[Kestrel]

Saw a used Savage gun at a shop. It had a .30-30 rifle barrel over a 20 ga. shotgunn barrel. It looked like it had some sort of safety lever in the top of the exposed hammer.

Does anyone know anything about these? Are they take-downs? Are they any good?

I'm trying to come up with some sort of take-down rifle or shotgun or combo to keep under a car seat.

Thanks for any help,
Steve

[4v50 Gary]

I know Savage made a wide combination of O/U combos. My friend has a .223/12 Ga combo. The 30/30 over 20 was another one.

[Mike Irwin]

That's a Savage Model 24F, one of the more recent in a long line of Savage over/under rifle shotgun combos that stretch back to the original .22 LR over .410 that first saw light in 1950.

I think the 24F was introduced in 1989.

Oh, wait... I just looked in the Blue Book, and it says that the 24V was also offered in .30-30/20 gauge, and it was introduced in 1971. Apparently the F replaced the V.

For a time the Air Force used the Model 24 as a survival rifle in its strategic bombers.

The one I want to get is the 24VS Camper's Companion, a .357 Mag. over a 20 gauge.

[Thegman]

I have a 24 in 22lr/20 ga.

The lever on top of the hammer is the barrel selector. Forward shotgun/back rifle.

They are take downs and would work for what you want. The forearm pulls off from the front, then the action can be opened and the barrel removed from the reciever. Takes less than 10 seconds. The forearm can then be placed back on the barrel, so you're only carrying 2 parts.

I bought mine for backpacking, and it was great in that role. It's surface rusted rather easily (from sweaty hands) but other than that, it has functioned just fine, and was a great gun to have for packing. I've had mine for years and it's still just fine, although I very rarely use it anymore. Savage has made some higher end versions, in stainless and even with removable chokes, I think.

[Kestrel]

Are they quality weapons? The dealer wants $350 for it. That seems awfully high to me for a gun like this, particularly a Savage brand.

Any ideas?

Steve

[Jim K]

They are OK IF (note "IF") both barrels fire. The selector on the hammer was much better than the selector button on the side, but even so was not always reliable.

Jim

[Pappy John]

My father owned one of these in .22 mag/20 ga. when I was young and I first learned to shoot and hunt with it. I also still have a scar in my brow from having the scope too close to my eye, expecting the .22 to go off and having the hammer select in the wrong position.
:banghead:

[Thegman]

I haven't priced one in a long time, but that seems a little steep to me. If it were one of the stainless ones I've seen, with the synthetic stock and removable choke, I'd give it some thought.

As far as quality, mine has always performed well; I'd say they're "medium" quality firearms, not "high", but not "low" either. Mine has had no problems with ignition or anything else (except the surface rusting).

[kudu]

In my area that is about the going rate for a combo gun like the Savage. I have the 24V .357 over 20ga. I started loading sigle shot pistol bullets in the thing and really got some good accuracy out to 100 yds with open sights. To bad the trigger is awful, or I could probably do better.

Savage 24's are becomeing hard to find as people are not letting go of the ones that are out there. I have seen them as high as $400 in my area, well over blue book, and they still sell.

[Okiecruffler]

Right now there's a big demand for them, especially in the more uncommon combo's. That pushes the price beyond blue book. My oldest friend, we met in kindergarden, had one in 20g/357. He took a couple of deer with it, but we had a hard time hitting anything on the wing with it. Those things just swing funny.

[JNewell]

Right now there's a big demand for them

Why???

[Onslaught]

My father has owned them all my life, and they are by far his favorite weapon.

He's got a 30-30 over 12, .223 over 20, and .22 mag over 20. The only one that ever gave him ANY problems was the .223. It suffered from light primer strikes, but most probably because he kept "borrowing" my AR ammo which had the hard military primers. Nonetheless, Savage fixed him right up.

They're all 24V's which is the wood stock. The 30-30 has some intricate engraving and a gold plated trigger. The .22 mag has engraving but no gold trigger, and the .223 is plain.

That price sounds kinda like what he paid for the 30-30 about 20 years ago. But like OC said, high demand and all that.

I too wonder why they're popular now. I remember when everyone who saw it wanted to know about it, and one guy even tried to show off in front of his friends by asking dad why he wanted a scope on a shotgun... Dad showed him it was a 30-30 on top, and of course all the guy said was "huh, never seen one'a those".

[Okiecruffler]

I honestly don't know why their so popular right now. They always seemed like a bad fix for the problem of needing two guns to me. But it wasn't that long ago that every pawn shop around had at least one .410/.22, and usually a couple. Now you hardly ever see them. My guess is that it's holdover from the Y2K mentality of being prepared for complete social breakdown.

[Mike Irwin]

I actually see them as being a fairly useful utility firearm, Oakie.

In some areas seasons overlap, and carrying one gun that will do both birds and beasts quite well.

The 24s have been in production since at least 1950, and have always been pretty decent sellers for Savage. I knew more than one person who carried one for small game & birds, or for birds and deer in a larger caliber.

A friend of mine had one in .222/20 gauge (IIRC) and was deadly on groundhogs with it out to about 150 yards even with open sights.

[Okiecruffler]

I only have experience with that one. It did the job of shotgun and rifle, it just didn't do either very well. Not sure what the laws are now, but when I was hunting deer in Oklahoma you couldn't carry birdshot with you while deer hunting. I will say it was fairly accurate, but you have to decide if you wanted to set the sights for the 20g or the 357. Would have been neat to have some see thru rings on it with the scope set for 357 and the irons for the 20.

[Gordon]

I have 3 currently ;a 22lr/.410 tenite stock with side mounted Weaver J 2.5 scope that my wife sits close by while gardening. I have a 30-30/20ga 24V with a 4x weaver that I bought in 73 and it is my loaner gun now. I have a .223/12ga 24F with the plastic stock and a williams peep sight for ? I also had a .357max/20ga combo I gave to a preacher who went back to NZ, and had a 80's"camper's companion" in .22mag/20ga that I gave to a son in NJ a few years ago, these guns work and aside from the first models selector unscrewing, and shoddy workmanship of Savage in 90s I never had a complaint.

[Mike Irwin]

"but you have to decide if you wanted to set the sights for the 20g or the 357."

Ya set the sights for the rifle barrel and ignore them for shotgunning. At least that's how I've always done it with my very limited experience with them. That's also how most of the people I know who use these do it.

[Okiecruffler]

The way he used it for deer hunting was a Remington slug in the bottom and a 158gr JHP in the 357 barrel "just in case". Sights were set for 50 yrds with the 20g, the 357 hit about 8 inches high at 50. Never was an issue, the 2 deer I saw him get went down and stayed down when that 20g slug hit them.