RIA TPSA Review - Old School Cool

As a fan of history and shotguns, I love seeing all the new retro shotguns hitting the market. Holy crap is a sight to see blued steel or parkerized steel combined with wood and heat shields become the norm. These modern trench guns became popular after Mossberg unveiled the Retrograde lineup and have continued to evolve and improve as time has passed. Imagine my shock when the first thing I took notice of at the Gathering 2022 was a blued steel, hardwood equipped, heatshield wearing shotgun from Rock Island Armory.

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The new TPSA takes on classic shotgun design and delivers a new take on an American classic. Although I might've lied when I said blued steel, Rock Island calls it a black shiny finish, but it looks blued. The TPSA is a clone of the classic Ithaca 37 shotgun. The Ithaca 37 was one of the more robust pump-action shotguns of its day.

The Ithaca 37 went on to serve in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and slightly beyond with the United States military. The Ithaca 37 served at home and put plenty of deer and birds on diner tables. Heck, it's not that uncommon to still see Ithaca 37s in the hunting blind. The TPSA reproduces that Ithaca 37 quite well.

Ithaca meets the TPSA.

We only get one action bar, and the gun feeds and ejects entirely from the bottom. This makes it easy for righties and lefties to wield the gun. It ejects shells right to your feet and makes it quite convenient in close quarters, you know, the place shotguns shine. I was allowed to handle the weapon, but they didn't have one on the line to shoot.

I tried both the trigger and action and found both to be impressive. The action just glides rearward like it's on ball bearings. It's super smooth and downright impressive for a budget-grade shotgun. The new TPSA shotguns are made in Turkey, but RIA has done rather well with their imports and ensuring they aren't crappy guns.

The shotgun is in a 'riot' or 'trench' configuration. Meaning the weapon wears a short 18.5-inch barrel and a metal heat shield across the top. It looks brutal and fantastic. The sight is a simple blade, and surprisingly it's not just a bead. The pump is beautiful. I don't know what else to say. It's gorgeous and is a classic corncob design that exudes cool.

The stock is a classic dark wood design with checkering at the pistol grip. Both the pump and the grip look fantastic and do a good job of representing the classic American shotgun. Heck, RIA even tops the gun off with a set of sling swivels to make it easy to toss it over your shoulder.

The MSRP sits at $599, but the retail price sits right around 500ish dollars or so. For a shotgun nerd like me, the TPSA is going to be a must-have. I'm for sure adding it to my collection of trench gun-like shotguns. I'm hoping this is a trend that will continue to evolve and grow, and maybe we can get some more modern reproductions of classic fighting shotguns.