doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Value of a Savage 430 20 gauge shotgun?

Hi Gang:

I am thinking of buying a Savage 430 shotgun but I need to know what a fair price would be.

The gun has the following features:

26" barrels I.C and Mod.
Single trigger
No rib
Extractors

Anybody out there have any knowledge of this gun?

TIA,

Franchi

The Savage Model 420 and 430 over and under shotguns were introduced in the 1937 catalogue along with the Model 220 hammerless single barrel and the very short-lived Model 320 double barrel shotgun. The Model 420 had plain uncheckered wood and a butt plate while the Model 430 had checkered wood and a Jostam Anti-Flinch recoil pad. The Model 430 had a wholesale price of $29.65 and a Suggested retail price of $39.50, when a basic Fox-Sterlingworth was $35.75 and $42.85. The non-selective single trigger appeared as an option in the 1938 catalogue and was $6 wholesale and $7.50 retail extra. The price was up to $32.90 and $43.85 by January 1941, with the non-selective single trigger up to $7.95 and $10.60 extra. Savage may have sold some from inventory after WW-II but they never resumed production. The Savage over and unders apparently didn't compete well with the Marlin Model 90 in the low priced over and under market.

My Godfather had a Model 430 in 12-gauge, but by the early 1950s he became a pump man with a Remington 760 30-06 and 870s in 12- and 20-gauge. As I recall the Savage over and under was cocked by the movement of the toplever, not by the dropping of the barrels.

I'm sure a Model 430 20-gauge with 26-nch barrels is a rather scarce item. If anyone cares is another question?

Friend of mine in upstate NY has hunted with a 16 guage 430 for years. Not sure what they are worth, but they sure work.

My very first double was a 420 20ga. Cost me all of $65, with a soft case, back in about 1961 or 62. Blue Book says $360 for a 430 in 95% condition. Doesn't give a bump for 20ga, but there's probably a small one. They are pretty rare, compared to Marlin 90's, and a 430 20ga ST would be quite scarce, as Researcher said. But I still wouldn't go over $400. There are livelier 20ga OU's out there that won't cost you much more than that.

Lets arrive at approximate value of this piece by comparing it to solid knockabout O/U available on 2nd hand market.
This is what you can get for $600: alloy frame with roll-on or etched engraving, TWO sets of barrels 26" IC-1/2 or Mod, 28" 1/4-3/4 chokes both VR, DT, ejectors, nice oil finished wood with shallow game type fe , quality rubber pad with blue spacer. Condition almost new. Now lets subtract from that $600 for "lack of features" by attaching penilty points to them on the Savage. No auto ejectors -100, no spare barrels -200, no engraving -25, no rib -25, single trigger +75, too heavy -100 (the 12br "Black Beauty" comes in at about 6lb with 28" so we can't add anything for the Savage being 20br). The Savage 430 assuming excellent condition is worth $225. The "Black Beauty" is Italian-made (which should be of little surprise as they own this market) 12br Luigi Franchi 'Flaconet' hunter grade small birdie gun. Small birdie because you have to pick loads carefuly (1oz load going at 1100fps will do nicely) or there will be . I hope this helps. Best

To Each his Own, but personally I would "DeDuct" $750.00 for any gun having an aluminum frame, so that means I would consider the "Black Beauty" if one paid me $150.00 to take it. Would take an all Steel 20ga over an Aluminum 12ga any day of the week.

nostalgia also has to be weighed into that equation....

What Miller said...Aluminum frame guns dont even make good fence posts, they bend when driven into the ground...

I've owned a bunch of 430's over the last 40 years and was always drawn to them for some unknown reason. Maybe because they were a pre-war gun and that very few were made. It is a sturdy, heavy for it's gauge gun, but they are great shooters. I had 2 430's that I recall had extraordinary wood on them. Nice even burl! The drops at comb and heel are a little more then most like nowadays. So--count me as a fan. I has such a gun as you describe. I bought it in the 90's in Vegas for $250--sold it, perhaps 5/6 years ago for around $400. That's probably still a good number today, esp. if the gun is clean, unaltered and has decent wood. An neat gun for not a lot of of $$$!!!

i've owned one 430 and bought it because a) it was mint and b) had wood that would shame many a graded browning (and i've owned pigeon, diana and midas so i'm not just saying that). last time this came up it got compared to the marlin 90 and based on a bunch of factory stats that were quoted it came up short. however at the time i was fortunate to own both the 430 and a 90 and the factory specs are light on the 90 and heavy on the 430. i know guns can vary but since i had 2 actual guns instead of relying on old shooters bibles it's my measured data i'm saying is correct. the 430 was heavier by 6oz and had 2" more barrel.

that being said, i think the 20 ga 420's and 430's are built on the 12 ga frame so the comparison won't stand for the 20 ga. i ended up with $450 in mine and feel it was well worth that regardless of what some stupid, 90% useless book claims. the wood like i said was outstanding and the condition was so great the jostam pad showed no evidence the gun had ever even stood on it. and i was able to shoot both it and the marlin at the same time more than once and the 430 handled better. subjective yes but i value my own experience more than someone elses.

unless i'm missing something and not counting the o/u's savage built on their combo gun frames or the galazan o/u, there have not been but 3 o/u's physically built on this continent: the savages, the marlin, and the remington 32 and 3200's. as such, the savage is a great piece of American gun making from a way underated maker.

what it's worth depends on whether one is wanting a piece of machinery to empty hulls or wants something with some background and history to it. a yildiz is the better value of the former, the savage if the latter.

roger