Paco Kelly's Leverguns.com

So I adopted an orphan for $55 out the door. It was represented as an Ithaca, but after using steel wool and PB blaster to remove some surface rust on the barrel, I could find no indication that it was made by Ithaca, maybe this is like the Glenfield that we all know is a Marlin? Anyway, haven't fired it yet, but the shopowner said he fired a couple rounds through it. Not sure what I'll do with it or why I bought it but it had some sort of charm that drew me to it every time I went in the shop. Finally decided to dicker on it and ended up with it,

So, here are some pics, I hold it up to the good folks here for criticism.

And any info you might have would be appreciated.

Great little gun for knocking off pests in the yard with CB longs!

Looks like a store-branded Ithaca Model 49 withiut the fake magazine tube. Neat little rifle. Enjoy it.

An Ithaca 49 by any other name should shoot as sweetly...

The front site is loose and will push out with hand pressure. Of course it is also dinged as well as the nearby area from someone tapping on it with a hammer or something, It also looks too have been staked at one time? There are two semi-circular indentations on the top and front and rear. Should I just restake it.

I found some Aquila Super Colibri's at a little local store that carries ammo. Owner is a friend and ssured me they were nearly silent but had a punch. I was firing them out the front door from inside the house and my wife thought I was shooting the bb gun. Except unlike the bb gun it was making baseball sized rocks jump, although there were some nasty richochets. (good thing they didnt go through a car or house window) Anyway, I figured they would be perfect in this rifle.

Yes, sorry the picture is poor, I didnt realize the label didnt show, but under the model no it says Sears and Roebuck Co Chicago Illinois.

I am a big fan of the Aquila Super Colibri's myself. I have found that they are quieter than a single-stroke pellet gun. Now that school is back in session and there are no kids around during the day, if I am at my home office I will often take a break and shoot five rounds at a target set up in the back yard. My wife in the other room doesn't even hear it. Same thing if I use the small range I put in the basement. My only complaint is that after 40 or so yards they start to drop pretty fast. Still, I wouldn't want to be hit by one. I am shooting from what is basically a second story window, so richochets are not a problem with the angle. Everything goes into the ground whether I hit or miss the target.

Congrats on saving a nice little gun!!!

It looks good to me !

Those Martini-styled rimfire single-shots were not designed by Ithaca, but by some private individual in the Western Massachussetts area, near Springfield, and sold under other names (beside the Ted Williams models made for Sears) - Ithaca was only one of the makers.

Stevens marketed their twin of the Ithaca 49 as the Stevens 89 that was sold from about 1976 to 1985; and the Gun Digest for 1971 lists a rifle almost identical to the two aforementioned rifles as the Challenger 2268 Frontiersman.
As an added clue I've seen one of these guns marked Agawam Arms Model 68.

I seem to recall that Agawam was the first (original ?) maker - but can't truely recall, this many years (40) later.

.

That's really interesting, Pete44ru. I've been baby-sitting a Model 49 Ithaca that I gave to my oldest boy for Christmas back in '74. (Bought at the Fair department store in Worcester. The rifle's been well cared for, and we have the box, but unfortunaley the papers went missing a long time ago.) They are great fun, and the ejector really pops out those rimfire cases. You've mentioned the elm stocks. Any idea of how they came about?

By the way, Frank DeHaas mentions these rifles in his book "Single Shot Rifles and Actions."


Edit
- I just came across the Mass FA 10 form for the Model 49; I actually gave that to him for Christmas in 1971! And it came from Never Fail Products in West Boylston, Mass. Chris was 10 years old that Christmas...

Thank you Pete, very good information that I am saving to my hard drive.

You're welcome, fellas.

[You've mentioned the elm stocks.]
[Any idea of how they came about?]

I've no clue, but my WAG would be (since I've only seen the Elm used on the Deluxe/checkered models) that when an upgraded model was desired by the maker, Elm was a VERY economical alternative to Walnut - and it additionally has visible, pleasing wavy grain structure as a bonus.

.