Ithaca M37 New vs Old Furniture

[AmericanIcon]

I'm curious if anyone has experience with Ithaca Model 37's, specifically regarding the stock and forend. I have a 1970s M37 that is great, but I'd love to change out the Pachmayr pistol grip for a wood stock. It's not been easy to find good furniture for an older M37, and I'm wondering if furniture off the newer models would fit on an older M37.

I know these aren't the most reliable things. This is a collectable I got for a screaming good deal a while back, I won't be using this for anything other than adding to the collection and possible trade fodder.

[Lex Luthier]

I was going to recommend that you call Les at Diamond Gunsmithing in Ithaca, NY- but did a search and found that he passed on last year. He was formerly the head repair guy with the Ithaca company until they shut down and moved to Ohio.
According to the Diamond web site, they still have parts available- it might be worth calling or emailing them. I have no affiliation and can’t vouch for them. I do know he had a lot of the older parts.

https://diamondgunsmithing.com/reference.html

There are a bunch of take offs and replacements on EBay right now, for what it’s worth.

I have a model 37 from 1940 that I don’t ever intend to sell.

[SJC3081]

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/ithacaskb/shotguns-ithaca/37-2/stocks-ith37

[mmc45414]

This is timely, because I was just working on resurrecting mine. It was a Christmas gift from my father when I was just a wee gun nut, probably in about 1975 or so.
I have the original wood, but it is not very nice, and I am in the process of installing their synthetic stock set. But the project stalled years ago, because mine is a 2.75" gun and the slide tube is shorter. If yours is from the '70s, it could be either, and you might need one of the slide tubes from a 3" gun (https://ithacagun.com/product/3-classic-slide-tube-12-ga-blued-assembled/). They are available, and that is my next step.

The old ones are out of production it seems, so if you switch there could be some value in the part.

I know you want wood, but it does seem to either be big bucks or lame or both. Sure looks like they buy theirs (https://ithacagun.com/product-category/parts/stock-separates/)from Boyds and Choate, and now that this had me looking, Choate still offers theirs with an adjustable LOP (https://www.riflestock.com/store/product/ithaca-37-m-5-conventional-stock/), I might be better off with that...

So it looks to me like you have more choices for synthetic than wood, but you may need to switch the slide tube no matter.