My family has a few guns that I call legacy guns. Guns that every member of the family uses at one time or another. One of these guns is an old Savage Model 24. The Savage Model 24 was used by my siblings and me as young hunters, and lord knows how long that gun has been in the Pike family. I really want to snag it from my dad, but he seems resistant to the idea of passing it down! In its place, I grabbed something that squeezed the practicality itch and purchased a Savage Model 42.
The famous Model 24 is a combination gun. Originally, it was the Stevens 22-410, but Savage purchased Stevens and brought several of their designs into the Savage fold. It bears mentioning the Army Air Corps purchased some 15,000 Stevens 22-410 weapons for survival rifles for pilots. By 1950, the Stevens brand no longer produced the 22-410, and Savage began producing it as the Model 24.
The top barrel is a .22LR or a .22 Magnum, and the bottom barrel is a .410 shotgun. It’s the ultimate small game-getter and perfect for a smaller, youthful shooter. Neither caliber has any recoil of note, and the gun can be lightweight and easy to carry. The older Model 24 featured a wood stock and forend and blued steel.
It was a gun of its era. The Savage Model 42 is a gun of this era.
The Modern Model 42
Savage cleverly reversed the numbers with the Model 42, and at its core, it’s not much different than the Model 24. The Model 42 is also a break-action combination gun. The top barrel chambers the .22LR, and the bottom barrel chambers the mini but mighty .410 with a chamber length of 3 inches.
The Model 42 uses polymer furniture. Thin polymer that’s quite light. Weighing in at 6.1 pounds, it’s a whole pound, and some change lighter than the Model 24. The gun comes with more standard and modern sights, and an optic can be mounted if desired. The extractor is a manual device that ejects both the top and bottom barrel.
The Model 24 utilized a receiver-mounted selection device, and the Model 42 simplified it with a small tab on the hammer. Flip it upwards to fire the rifle and flip it downwards to fire the shotgun. The Model 42 comes with sling swivels. Savage also installed a manual push-button safety to make the weapon truly drop-proof. Shooters can half cock the gun and turn the safety on to put plenty of room between the hammer and the barrel.
Finally, most of the Model 42s are takedown guns. The user can separate the barrels from the receiver for a very compact, easy-to-store weapon. However, my Model 42 is one of the early versions that lacks that capability. I’m fairly sure the Model 42 I have is fairly rare these days, although it’s no collector’s item.
At the Range
Why is it so hard to find .410? Every time I’m in my local gun store, I see a little old man asking about .410, and they never have any. I ran into the same problem and was forced to travel an hour away to overpay at a big box store. I remained unfettered and hit the range with 100 rounds of birdshot, 20 rounds of buckshot, and five slugs. Of course, I also had a bulk pack of .22LR for the top barrel.
The bottom shotgun barrel has a cylinder bore choke. It has no constriction, and it shows. The buckshot fired from the bottom barrel spreads quite quickly and limits its effective range. Out to 25 yards feels a bit challenging since you get three or four pellets. It’s best used closer if you have the option.
The slugs were accurate enough, and that’s your better option for anything beyond 25 yards. However, most .410 slugs kind of suck. They are relatively anemic, and I would only use a .410 slug for survival situations. I’m not sure how I’d feel about humanely taking a deer with one when better options exist. The fact this shotgun has a rear sight helps you in the accuracy department with slugs.
Birdshot is where this barrel shines. Birdshot from the barrel gives you an excellent dose of small shot to take small game, especially things like squirrels and birds that tend to be on the move around people.
While the .410 has some recoil, it is less than a .223 caliber semi-auto rifle. Even with the triple-aught buckshot, I would feel comfortable letting a smaller, less experienced shooter handle and shoot the .410 shotgun portion of this gun. The sights are good enough for almost any shotgun work. Hitting clays might be a challenge, but you can hit birds in a pinch.
What About the Rifle?
The .22LR rifle portion of the gun is super cute. There is no recoil whatsoever. The single-shot nature of the .22LR allows you to use basically whatever .22LR load you want. It doesn’t have to cycle a semi-auto action or work with a lever or bolt action design. This allows you to use .22 Shorts, .22 Longs, .22 Long Rifle, as well as rat shot, subsonic, and whatever else falls into the .22LR realm.
It’s almost hearing safe with subsonic ammo, but don’t risk it. With a rifle, I pay a bit more attention to the trigger. The single-action trigger of the Model 42 isn’t bad. It’s a little spongy, and then it breaks. It’s not impressive, but it won’t degrade accuracy. The hammer is also a bit odd. When you cock the hammer, you don’t have a ton of tactile or audible feeling or click to the hammer.
The gun can produce some impressive accuracy but is somewhat hampered by the sights. The sights are seemingly trying to combine a bead with a rifle sight. What happens is that the sight is too big and covers up a ton of the target. This creates a problem with being able to see small targets. You have to be close to target a rabbit or squirrel. I could see why optics are somewhat popular on these guns. In a pinch, I could make it work with just iron sights, but an optic or even a smaller front sight would be beneficial.
The Wee Little Model 42 and Me
I’m a big fan of the .22LR, as any American shooter would be. I also have a place in my heart for the .410. The .410 as a shotshell is a great small game cartridge and can be hot-rodded for taking medium game. A good load of buckshot can easily take a whitetail deer. It’s a fun little gun.
It’s certainly well suited for small game and pest hunting. It’s light enough that any shooter can use it, and it’s quite versatile. The Model 42 may not have all the charm of the blued steel and wood furniture Model 24, but it’s a practical weapon for practical purposes. For me, that practical purpose is helping rear the next generation of young shooters.
