My father and I carried a 24 in 22LR/20 as our trapline gun for years back in the '60s. I gave one in 22/410 to a family with several young boys that live out in the bush in western AK a few years ago.. they are working hard at wearing it out!
I have a project Hornet/20 that I need to restock... any idea how uncommon the Hornet was? Separated barrels.
Just from my observations, I would rank the 24Vs this way in terms of "Common":
222, 30-30, 223, 22H, 357 Mag, and 357 Max.
Again, just from my observations, I would rank the 24/24Fs, the synthetic stocked style that replaced the 24V in 1984/85, this way in terms of "Common":
223, 22H, and 30-30
Out of these nine different configurations with 20 gauge lower barrels, I have owned at least one of each except the 357 Max in the 24V and the 30-30 in the 24/24F. I have only owned two 24/24Fs with 12 gauge lower barrels, in 22H and 223, but they were significantly heavier than the 20 gauge units and that factor made them less user friendly for me.
I have long thought that a 24/24F in 223 over 12 gauge would make a useful survival tool for the U.S. military, but I guess that nobody in the U.S. military forages for food any longer. The only place that I've seen foraging depicted by the U.S. military was in the movie "Blackhawk Down" and I assume that was done for stage effect, rather than as a reflection of reality.
