impala59

A BPS would certainly fit the bill! They are also available in 10g but do tend to be pricy in that gauge

I have had a few BPS (always regretted selling them!) Great action and somewhat simpler takedown than the similarly configured Ithaca 37, although I personally prefer the handling of the 37. The BPS is made in Japan by Miroku and the metalwork is to their high standards. It is my opinion that the wood to metal fit is better on the older ones, My current one is older and is a lovely, well used one. It was fairly cheap at around £120. The BPS moniker does seem to inflate the price, mine was sold as a Browning Field pump, but is nonetheless a factory marked BPS. Hope you find one, I doubt you will regret it

Probably worth going on to remingtonowners.com Lots of information and some very helpful contributors. Do you know how old the gun is? 410 Remington 1100's and 870's are becoming quite valuable these days. I would agree with Enfield Spares about the repair option if an S2, as long as the bore of the repair part allows the magazine spring to pass through for cleaning. Of course, if an S2 you can never remove the follower past the crimp, so if applying heat to the tube, care must be taken if the follower is plastic. Good luck!

Curiously, your title made me think of Martini Henry's and Rorkes Drift 😆

Here I go again! After a painful thinning of the collection a while back, I couldn't let this one pass. I owned a new Browning BPS and didn't use it much as it was very shiny and I suppose I got a bit precious over damaging the finish, silly really, but I sold it on and as always in these situations, of course regretted it. This one was up for auction and I won it for £120 (+fee) Having now got it home I was pleasantly surprised to find; No dings in the wood or metal, relatively clean (aside from the bore that needed a carbon cleaner and severe brushing to bring it back to mint) a Kick-eez butt pad which makes it the right length for me and a decent Hi-vis sight. The wood to metal fit is excellent, which is, IMHO, one of the only slight failings of the new model BPS. It has the pleasant 'classic' shotgun patina, a little wear in places from use. Total strip down, clean and light oil and it is as slick as can be. Looking forward to some fun clays in the near future! My new (old) BPS 12g 26" cyl. S2 at present but may return it to S1 in the future as it will easily take a decent mag tube extension

Will do! only found out myself because a mate called the night before!

Just thought I would mention Hawleys charity shoot which took place yesterday. A two shooter, 50 bird flush, I shot it four times and while not in contention with the top shots, myself and four pals had a great, enjoyable morning in good company, attempting to speed load and still get on the targets was a seriously fun challenge. Proceeds to Teenage Cancer Care, a worthy charity, I understand that the organisers exceeded their target for the day. To be repeated later in the year, we will certainly be going back for more!

I hope you get a better price than the holts guide! Also it’s described as having an oversize safety, when it’s actually a lefty with a spare right handed. If I had a spare slot I would have made my way west for it! Good luck with the sale Steve

All Pumpers welcome! Pics of your pump?

Welcome! Nice looking gun! S1 or S2?

And every time you open your gun you will be reminded that you made the repair, priceless! nice gun by the way!

Someone paid up for this lot, over £1000 plus fees! Obviously, it has some provenance for a collector. Additionally all the Greeners went in the sealed bid auction, times past they would all be in the unsold lots. Perhaps the venerable GP is seeing a resurgence of popularity?

Same people I believe, nice relaxed shoot!

I took the M17 clay shooting today with one of its grandchildren, a 1947 Ithaca 16g M37. The M17 shoots like a dream, smooth action and totally reliable, not bad for 104 years old! I was also somewhat (pleasantly) surprised at the range the 20g was taking some clays at. Unfortunately, the 37 broke its slide stop retractor spring during the day, it was a mere 77 years old, so probably a little out of warranty! Nonetheless an enjoyable morning at Hawley shooting ground in Kent. The 37 was treated to a new spring set on my return home (my metric upgrade) although upon inspection, only the straight wire spring that failed seemed to have any weakness and was possibly a sub-standard replacement at some time during its history. All the other (coil springs) have been saved as reference templates. I have yet to check whether the 16g has different tension values to the 12g. I think not as all my metrics fitted and function perfectly. Back to the M17, this is a definite keeper, accurate, very point-able, great for clays, light recoil so my daughters can enjoy their occasional shoots more and a wonderfully light carry for my occasional pigeon shoots. They certainly knew how to build guns at the turn of the last century, Remington, JMB and JP, Thank you!

Update on the M17 some good and some not so good. The take down is the same as the M37, always remove the stock first to relieve the back pull on the trigger plate screw, all the internals are removed through the rear of the receiver with very little effort due to the combined design genius of John Moses Browning and John Pederson. JMB actually stated that JP was the best gunsmith of the age! That is some praise! The M17 was apparently the very last firearm that JMB had a hand in designing Aficionados of the Ithaca 37 will recognise much of the innards of the 17 though there are some notable exceptions. Firstly it only has a bottom extractor in common with the earliest 37’s. These early 37’s were later retrofitted with a top extractor to improve extraction with the more powerful 12g cartridges. The 17 being only available in 20g did not seem to suffer in this area. A surprise for me was within the trigger mechanism, the birds head shaped part is a disconnector, not available to Ithaca owners until the late 70’s and then mainly for law enforcement users. It would seem that Ithaca simply left it out and inadvertently created the “slam fire” reputation of the 37! The machine work in the receiver is superb, sharp perfectly square channels as good today as they were over a hundred years ago. Now I have decarbonised and lightly lubricated internally, the gun is a slick piece of machinery. The bad news. On this gun the yoke is fixed to the magazine tube. In rating this as S2, the mag tube has been permanently fixed to the receiver. What this means is that the forend cannot be removed for cleaning or refurbishment. It’s a real pain and in my opinion ruins what is otherwise a wonderful little gun. Not sure where I will go next with that, but thankfully there are no faults in that area. Just frustrating really. the internals, familiar to 37 owners I am sure! The superbly machined receiver, one block of steel that everything fits inside perfectly!