doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Practical combination gun?

Savage seems to be the inexpensive option for something like this (the venerable Model 24). Is there a more-perfect combination of calibers? Off the top of my head, I would guess something like 16-gauge/.22 magnum (not sure this was ever offered) would work to keep the weight issue down. The more practical version (best lethality, easy to feed) would likely be something like a .223 over a 12-bore? I'm sure there are european versions that are superior. I've nothing against drillings, other than I'm a southpaw and I've never seen one that would actually fit me. There is also significant cost associated with the better versions (and, of course, the age factor). I'm only (mildly) considering a more-practical "tool" at the moment. What says the cognoscenti here?

I'll wade into this, I have a soft spot for combo guns and drillings, and I use them a lot. I'm a predator hunter and there is nothing better when you're calling in the thicker stuff. Coyotes can sneak in to some very close ranges before you see them, they can use brush and creases in the land to suddenly appear at your feet. Having a shotgun barrel loaded with NP BB's is really handy, then again they will hang up outside of shotgun range and survey the situation and the rifle barrel will do the trick.

My favorite drilling for preds is a 1926 no name drilling in 16ga/16ga/6.5x58R Sauer with a low mounted 1-4x20 scope and handles like lightning. I've killed more than one pheasant on the way back from a stand. Inside 40 yards an ounce of BB's will get the job done, no need for heavy loads of buckshot as the rifle barrel is there for the longer work.


No slouch in the accuracy department either.


Get in a little more open country where you can stretch out the rifle yet having a shotgun is really handy and you don't have to reach down and change weapons, the rifle is just a different trigger away.
BRNO 12ga/5.6x52R(22 Sav. Highpower) 55gr .228 bullets are availible.


Again more than adequate for 300 yard preds.


Another dandy combo Bernardelli 12ga/5.6x50R Mag


Continued below

Literally the worst designed combo gun Sav. Model 24 223/20ga. While both are more than adequate for the job getting them to fire isn't. To shoot it you have to reach up and cock it then move the selector and for the second shot you have to go through the process again. Be sure and mount your scope high enough to get your thumb to the hammer and then build up the stock so you can see through the scope without having to bob and weave your head around, it didn't take long for this one to hit the road.


Now this is a dandy combo gun American Arms(Marrochi) 12ga/222 Rem with Winchokes again it is a sub MOA rifle. It went to a turkey hunter that was plagued with coyotes stalking his turkey decoys.


Someone mention get a bird gun for upland, well this one is one of my favorites it handles as nice as some of my better sxs's. 1906 drilling 16ga/16ga/9.3x72R. It works well on fur also. I do have to reach up and cock it though.


And my favorite big game drilling for still hunting the northwoods. JP Sauer 16ga/16ga/7x57R again no slouch in the accuracy dept.


The ideal combo gun has two triggers(instant barrel selection) and a safety(no cocking hammers), solid scope mount, low power variable for the large FOV and enough X's to reach out a ways and preferably a rimmed rifle cartridge to your choosing for the game you intend to hunt. A set of shotgun barrels are handy too.

The BRNO

I've owned several Savages and ultimately hated them all for unreliability and inaccuracy. You can buy a Sauer drilling or combo on gunbroker for $1500-2000. They are coming in from Europe where they have gone out of fashion. I recommend 7X65R and 16 gauge.

I can admire the practicality of combo guns, but they are just not my cup of tea, though I tried one for a brief time, early on. When I go hunting all my focus is on the particular game species I'm after, and equipped for. I do not subsistence hunt. If I did I might feel differently about these guns. If I am hunting deer I'm after a big buck, or a doe for meat. I will not ruin my chance by shooting a squirrel. If I am shooting doves I have zero use for a rifle. If I'm hunting ducks I will not shoot at a deer that may present itself. I want ducks.

I'm not out there just to kill something. I'm out there to kill something in particular.

It doesn't make me right, or anyone else wrong. It's just how I like to hunt.

Having a combination gun is a bit like having an Enduro motorcycle-sure, you can ride on the street or in the dirt, but, it is not the best, not even close, for either.
Get a dirt bike, or, get a street bike, or, get both.

Get a rifle, a good, accurate rifle with the optics you need (almost nobody here is using iron sights these days) and get a bird gun, a really good one, and use either for their intended purpose.

A deer poked its head in a cover you were hunting grouse in? Let him go until deer season. None of us is starving.
Best,
Ted

this is the neatest of the savage 24s:





20 /22 with 20" barrels and folding stock. the story is that these were OSS issue in WWII and later in the 1950s . if the cold war had gone hot, these might turned the tide in our favor !

actually....i made that all up. the folding stock really is from WW2 and made for savage side by side or combo guns. Sarco had these for sale for years , hermetically sealed in the foil lined pouch, for $4.95

i bought one and used on this savage 24C. the C stands for Camper....not Clandestine...though it could mean both ! HA!

Somehow, I was able to restrain myself from bidding on this interesting little German side-lever opening S x S Hammer Cape Gun chambered in .22 rimfire and 9 m/m shot cartridge. It sold a couple weeks ago for $470.00



I don't know what 9 m/m shot cartridge it takes, but assume it is the 9 m/m rimfire version, or something even more obscure. Fiocchi lead # 7 1/2 factory rimfire loads show a velocity of 600 ft./sec. Highly questionable if it fits the definition of a practical combination gun. Once I talked myself out of bidding on it, I entertained the thought of providing a link to the auction here. Then someone could have tried to make up some 3/16 oz. TSS handloads, and used it to kill a turkey.

That would have made for some lively discussion.

One week a year here in ky there is a time when quail, rabbit, squirrel, dove, woodcock( or snipe) and deer are all in season. That is a fun time to go on a nice walk about with the drilling. Usually it’s some dove with a rabbit or squirrel and a doe that turns around at 100 yds to see what jumped her. This is a fun time with a combination gun ( until you have to deal with the deer solo). It’s a different kind of hunting much more solitary, dogs just get in the way and can be illegal if you shoot a jumped deer. I don’t think I would spend the money on a Combo gun for this one week every year or so but mine was a gift. It’s worth borrowing one and experiencing it once or twice. In my case it’s more about the gun itself and remembering the grandfather that gave it to me. It’s just more of a walk about than a hunt. Ted is correct; bird dogs and a light fast 16ga sxs is a bird hunt. A fine 270 with a 4x12 leupold is a deer or elk hunt. It’s quite different and a solitary thing with a drilling or combination gun.

I have not used the Valmet yet. I've bid on a couple but haven't been successful. They are or were recently available new and have quite a selection of barrel combinations. I saw one that was being sold with seven sets of barrels. I believe that Sav rebranded some Valmets as the 2400 but don't quote me on that. Interestingly Valmets haver come with single triggers with a selector on the trigger and double triggers. They are good combo gun with the option of double rifle barrels or double shotgun barrels.

The American Arms combo above has the barrels adjustable for point of impact. For some reason I think Marrochi is making the Valmets now, something I might have read.

I have always admired the craftsmanship and engineering of the Drillings. I happened to find one in my price range last year and the Southern SXS. It did need some TLC and turned into an amazing gun. Its a guild gun from pre WWI with and underlever 16X16 with a 9.3X72R barrels. For my location in central NC it works great. 16 gauge is good for birds and four legged animals, the rifle is contemporary with the 30-30 that has taken thousands of deer in my part of the US so i dont feel undergunned with the 9.3x72. Most of my shots on deer are less than 75 yards and usually in heavy woods.

I was able to take my drilling on a quail hunt last november, it did great and i didnt feel that it was cumbersome to carry and it didnt get too heavy as the day went on. It felt good to take a 100+ year old gun into the field and use it for what it was intended for.

Back about 1990, I bought a drilling as part of a 5 gun deal. It's a pre-war C.K. Ansorg 16x16x 8x57R. It's a lovely gun with extensive engraving. It is extremely well finished with very fine checkering and internal parts that have a mirror polish. I love the selector on the tang to switch the firing control from right barrel to rifle barrel, while at the same time operating a linkage to raise the rear sight above the rib. It isn't at all heavy or clumsy, but I have only taken it grouse hunting a couple times in all the years I've owned it. I thought it would be nice to try to take a deer with it, but for many years used nothing but my flintlock for deer hunting. Maybe I'll have more time to play with it when I'm retired.

The old German gunsmith who had a shop not far from my parents house had lots of combination guns, piled up like cordwood. He had smuggled them out of Germany after WWII, how I'll never know. They must have been very popular there, but just never caught on over here. We do have some true combination guns, but seem to gravitate more toward stuff with multiple interchangeable barrels like T/C Contenders or the old H&R Toppers. He had a bunch of drillings, and also had Vierlings (4 barrels), Fünflings( 5 barrels), double rifles and cape guns. Many of them had incredible engraving, gold and silver inlays, ivory and intricate stock carving. The four and five barreled guns had some odd configurations and combinations of shotgun and rifle calibers. One gun to cover about every conceivable hunting situation is an interesting concept. I could only imagine the complexity of the lockwork in those. Having worked on a lot of German machinery, I find it to often be somewhat over-engineered. Sometimes I found myself thinking that if the Germans built tanks, airplanes, and U-Boats like the machines I repaired, it's no wonder they lost two world wars.