I personally believe The model 37 Ithaca is the the best shotgun ever made, when it comes to durability & ease of operation. I currently own 12 of them in 10, 12, 20 & 16 gauge. I have never had a problem with any of them other than one, & it is simply been well worn in. It gets really hot after 5 or 10 rounds, but it is 4 generations old.
They are extremely durable & very complex when it comes to the internal workings. But as long as you maintain them well & are very careful taking them apart & putting them back together, they are fine guns.. But they do pack a punch with heavy Loads....
They make many different variations to the original production run of Ithaca's, witch includes Vented rib's, different types of shocks, & grades of woods. I recently added a couple SKB Ithaca"s to my collection, definitely not the same quality of shotguns.... Seem to be all dress, & no durability...
The best part of the shotgun is there are like a million of them out there, & no one knows how good of shotgun they are. You can usually pick one up for some ware in the $300's, I think the lowest I ever paid for one was $35.00. To be fair it was in a box in pieces, the guy took it apart & couldn't get it back together. I still cant believe all of the parts where there...
If you decide that you don't want to keep the shotgun let me know I am always on the look out for another one.