Savage 24 Series P .22LR/.410



For the last several seasons I've enjoyed squirrel hunting with a Savage 24 DL .22Mag/20ga. I decided I wanted a .22LR/.410 to go along with it but finding a decent one wasn't easy. Ran across a lot of the earlier models without the grooved receiver but my eyes require a scope these days for squirrels. I really wanted a "DL" version like my Mag/20ga but they are scarce around here and the ones on the net are bringing collector's tariffs. Stumbled on this one at a pawn shop last month. It is a later model with hardwood stocks and plastic trigger guard but it had the scope groove and is in very good shape. Ended up walking out with it for $290, which seems more than fair these days.
So far it seems to shoot well. The rifle barrel will put them in a dime or less @ 25 yards with the couple loads I've tried in it so far, and the .410 barrel hits pretty much in line with the .22 barrel. I'm looking forward to deer season like everybody else but I'm equally looking forward to those cool fall mornings when I can get out in the oaks and stalk the limb rats with my new prize.

Nice!! And good price.

Very nice!! I can definitely see the advantage of having both a .22 and a shotgun together when chasing squirrels. I'm really looking forward to Aug 15th for the opener. Hope I don't get sick and have to miss work that day...

Yep...you got a good grab at that price!

I killed my first squirrel ( first few, actually...) with a Sav 24 in .22/.410, It is literally what got me started in hunting...


Excellent gun for your needs...and when I got out of school and moved west I found it made the perfect "mountain grouse" ( generic term for Ruffed, Blue, and Franklins grouse ) gun.

If they want to play the "fool hen" and stand around...the .22 gets used for head shots!

That gun put more meals on my table than i could possibly count....

Congratulations!

I don't hunt flea-infested tree rodents nor other small game, but that is indeed a great price for one of those scarce CF Savage O/U combo guns!

When trying .22 rimfire loads, do you ever try .22 Shorts with your scoped guns? Several target-type Short loads are available that aren't too pricey.

Also, what .410 load works best for squirrels at 'normal' hunting ranges?

Great find! I love small game hunting and it is such a shame that it gets overlooked these days by those obsessed with antler size. Squirrels are a blast to hunt with archery equipment too.

I tried a few shorts out of curiosity but accuracy was horrible at 25 yards with the ones I tried. Longs weren't too bad but it grouped very well with standard velocity LR Winchester T22 and some cheap Remington HV stuff. Will do a little more experimentation before fall. I imagine most any .410 load with shot from #4s to #7.5s will work ok at close range. I'm probably going to try the Federal 3" #5 load or maybe even the Winchester 3/4 oz "magnum" load of #6s.

SCGunNut .... that really brings back memories ... in the late sixties and early seventies my father had two of those in 20ga / 22mag....it was his do-all weapon , you know the story beware of the fella with one gun .

The early model he had used a knob on the side to select rim fire or shotgun ... the look on his face was priceless when a partridge flushed and on the wing he fired the 22 mag ... and the partridge dropped from the sky !! See him do it twice , always by mistake in switching the barrel , but he was deadly with that combo .... he is in his 80's now but I will mention it tommorow and it will bring a smile .

Thanks

I have long wanted one of those classic Savage combination guns, but they are very hard to come by in this area. Congratulations on yours. I love to hunt squirrels, and have used a .22LR for about 30 years now. Before that, I used a shotgun like most everyone else I knew. The .22 is a better choice for me. Hunting skills and head shots. That's real squirrel hunting.

I have a 24 made in the early 1960s in .22WRM and .410--nice walnut stock and side barrel selector, case-colored receiver. I too have to use a scope because of old-age farsightedness. Put a Weaver V3 on this one and with the scope on 3X it is very accurate with the original Winchester 40gr. hollowpoint .22WRM. And as a bonus, it shoots the sabotted .375 roundballs from Ballistic Products to the same point of aim at 50 yards in the .410 barrel with the scope on 1X! Kinda fun.

Never used it for tree squirrels when I lived in NYS, but did shoot cottontails with the .410 if they ran and then switched to FMJ .22WRM if they sat. Here I use it for cottontails (to eat) and ground squirrels (not).

The O/U .22/.410s are my absolute favorite squirrel guns.

Hey SCGN...are you guys in Columbia having squirrel problems? They are all over the upstate and eating everything in site. Including the underground sprinkler systems. Hate to say it but my Dad is on the verge of blowing nests from trees.

There definetly seem to be more of them in town than in the woods. Don't have too many problems with them myself but I work in a gun shop and usually several times each week somebody comes in to buy CBs to thin the squirrels in their yard. Wish I could catch them all and relocate them to my hunting land come Fall!

Once when I was just a little kid, I forgot to switch barrels one time and learned I could hit a running jack rabbit with a .22. It was an eye-opening, confidence building experience at the time.

Nice little gun! You did real well for the price. My favorite rabbit gun is a 24 in .410 22lr. That'll make a great squirrel gun with that scope on it. Have fun!

Lee

I have a 22lr/20g. I cut the butt plate and installed a sheet metal cover so I could carry ammo in the stock like some of the models produced in the 70s when I bought it. Very handy modification. It is choked full, but I have taken two deer with slugs. I have always enjoyed combining deer and squirrel hunting. Some say you can't do it, but I have had several deer come toward my shot over the years. I don't think they could set their reference on a 22 short or cap which is what I shoot for squirrel.

That should be perfect!

Seems like it is a no-no here for males over 14yrs to shoot squirrels with a shotgun. Squirrels are to be head shot with a rifle.

Forty years ago my neighbor and some of his buds went squirrel hunting at daylight every Sun morn in the fall. Like duck hunting or a golf date. They all carried nice scoped bolt .22's, LR and Mags. They hunted close enough together to hear each others shots. They made wagers on the squirrels. Only head shots made points. Non-head shot were less and misses counted off.

I have a Sav DL .22mag over 3" 20ga. It is a great gun to call in coyotes from a fence row. It was my camper gun in our motor home. Not shot much, but 70,000mi standing in a rod rack in the closet.

Hey SCGN,

got a couple of Savage 24's myself (22WMR/20g & 222rem/20g)

Bought them for foxes and rabbits.
Was wondering what the trigger pull on yours is like?
Mine is/was atrocious. Clean break, but VERY heavy.
Is yours (or others here) the same?

Had one worked on, and it is now acceptable, will get the other one taken care of soon too.

Happy hunting with your squirrels, sounds like sonething I'd like to try at least once in my life.

Cheers,
Troy (Aussielad)

I've got three 24s (the .22LR/.410, .22WMR/20ga, .357 Maximum/20ga) and all of them have stiff trigger pulls. They are all relatively heavy but at least they are crisp so I don't complain too much.

Very cool rig. I dont hunt tree rats anymore but still want one of those 24's in 22/410.

My new Savage drew its first blood a couple weeks ago...



Looked like a friggin' cat falling out of the tree!

I have a 22/20 and CB caps shoot 1 inch to 25 yds. Very quiet. Haven't put a scope on b/c of the 20 ga recoil. Mine shoots slugs to the same point of aim to abt 50 yd so it is a multi-purpose small game deer gun. Great fun.
Bones

Mannnnn I would like to shoot some of those Panda Squirrels!

[/quote]Mannnnn I would like to shoot some of those Panda Squirrels! [/quote]


Come on! I passed up a couple more fox squirrels this afternoon. I've decided to not kill anymore unless I see one in a color phase I don't have. I have four on the wall now (much to my wife's dismay) and this recent one is the same color as the one I mounted last year, only bigger. This one will go on the wall at the gun shop I work in. I would love to kill a white, or mostly white one and a buddy said he saw a red one that was the color of a red fox. Would plug him if I saw him.

I remember seeing your mounts...skookum....

A reddish one would look good in the mix....red ones is all we have here....

we have lots of big red ones that look like foxes climbing trees.... and grays.... I wish we had that black phase!!

Where did you find the .357 Max? I have a M24 in .223/12GA, which I like quite a bit. I also have a Baikal M94 in the same caliber combo, which I actually like more, mostly because it shoots more types of .223 better (twist rate). It is rather rougher than the Savage, taking three men and a boy to break open and close until worn in, but much easier to locate for sale (Bud's Gunshop has them). I am looking to get a .22LR/.410 Baikal soon, mostly for the squirrel hunting aspects. I would love to find a .357 Max combo.

[quote=mike762Where did you find the .357 Max? [/quote]


I bought it in the Gun List back in the late '80s. I'm pretty sure they were made only for a short time in '83 or so. I have never actually seen another one and I suspect the Max is the rarest caliber in the 24. I load a 180 gr XTP to about 2000 fps in it and killed a doe with it a few years ago.

I love the .357 Max. I have a Contender with a 10" .357 Mag barrel that I had rechambered to the Max, and it pushes 180 gr JHP to 1650 f/s. Haven't shot any deer with it yet, but a couple of hogs have expired rapidly when shot with it. Looking to get a Contender/Encore 23" barrel in Max one of these days.

If you ever want to sell the Max...

gun nut, what store do you work at in columbia? I'm in sumter. just bought my first 24. Its a 22 mag/20

Shooter's Choice

Id like to get won of them.

I have an older M24 in 22LR 20ga.

I could be talked into parting with it ..

I have a CZ Model 584 in 12 gauge over 7x65R. I have been looking for the 22 2r rifle insert for years that would make this gun the cats meow. If you know of any inserts that someone us will to part with, I would love to hear about it!!! Thanks and good hunting.

I'm very jealous! I had every intention of buying one of those and kept putting it off until they stopped importing them. Story of my life... Have you contacted CZ-USA about the inserts? Even after they stopped importing the 584, I emailed them to see if scope mounts were obtainable, just in case I found one (never did), and they said they could probably arrange to have mounts sent over from Europe. Might be worth a call if you haven't asked.

I've owned 3 M24's. Two 22/20ga. the deluxe models that I've since sold ( regret) and an old 22/410 that was my Granpa's that I still own. They're great little guns!

Those little 24's are great squirrel and rabbit guns! My first gun was a model 24 in .22/.410 that Dad bought used in 1966 for me. I've still got it and a .22M/20 gauge and like you I'm having trouble with the sights these days and I've been thinking about scoping them.

I was concerned that the groove type mounts wouldn't stand up the recoil on the 20 gauge though. What mounts did you use on yours and anyone who has scoped a 20 ga., Any problems with the mounts slipping?

Anyone have a favored type of scope mount that holds up to the recoil of the shotgun barrel?

thats a gorgous gun good find

I have the Warne steel rimfire rings on both of my rimfire 24's. They are one of the few rings I've found that have enough "bite" to work on that shallow groove of the 24's. Have had no problems with movement, even when shooting "high brass" in the 20ga/.22 Magnum.

Thank you! That's just what I needed to know and I'm going to order some of the Warne rings and get those 24's busting squirrels again.

I had a 22/410 years ago. It was the model that you put spare ammo in the stock. The wood was painted maple and the finish started peeling off. I think I sold it pretty cheap..

Cool rifle

Sweet gun and I can picture the mornings...thanks