An Ithaca 37 shotgun with a 7-round magazine tube, similar to the one used by Kyle Reese in the film.
The Ithaca Model 37 is a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun, with production starting in 1937. The shotgun is often used by civilians and law enforcement, and has seen service in the U.S. Armed Forces from World War II, to the Vietnam War. A typical Ithaca 37 is fitted with a 4-round magazine tube, however 5 and 7-round versions do exist.
The Terminator[]
Kyle Reese firing his Ithaca 37 at the T-800.
After Kyle Reese fled the clothing store, he opened a police car with no one in it and took out an Ithaca 37 shotgun with an extended 7-round magazine tube. Later, he used a hacksaw blade to saw off his shotgun's stock and he tied a string onto the gun's grip while tying the other end to his shoulder to keep it in place when concealing it in his coat.
Kyle Reese saws off his shotguns stock
Kyle carried his shotgun to the Tech Noir nightclub, where he tracked Sarah Connor in order to prevent the T-800 from killing her. Kyle, not knowing what the T-800 looked like in its living tissue disguise, had to wait until the T-800 walked towards Sarah in order to "Zero him".
As the T-800 loaded its .45 Longslide with laser sighting and aimed the laser point Sarah's forehead, Kyle quickly pulled out his Ithaca 37 and fired five rounds at the T-800, disabling it for a few seconds. The T-800 got back up and attempted to kill Kyle with its Uzi 9mm, but he was fast enough to dodge the shots, firing another in the process. Once the T-800 reloaded its Uzi and was about to shoot Sarah, Kyle jumped out from behind the T-800 and shot it five times again, blasting it away, and crashing it though the bar's window.
Sarah and Kyle fled from the bar with the T-800 chasing them. While Sarah was near Kyle's open car, Kyle fired 2 rounds at a car's tank at a distance, thus blowing it up with the T-800 near it, resulting in its living tissue hair being burnt and eyebrows getting singed off.
A while after, the T-800 stole a police car to peruse Kyle and Sarah, acquiring its own Ithaca 37 with a normal 4-round magazine tube. It fired the shotgun, attempting to kill Sarah while Kyle fired his shotgun at the T-800. Kyle damaged the T-800's flesh with his shotgun, then the T-800 crashed into a wall with Kyle and Sarah crashing along with it. The police surrounded Kyle and Sarah as well as the empty police car stolen by the T-800. Kyle was going to exit his stolen vehicle and kill the police with his shotgun, but Sarah stopped him from doing so.
It is presumed that Kyle's Ithaca shotgun was confiscated by the police after he was arrested. It seems that the T-800 left the weapon in the police car when it fled as it did not carry the shotgun again. One of the hits the T-800 suffered as a result of Kyle's armed defense of Sarah Connor led to a malfunction in the cybernetic organism's right wrist, which it corrected by cutting into the living tissue's wound.
Two officers in the police station had wielded Ithaca 37s during the T-800's attack.
Notes[]
- The Ithaca 37 does not appear in the novelization of the first film, as Kyle's shotgun was changed to a Remington 870, while the T-800 simply uses its SPAS-12.
- In some camera angles during the Tech Noir shootout in The Terminator, the Ithaca 37 shotgun in Kyle Reese's hands incorrectly changes to the 4-shot variant, due to a continuity error.
Appearance[]