I hate it when people don' t answer the question, but here I go...

Life is too short to buy dual purpose guns. You NEED two guns. You will be unsatisfied with a dual purpose gun. The only sensible reason for buying a dual purpose gun is because you know it won' t satisfy you and then you' ll have to buy three guns -- the dual purpose gun AND a bird gun AND a slug gun!

Seriously, I was contemplating buying a deer barrel for my Ithaca, but I realized I could get a Mossberg 695 bolt action slug gun desiged for the big magnum slugs, designed to have a scope mounted on the barrel, synthetic stock designed to hack around in the woods, for less $ than a barrel for an Ithaca. A few other manufactures make bolt action slug guns -- Marlin, Browning (I think) Savage. Mossberg got stellar ratings for the price (accuracy matched the more expensive slug guns). Mine likes Winchester Gold Supreme.

And I' d get an Ithaca for your bird gun. They are just fine products.