pre-1968 standards. I pray that the new organization will continue with the legacy, spirit, and success of the Swebilius area.
DESIGN OF THE ITHACA MODEL 49 RIFLE
After the Whitney Wolverine pistol development with the Bellmore Johnson Tool Company in the early 1950s, I took a close look at the various firearms manufacturer’s product lines to determine if there were any opportunities for marketable products. I was aware that many progressive sales departments were undoubtedly searching for the same thing. One company stood out as obviously in need of new product design: the Ithaca Gun Company of Ithaca, New York. They were well-known for producing a very high quality product that often needed precision hand-fitting by highly skilled workman. This type of labor, while greatly admired, was gradually placing itself out of the competitive price range. Other companies were using advanced designs with newer machines and the latest technology. This ultimately limited Ithaca’s competitive abilities.
Gun Digest editor-in-chief John T. Amber personally reviewed the Ithaca M49 .22 in the 1962 edition.
Ithaca had for a long time lacked an aggressive design staff. Aside from their excellent old double guns, their greatest design achievement had been the redesign of the Browning-designed Remington Model 15 pump shotgun as the Ithaca model 37. It was universally accepted by the shooting public and it even outsold and outlasted the fabulous Winchester model 12 pump gun! Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to sustain this early landmark company, which was founded way back in 1880.
World War II provided some relief for the financially troubled Ithaca. They produced a number of .45 Colt 1911-A1 service pistols and M3 grease guns between 1943 and 1945. This activity served only as a temporary band-aid, however. They were hurting for a new product to augment their only winner, the rock-solid Model 37 pump gun. Ithaca’s president, Sheldon Smith, and his brother and director of manufacturing, Charles Smith, made a valiant attempt to create a business turnaround after the great war by producing a .22 autoloading rifle which developed numerous function problems, and they also made an ill-fated attempt to have MIT personel design a semiautomatic shotgun for them. As one might expect, it was a brilliant study but thoroughly impractical to mass produce as a competitive sporting shotgun.
These post-war failures made Ithaca understandably cautious despite the fact that they were extremely anxious to produce a single-shot .22 rifle that I designed, the BJT Saddle Gun, after witnessing a flawless demonstration of the prototype rifle. The Smiths personally contacted a large number of leading firearms merchandisers and surveyed their estimate of the volume sales at different price levels. Because of the extremely low direct labor and low cost material to produce the rifle, the retail price was established at an amazingly low $21.95. This price was established extremely low to dramatically produce a very high sales volume at a minimum profit. This was in stark contrast to prior Ithaca sales philosophy. In 1960, the Ithaca Model 49 sold for $21.95 – and the Ithaca single barrel trap gun sold for $2,500!
In setting up the project objectives for the first presentation of what became the Itaca Model 49 rifle, I figured it must be compatible with Ithaca’s current capabilities and finances. With this in mind I established the following objectives.
1. It must include the lowest possible tooling expense.
2. It should require an absolute minimum of direct labor to produce.
3. It must be unique in design and appeal to a vast new potential market.
4. It must have eye appeal.
5. It must be safe, accurate, and durable.
From a design point of view these project objectives were extremely difficult to achieve. A high-cost, expensive and complicated mechanism would be infinitely easier to design, but it obviously would never be compatible with Ithaca’s immediate requirements. To meet these five objectives I reasoned that a low-cost single shot “boy’s first rifle” with the eye appeal and look of “the gun that won the west” would add considerably to its sales appeal. The legendary Winchester 94 was Hollywood’s standard equipment for the western lawmen and the bad guys. It would have great appeal to the movie-going teenage shooters. If the price of the rifle was rock bottom and the gun was accurate and safe, it should be a winner!
To meet the cost objectives, the single shot and safety requirement seemed the most logical answer. To preserve the Model 94 look, the lever action would be used for loading, extraction and ejection only. Lever function would not cock the hammer. For safety reasons, the hammer had to be manually cocked for each shot. With the hammer forward in the down or fire position, the gun would not discharge if the gun were dropped or suffered a hard blow on the hammer. This required the shooter to perform deliberate, separate motions to load and fire the gun.
To meet the low cost objectives, a concentrated effort was centered on reducing the direct labor wherever possible. The two main components that presented the greatest cost savings were the bolt and the receiver. The bolt did not move horizontally but its front end swung vertically, Martini fashion, thus exposing the barrel breech for loading and ejection. This normally would require a complex bolt that was expensive to machine from a solid bar. A tremendous cost saving was employed here by using a new process utilized by Chrysler and Ford for certain engine parts at great savings: the forming of parts by compacting powdered iron under tremendous pressure and then sintering them under high heat. The advantage of this process is extreme accuracy and very low cost. The cost saving for the bolt was substantial and the strength was more than adequate, as attested by the performance of many thousands of rifles. The powdered metal process today is common and utilized by many industries.
The receiver was fabricated from die-cast zinc, and it saved a lot of difficult machining from a forging or bar stock. This cost savings realized by the resulting elimination of many direct labor operations was tremendous. The construction of the barrel, however, did not save any direct labor. It was fabricated the same way all quality barrels have been made for many years. This became evident when the Model 49 demonstrated excellent accuracy over many thousands of rounds.
The western-styled wooden forend and stock were in keeping with their famous big brother, the Model 94 Winchester.
The overall appearance of this rifle and Ithaca’s low sales price of $21.95 was sensational. When the BJT prototype was first demonstrated to Sheldon and Charles Smith, they were extremely impressed with its appearance, performance, and low cost. They immediately opened negotiations with us to purchase the rifle.
Since this was the very first of many firearms which were designed to and built for outside production, instead of asking for a royalty we negotiated for a lump sum cash payment to cover our expenses for the designing and fabricating the prototype plus a nominal profit. Ithaca accepted this approach and Bellmore Johnson and I agreed to split the profit equally. This was virtually the end of our connection with Ithaca and we observed the initial activity and the successful introduction of the Ithaca Model 49 BJT-designed rifle.
Ithaca successfully produced many thousands of guns before they were consumed by debt and bankruptcy from previous indebtedness. They were faced with a demand to remove hazardous materials from the site by the New York State Environmental Protection Agency and the city of Ithaca. This was the result of over a century of manufacturing. A federally-mandated cleanup program to dispose of land containing thousands of tons of lead-contaminated soil cost Ithaca $4.8 million dollars! Besides the cleanup, the factory itself was in a sad state of disrepair. It was obvious the grand old factory had to be sold or go out of business. Unfortunately, the low volume of the trap gun, the steady sales of the Model 37 and the large sales volume of the Model 49 all failed to revive the troubled company. They were forced into
