Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage/Valmet thread? 2400s 330s 333s

Anybody else a Savage/Valmet fan? Got a 330, 333, or 2400 you want to brag on or discuss? Pictures?

Anybody else got one of these neat 2400 combination guns? Mine is 12 guage over .308, and has plain but nice wood. Bought in the 1970s from a gunshop that died and was selling off inventory. Came with a scope mount (I THINK that was a factory article) and I had some problems finding rings for it. Finally got some and mounted a Redfield 2 3/4" with a dot reticle. Always meant to shoot an elk with this gun, but never got around to it; only big game I've killed was a decent black bear. And that was with the shotgun barrel!

My .308 barrel likes 150 gr Silvertips best, and will shoot about 1.5" 3-shot groups all day long. I had choke tubes fitted to the shotgun barrel since it was choked tighter than a gnat's butt (turkey or capercaillie swatter?). It is too heavy for a dedicated upland gun, but I have killed plenty of cottontails and some snowshoes with it when just cruising the woods.

I've also had a number of 330s, both 12s and 20s, two 12 ga. 333s, and one 20 ga 333. Still got a Magnum 12 330 and have never seen another, and a 12 ga 333 my wife game me.

The Finns know how to make stuff!

Mike
I don't own any of the above but have been chasing a 333 for a very long time. Would prefer both 12 & 20 gauge barrels, but would settle for a 20.

If you or anyone else has one for sale please let me know. No problem with shipping just send to my dealer in Montana.

thanks
Johno

Hi, Johno. If I find one, I'll let you know. I haven't ever seen a dual-guage 333, tho. Have seen a number of dual-guage 330s, although I have never owned one. Seems to me that a gun that balances well in 12 would be muzzle-light in 20. This may be why some of the sets I've seen had a 26" 12 ga barrel paired with a 28" 20 barrel. Otherwise, that pairing doesn't make any sense to me....

The one 333 20 guage I owned seemed over-heavy for a 20 that was to be used for upland hunting with lots of hiking. It had 3" "magnum" chambers, tho, and could have served for ducks or turkey. I got rid of it because of the heavy weight, preferring the lighter 330 20 ga I also had at the time.

These guns come on the market very seldom, and then they are usually over-priced by Cabella's or some other US dealer. Best to look for them at gunshows and small shops (assuming that they aren't all extinct in your area). It seems to me that NZ is a fairly gun-friendly place, tho.

Wood is a crapshoot in Valmets; runs from soft "pallet-grade" blondies to rosewood-like beauties with lots of black streaking. But the nice wood makes an already hefty gun even heftier! My remaining 333 has plain wood, which keeps the weight down. My 2400 has delectable wood, which accounts for its near 9 pound weight....The poorer sticks of wood don't take the impressed checkering very well, either. I saw one that was cracked at the wrist by the checkering die, and the Savage or Valmet QC didn't catch it.

Question to all: do you know if these guns were supplied to Savage by Valmet as finished guns or were they supplied as finished metal parts and then stocked in the US, or some combination????? I'd love to know.

I have 20 and 12 gauge 330's I like a lot. Shoot trap with both. Would like to use 20 at skeet but as with older o/u's they have tighter fixed chokes. Good wood on my 12 and great wood on 20.

Hey Johno, seen this?
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=141711306

would love a 2400 but have never seen one for sale. Anyone know of one?

I had a 330 in 12 gauge in college. Mechanically interesting action, but never could hit much with it. Got the idea to pattern it one day and found the bottom barrel shot 18 inches high at 30 yards, the top barrel 6 inches high. Sold

Tex, there was definitely something wrong there! Most of the 330s I've had actually patterned closer to the POA than the more expensive 333s (probably because they are simpler to assemble right). Most upland guns are stocked to shoot a little high for good reason, but that seems excessive, all right. All of mine shoot slightly high, but not 18".

Has anyone seen a 16 guage Valmet O/U? I believe it would be one made for use in Europe and imported here as a used gun later or one imported in the late 1960s and early 1970s by a large US sporting goods firm (can't remember the company) and fitted with a PolyChoke ventilated rib by them. The 12s imported by this firm are fairly common, and were sold under the model name "Valmet Lion." I have one of those and have seen a 16 listed for sale, but it was sold before I could get there to have a look....Are these common in Scandinavia?

Hey I got a mint 333 20ga. if your interested call me 207-576-4509 Thanks Randy

Love them combo guns. I have a small gaggle of Savage 24's but never have been able to connect on one of those Finns. The only center fire rifle 24 I have is this 24V in 222 Rem over 20 Mag.

I'm going to thin out my military rifles before long an maybe will have some expendable $ for a 12/.308 2400.

For those interested, the Savage24.com site has some later Savage catalogs that show the 24's and the Finn 2400's

Don

is anyone still on this thread?

I have a minty 20 gauge o/u chambered in Skeet and IC. My son shoots it better than his Ruger Red label. This one is one of the nicest ones I have seen.

I recently found a 333 12 guage Skeet model that had been restocked very badly with very nice wood. An exaggerated wide, flat long forend with a clubby buttstock that has a 'way too close pistol grip for me. Pull length is OK if I can move the PG back about 3/4", which shouldn't be too hard given how "overwooded" the thing is. Had a bad case of tang "gaposis," too.

These guns are absolutely reliable in lousy weather, so I'm remaking this one as a beater or rainy day gun and spare. Skeet chokes are fine for upland hunting, and I love 333s.

I'm slowly whittling away the excess wood and trying to shape the wood like my other 333 field gun. Beat the gaposis easily, thank heaven! (Big gaps in the inletting just won't do for a rainy day gun....). Hope to send it for checkering soon; won't try to duplicate the fugly Savage checkering but will keep it fairly coarse for function in wet conditions.

Maybe by the time I get her done I can figure out how to post before-and-after pix. But don't hold your breath--I'm better with wood than electrons!

Nice 20 ROMAC! You got a good 'un!

i use my 2400 barrel on my 330 reciever and there is an old valmet lion 12/12 full/full that will fit it too
i have heard the 333 barrels will not fit but i'd like to try for myself

Hey, bigkelly, that's interesting. Never tried it, altho I have a 330 and a Valmet "Lion" too. Have to try my 2400 barrels on them tonight and report.

I got some info on the Valmet/Remington 32/Krieghoff locking system from another forum and don't remember if I passed it on here. If so, forgive me--look at the old thread where it is probably more accurate since I wasn't working from my (lousy, old) memory. If not, here goes:

The top lock-and-trunnion system ("sliding cover" on top and bosses plus lock within reciever) was granted a French patent to an expatriot Czech inventor (right after WWI). When the patent ran out in 1929, Remington adopted it for the Remington Model 32, which came out in 1931 or 32 (I think). The design was adopted by Krieghoff right after WWII when that firm began manufacturing guns again (clearly de-Nazification was a very selective process....), and is still used by them. Designers at Valmet simplified the design and re-designed it for cold weather hunting, and began making O/Us in about 1948 with the model name of "Leijona," or "Lion" in Finnish. Sloan's Sporting Goods began importing them in the early 1950s under the name "Finnish Lion." Many of these had Polychoke aluminum ventilated ribs added to them by the importer since Americans weren't used to ribless doubles. Savage began importing the "300" series in the late 1960s or early 1970s, these were more-or-less straight Valmets with some embellishments such as (crappy) stamped checkering and (great) ejectors and ventilated ribs on the 333).

I don't know the subsequent history of this design very well. Perhaps somebody can supply the history of the Model 412 and later models. I understand they are still being made--in Italy!

I can add some details (like designer names and dates) to the above narrative from my notes, but would appreciate any further info or corrections to any of my errors.

Off to the gun safe!

Tried the 2400 barrels on my three Valmets. They lock up on the 330 Magnum (but I DIDN'T try to fire them), almost lock up on the "Lion," and not even close on the 333.

Interesting but not very useful, unless you have a 330 (if they fit a 12, they probably fit a 20, too) AND a spare set of 2400 barrels, which I doubt.

What WOULD be interesting would be to try a set of 412 double rifle or combination gun barrels on a 330, because those barrels are sometimes available on the internet gun sites. Any body tried this?

And what is the status of the Valmet/Tikka 412? I had heard that they were still being manufactured in Italy--true????

ok so you say the 330 won't fit the 333
my 330 has both 12/12 and a 20/20 set that fit along withn the 2400 12/308 barrel
the only problem i ran into with the lion set was the fore arm lug which wasn't in the right location.i made a lug and had my smith braze it on and everything worked.i left the old lug in place (it actually sits in front of the 330 fore arm and is exposed)in case i ever want to sell/use it on a lion reciever
supposedly there are 2 different savage 330 20/20 and you have to have the correct one to use the 12/12 barrel on it
I don't know about the tikka but they seem to be everywhere--just my luck--- i'm desperately seeking a savage 12/222 and the tikka's are all over the place!!!

if you have a savage 24-v 20/30-30 or 357mag/max or a model 242 410/410---guess what---ALL these barrel sets interchange

hey mike my 2400 really likes hornady's TAP 308's in 110 gr.these really seem to do the trick on fla deer.one of my 2400's is s 12ga full and the other is 12 IM.i didn't think you could re-choke these savages to screw in chokes