I was wondering if anyone could give me an objective opinion on the Ithica Deer Slayer shotgun .... I know its not an expensive gun but I was wondering how it shoots ... I would only be using it about one week out of the years in Illinois ...Ive found a slightly used one in camo for $275.00.
I don't qualify because I've never had an ithaca, but I've always heard good things about them and I always wanted one. If it was me, it sounds like a pretty good price, I'd get it.
From what I hear, they are super accurate slug guns just by the way the barrel screws into the reciever. The onlyissue about an Ithaca shotgun that I didn't like was the very noisy forarms.
I have always hunted in the shotgun zone in New York, and my entire family uses Ithacas. They truly are a great gun. I own both a 20" smoothbore deerslayer and a 25" fully rifled deerslayer II. I'll try to remain unbiased but it will be hard. My smoothbore can easily do a 2" group at 50 yds with Winchester super-x, and can usually do 3-4 inches at 100. My Deerslayer II at 100 yds with copper solids had all 3 shots touching during site in, and I easily took a deer at 110 yds this year. They are by far the smoothest shucking pump ever made. The advantages are that they are super light weight if you have to walk a long distance and they are bottom eject. This makes them a favorite for left handed people and keeps the rain and other crap out of the action. I also like the shell release in the magazine tube which makes them really easy to unload. As is often said, the quality of the older ones was better than the newer ones. They have gone out of buisiness a couple times recently, and I think the fit, finish, and blueing quality suffered when they had financial troubles. However, I have never seen a problem with these guns as far as accuracy (we own about 15 of them within my family). I must note that they do kick the hell out of you due to their light weight. I would not hesitate to buy one at $275. Sounds like a deal. If the serial number is above 855,000, then you can get bird barrels (though they are getting harder to find). I also have an Ithacafeatherweight 20 gauge bird gun that I would never give up. For more opinions, check out http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewforum.php?f=59
KEJ thank you for all the great info ... im not real sure how old this shotgun is but it appears to be infairly new condition ..has camo...and a 35XXXXX serial number ...rifled barrel ...and idea as to the age?
i owned one
it was a featherlight, 12g that would shoot 3" shells.
nice to carry, but killed my shoulder. i'm around 175 and thin. a little shy to recoil, being spoiled with the guns in the army. traded it for a moss. 500.
the deerslayer is a nice gun, light, accurate, quick to the shoulder. but in my opinion to much recoil to enjoy shooting which is what i like to do. hope this helps. i would get that one for under 300 bucks if i were you. will become collectors guns sooner or later and if ya don't like it you probably could do a straight trade for a used rem. or moss. anyway.
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jesus....
i thought deer hunting was a challenge....
these dam yotes are just the sneekiest boogers
Sounds to me like you are talking about the ithaca storm model if it is factory camo. They came out 5 or so years ago. Is it a synthetic stock? If so, it is the free floated rifled barrel. They originally sold for about $450. They didn't sell really well.I think traditionalists prefer the wood stock. The forend on these models seemed to be a little sloppy, and I think that turned a lot of people off. Also, Ithaca was going with a parkerized finish on these instead of a traditional blueing, hence the "All weather Storm"Model. Most of the camo ones were called "Turkey Slayer Storm"and came with choke tubes I thought. Anyhow, If you do get it, I would recommend you first try the remington copper solids or perhaps the lightfields. The 2 3/4" shells have plenty of range, and both of these sabots shoot excellent in all our rifled slug guns. If you want an exact date of manufacture, ask the guys on the Ithaca site I posted above.
Sounds to me like you are talking about the ithaca storm model if it is factory camo. They came out 5 or so years ago. Is it a synthetic stock? If so, it is the free floated rifled barrel. They originally sold for about $450. They didn't sell really well.I think traditionalists prefer the wood stock. The forend on these models seemed to be a little sloppy, and I think that turned a lot of people off. Also, Ithaca was going with a parkerized finish on these instead of a traditional blueing, hence the "All weather Storm"Model. Most of the camo ones were called "Turkey Slayer Storm"and came with choke tubes I thought. Anyhow, If you do get it, I would recommend you first try the remington copper solids or perhaps the lightfields. The 2 3/4" shells have plenty of range, and both of these sabots shoot excellent in all our rifled slug guns. If you want an exact date of manufacture, ask the guys on the Ithaca site I posted above.
KEJ
KEJ THANK YOU ...THIS IS A PARKERIZED CAMO ON SYNTHETIC STOCK ..IS A RIFLED BARREL ...SAYS "DEERSLAYER" ON THE RECEIVER AND NOTHING REFERRING TO "STORM" BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE WHAT YOU DISCRIBED ... THE SERIAL # IS 3700XXXXXXNOT SURE WHEN IT WAS MADE ..
Just to clarify a previous statement now knowing what you are looking at; these models have a fixed barrel, so you would not be able to buy a bird barrel for it.
Location: On an Island in the west coast of New England
Posts: 13,132
RE: Ithica Deer Slayer
DD I have one in a synthetic stockI bought about 5 years ago when I first started to hunt South NY/ Ohio. It is light and the action is somewhat noisy but it shoots like a rifle. I was going to go with Rem or Winchester but the Ithica is one of the few shotguns that the scope bolts to the receiver rather than a cantilever assembly. Over time the accuracy will pay a dividend with that choice. Nice cheap rifled barrel shotgun.
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Too busy with fishing to spend much time here.
Ithica Deer Slayer
