The slick custom shotgun carried by a Navy SEAL point man in Vietnam

In his book Point Man Navy SEAL Chief James “Patches” Watson, one of the godfathers of the SEAL community and a legend for his escapades and fighting spirit, recounts his experiences in Vietnam. The book is full of fascinating information about the exotic firearms used by SEALs in that war. And the gun that captured our attention the most was a custom Ithaca 37 shotgun that Patches referred to as “Sweetheart.”

Movies and video games often portray shotguns as throwing a wall of lead. In reality, however, even though, the shotgun’s buckshot spread gives you more room for error, a shotgun still has to be aimed. An inch miss with an M16 could mean a complete miss. An inch miss with a shotgun might mean four or five pellets still hitting the threat. Shotguns are also the easiest weapon to hit moving targets, and in gunfights, people move. 

The dense jungles of Vietnam pushed fighting to a close-quarters environment where shotguns were highly effective, since with buckshot, a shotgun fires multiple projectiles per trigger pull making it easier to land effective shots. As a result, many shotguns were used in Vietnam, including the World War I Winchester M1897. The Navy and SEALs seemed to prefer the Ithaca 37. 

What made the Ithaca 37 different 

The Ithaca 37 copied the older Remington 1917’s design but had several notable improvements making it easier to produce and more reliable. The Ithaca 37 series served in World War II in a trench configuration with a heatshield and bayonet. Some of these were still being made in Vietnam, but the standard model was the Featherlight Riot gun. 

The Ithaca 37 was a fair bit lighter than its contemporaries, which is why it gained the “Featherlight” name, and weighed 6.3 pounds, according to Watson. The riot gun model featured a 20-inch barrel with a simple bead sight. It had a four-round magazine tube and wore a simple grey-looking parkerized finish. 

In contrast to most shotguns, which had a loading port and ejection port, the Ithaca 37 loaded and ejected from the same port at the bottom of the receiver. This reduced entrances for dirt, debris, and gunk. 

Chief Watson notes that another SEAL carried the full-auto Remington 7188 and that when it worked, it was an impressive and devastating weapon. However, he noted that the 7188 was finicky and fragile, and malfunctioned easily. On the other hand, he writes that he could dip the Ithaca into a muddy creek, then just wash it out and it would be fine. 

Related: How the Vietnam War changed the Navy SEALs forever

What made Watson’s Ithaca unique

After a tour in Vietnam with the Ithaca, Watson returned home and went to Frankfort Arsenal. There, he picked up two new shotguns – both were Ithaca 37s.

The folks at Frankfort Arsenal had solved a big problem with the original Ithaca shotguns and had extended the magazine tube to seven from four rounds: with one round in the chamber that gave Patches eight in total. 

The end of the barrels wore odd muzzle devices that became known as “Duck Bill” chokes. These odd chokes were designed to spread shot horizontally. This new spread pattern promised to offer a more beneficial dispersion of shot in the jungle. The muzzle device was designed to be used with No.4 Buckshot which is the smallest-sized buckshot. Although the military issued shells held 27 pellets, Patches preferred the No. 4 load for the higher amount of pellets it distributed. 

Later, Patches cut the stock down to the point where all that was left was a pistol grip. Shortening the stock made the weapon easier to carry and more maneuverable. He also attached a homemade single-point sling to the gun making it ready for instant use.

The lack of a stock made the weapon harder to shoot, but Patches was well trained. As he explains, he only carried his shotgun when he thought the fighting would be up close where the combination of the No. 4 buckshot and Duck Bill choke would allow him to hit anything. (He specifies that 20 yards would be considered long-range in these fights.)

He carried this version of the Ithaca for two tours in Vietnam, and it became his Sweetheart. 

The Ithaca 37 series was extremely popular amongst SEALs in Vietnam, according to Patches, and It’s easy to see why.

Feature Image: Navy SEAL team boards a Light SEAL Support Craft, 17 April 1968. (National Archives)

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