnut—Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight | Ithaca Gun Co — Description / Additional information — Ithaca Gun Company ithacagun.com [5]
“Wood Grade … Grade AA Walnut”
Stock
Model 37 Featherlight, SKU FL1228VRAA		Walnut—Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight | Ithaca Gun Co — Description / Additional information — Ithaca Gun Company ithacagun.com [5]
“AA Walnut Stock”
Trigger
Model 37 Featherlight, SKU FL1228VRAA		—Gold PlatedIthaca Model 37 Featherlight | Ithaca Gun Co — Description / Additional information — Ithaca Gun Company ithacagun.com [5]
“Gold Plated Trigger”

Parts list

Transcribed from the manufacturer's parts list (TM 9-285, Shotguns, All Types — War Department, p. 91 archive.org [4]) — TM 9-285 Figure 53 lettered legend, "Disassembled View (Without Barrel)—Ithaca Shotgun M37" (12-gage). Field-level groups; R and T are whole groups, and there is no barrel or internal parts list. The Ithaca owner’s manual has no parts list.. Key numbers refer to the exploded view in that document.

24 parts
KeyPartPart no.QtyGroup
AMAGAZINE TUBE1
BMAGAZINE SPRING1
CMAGAZINE NUT AND PIN1
DYOKE1
EYOKE SCREW1
FSLIDE HANDLE1
GSLIDE BAR1
HRECEIVER1
IMAGAZINE SPRING CUP1
JCARRIER SCREW1
KCARRIER SCREW LOCKING SCREW1
LSTOCK1
MBUTT PLATE1
NBUTT PLATE SCREW1
OSTOCK BOLT AND WASHERS1
PGRIP CAP SCREW1
QGRIP CAP1
RCARRIER, BREECHBLOCK AND SLIDE GROUPS (AS REMOVED)1
STRIGGER PLATE TANG1
TTRIGGER PLATE GROUP1
UTRIGGER PLATE SCREW1
VPOSITIVE SHELL STOP (LEFT)1
WSPRING SHELL STOP (RIGHT)1
XSPRING SHELL STOP SCREW1

Function check

After every reassemblyPerform these checks on a verified-unloaded firearm. If any check fails, the firearm is not safe to fire — stop and see a licensed gunsmith.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

Cleaning notes

Keep the magazine tube interior clean and dry rather than oiled — oil there collects plastic wad residue and slows the follower. Plastic fouling in the chamber and bore is normal with shotshells.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 1000 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Extractor · Shell latches · Magazine spring · Action bars (inspect for bends) · Ejector

Common issues

SymptomLikely causeWhat to do
Barrel will not come offInterrupted-thread barrel fit not rotatedRotate the barrel as you withdraw it rather than pulling straight.
Gun fires each time the action closes with the trigger heldNo trigger disconnector — a period design characteristic of many Model 37sThis is how those guns were built. Know whether yours does it and handle it accordingly. see a gunsmith

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: Ithaca 37 Featherlight · Ithaca 37 Deerslayer · Ithaca Model 87 (later production). Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

Sourcing

Confidence
medium — Drawn from reliable secondary sources and consistent across references, but not confirmed against a primary source.
Verification
Community reviewed only
Last updated
2026-10-29

References

Every source this page draws on, with its web address so you can read it yourself. Numbers in brackets elsewhere on the page point here.

Notes: Model 37 production spans nearly ninety years and several companies. Whether a given gun has a trigger disconnector depends on its vintage, and that is the most safety-relevant question about it. Verify by function check before loading, and confirm the takedown detail against a manual for your vintage.

Found something wrong? Corrections are the most valuable contribution to this project. Open an issue with the model, the step, and a source.