Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Combination guns

Bandit,

Who makes (made) your 12/5.6x52R?

I believe it's something like Ferochi (sp?), a family run place in Italy. They're still in business, but the combo guns they make these days bear little resembance to mine, which was built in the early 70's.

Brian.

I have a Sav Mod 24 Dlx from the 70's in .22 Mag over 3" 20ga. It was my camper gun for about 60,000 mi. A very good gun for coyote calling when sitting alone in a fence row.

My cousin just gave me a Savage 24 410/.22lr and what a fun little gun it is. My grandkids really have fun shooting it. At 25 yards it will put most of the 22lr touching at point of aim and the 410 pattern good also. I'm going to bring home some game with this one

I got a .22 over 20 gage from Mule Deer, thinking that it would be nice for squirrel because you could just use the shotgun barrel as long as you have 300 yards clear behind the squirrel. I've gotten a rabbit with it, but haven't had the time to get back into squirrel hunting.

It is Marocchi, and they are the current makers of the "Valmet" 412 series guns. They interchange with the Valmet 412 series and are pretty good, all-in-all. I have a set of 30-06 o/u barrels of theirs for my Valmet 412S. They made the Tikka Series of the same gun, then Finnclassic, etc. The 12/9,3X74R I killed two buffalo with was a Marocchi/Tikka. I had 12/9,3X74R and 9,3/9,3 barrels, both scoped. It was a great moderately priced Africa set up, and I had the double trigger receiver, not the usual SST.

I wish I had the $$ to buy that one of yours, Bandit. You know I covet it.

Yeah, the newer Savage M24's and the Baikal M94's both have screw ins. I have three combo guns, and I love each one. Savage M24 .223/12GA, Baikal M94 .223/12GA, and a Valmet 412 .30-06/12GA. The Valmet was made in 1981 and has an IM choke. I could probably have a screw in made for it from Briley or one of the other tube/choke makers, but I don't want to goober up a nice set. It came with three barrels, 12GA/12GA, 12GA/.30-06, and .30-06/.30-06. I wish I could find a .375 H&H O/U barrel set, but so far no joy.

I have a Bushnell TR-25 on the Savage, a B&L 1.5x5 scope on the Baikal, a Mini Aimpoint on the Valmet .30-06/12GA, and a Leupold 2.5x8 on the Valmet .30-06/.30-06.

The Savage has a 1/14" twist and will not stabilize anything over 55 grains (including the 53 gr TSX) in the .223, but shoots 55 gr WW ball into 1.5" at 100 yards. I'm working up loads with the 45 gr TSX for deer/hogs, and using reduced loads with 45 gr Hornet bullets and SR 4759 for smaller critters. The Baikal has a faster twist, 1/12", and will shoot M855 and other 60-62 gr bullets fine. I'm using 60 gr Nosler PT's and 53 gr TSX's for larger game, and the same reduced load with 45 gr Hornet bullets for small game. I have also looked into acquiring a chamber adapter or two for .22 LR but the fellow who makes them is hard to communicate with, and hasn't responded to e mails. I'm also working on some 55 gr GC cast bullet loads for small game.

The Valmet shoots just about anything I've tried in either '06 barrel, including a reduced load using a 110 gr RNSP and SR 4759. It actually hits the same POI out to 75 yards as my .30-06 big game hunting load using a 165 gr Nosler BT, and only 2" low at 100. This is out of either the .30-06 O/U or the combo gun.

I'm always on the lookout for combination guns, and really think that they are great general hunting arms.

It's worth looking for a Savage 2400 made in Finland by Valmet and imported by Savage in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were made in only two flavors, a 12 guage Imp. Mod. barrel over a .308 WCF and the same shotgun barrel over a .222 Rem. I have one of each. Have been using the .222 barreled version for years (coyotes and turkeys mainly) and just got the .308 barreled version from a gentleman in upstate NYS, although I've used one owned by a friend for deer hunting several times.

They are heavier than a M24, MUCH nicer made, more expensive, and take Sako scope rings on an integral dovetail mount. Look much like the later Valmet 412 but don't have the interchangeable barrels and are somewhat lighter. Barrels are a metric odd length about 23 1/2". They use a Czech-designed action first patented in France in 1922, then picked up by Remington in 1932, and used by Kreighoff and Valmet WWII.

Don't have any combo guns(cape or combo), but sure do like the drillings. This one is a circa 1969 Simson 12x12/9.3x74R. Briley choke tubes, and a Zeiss 4x. Great all around hunting gun.

Jeff

Nice stripped pony there AKJeff...

Thanks Bud...how you doin'?

After this stallion was down, the PH radioed for the truck. The landowner(the PH I hunted with last time) brought his little daughter along(she's 4 or 5). She's in her dad's ams when he walks up, and she says "Well done, Jeff!", just like a little PH. Cutest damn thing you'll ever see. She's going to be a hunting fool some day.

Jeff

Is that the one you had in Ketchikan?

Yep!

If you head back up here in the spring, give me a shout. Good chance I'll be working a project down that way by then.

Jeff

I'll be so wrapped up with doing [bleep] on the new house and getting ready for retirement. I do miss it so.

Congrats on the house! That'll definitely occupy your time for a bit. Worth it though. Nothing like having your own place.

Jeff

I have a CZ 584 that finally made me admit I'm a rifle and hunting looney. 7X57R and 12 gauge, with a CZ .22 LR insert for the 12 gauge barrel that shoots to point of aim at 50 yards after a bit of tweaking. The rifle barrel likes to be very cool or it will string pretty badly.

I bought it specifically for one area I hunt where I see both nice deer and odd color phase fox squirrel.

Mesa,
I'm always looking for combo guns. Thanks for the tip.

I too like drillings. The trouble is that they are very hard to find in these parts, and the ones that I have found are in very odd ball caliber/gauge combinations. I handload everything, but some of the choices would be very difficult to find. I did find a Merkel drilling in 12GA/.30-06 which I was lusting after, but with the price north of $8000, it was a bit beyond my budget.

Nice Punda BTW.

I bought a Antonio Zoli 12ga/7x57R about a year ago. I put a 1x4 Burris scope on it that has very long eye relief. Worked up a load with 154gr Hornadys at about 2600fps. If the barrel was cool it would do one inch groups. Shotgun shot to same point of aim as the rifle with Brenneke slugs and had interchangable chokes, the previous owner had them installed, though I found the MOD the best for slug accuracy and general patterning, it has a EXTRA FULL for turkey. I was happy and desided to see if it would work out as hoped.

Black bear and turkey seasons run concurrently in the several areas in Montana so I thought this combo would work out well. Didn't get a turkey but did get a 350lb male bear that squared 6 ft. During antelope season I got no shots at antelope, population down 50% to 90% in the area I like to hunt, depending on who you talk to. I did however pick up a couple of ducks on a praire pond. I was after some sage grouse and ended up with a 7x7 mule deer where I would never have thought a big buck would be hiding. I got three pheasants and two white tail does in one day and a mule deer doe and a white tail doe over a two day period while missing a couple of pheasants. Shots on deer ranged from 75 to 300 yds. All one shot except the buck, I put an insurance round into him even though he was going down from the first shot. All shots were through and through.

The combo has become my #1 gun/rifle. I can hardly waite for spring bear/turkey season.

I've still got it - ended up being able to sell enough other stuff to hold on to it for now.

Brian.