Anyone know anything about Savage 24's?

[Marshal_]

I've got an old Savage 24C Series S, 20 GA./ .22 over/under that I inherited. The foregrip and rear sight were snatched off when my uncle dropped it decades ago. Anyway, I finally got the new fore grip and all the odds and ends to attach it to the weapon. Even put a set of sling swivels on it to hopefully reduce the chances of it being dropped in the future. So, here's the issue: giving the fore grip a good tug will remove it from the weapon. Anyone have any idea if this is normal for a 24c?

Figured I'd ask here because the members generally have a good base of knowledge and experience. If it's normal I've got a few ideas on how to secure the fore grip better, but I wanna make sure before I go all backyard gunsmith on this puppy.

[grizzly340]

A freind of mine had one in 20 ga. / 22 mag. the trigger pull was so hard he just got rid of it. They make A nice squirrel gun. specaliy if there are grouse in the same woods.

[Marshal_]

Yeah, that's more or less why I'm trying to get it back into functional shape. It was a freebie, unless you account for parts, stain, filler and finish oils. Even so $100 for a half decent over/under is hard to beat.

I'll agree the trigger is a little on the heavy side, but it certainly isn't the worst I've ever felt. I wanna give the thing a fair shake, especially since it fills a niche that nothing else in my arsenal does (small game gun and weapon of opportunity).but the fore grip issue is fairly prohibitive.

[zonie]

A friend somewhat collects them , cant say on the c model,   the older models just pull the forend down to remove some newer models had a screw.    He has a gunsmith hone all the triggers they are not the greatest but a lot better than  a few untouched triggers I've shot in that series. .   He uses them for close in varmit calling with the shotgun barrel and long range the centerfire barrel, although he normally scopes them.  It's a good gun a little heavy, but a good overall varmit gun if you call in various vegetation. 

[Marshal_]

Mine's a mid 80's model if I'm not mistaken. It's hard to tell, for some reason Savage is keeping the info for decoding the serial numbers under wraps. So that's probably how it's supposed to work, which means I'll be taking it in to work to fix that little issue. Thanks Zonie.

[imr4198]

The forends pull off.  You can tighten the latch by shimming the protrusion on the barrel, or take the latch in the forarm off and flatten the S-shaped part in a vise.  Not too much, just make it a little longer.  The C model was the 'Camper' gun.  Cylinder bore shotgun barrel and a trap in the butt.  Most of the things won't shoot the shotgun and rifle to the same point.  In spite of that, lots of folks are collecting the things. 
imr

[Marshal_]

Yea, I've read that it's pretty hit and miss (with more misses than hits) when it comes to placing the rifle and shotgun rounds in the same location. Honestly I doubt I'll be using the .22 rifle bore much, I'm mostly restoring it for the .20 ga shotgun portion. Maybe I'll get to the range this weekend and see whether this one's one of the lucky few that shoot straight.

I kinda wish I'd gotten back here and seen your post a little earlier imr. I dunno if the methods you described would have had the results I would want, but it might've saved me 4 hours worth of cutting, shaping, drilling, tapping, and finally welding a hunk off a busted craftsman wrench to suitably secure the fore end to the barrel. For reference, no I didn't weld anything to the barrel, I welded it to that little tab you were talking about shimming. Either way, here's hoping that I didn't hurt anything with my hillbilly gunsmithing.

For kicks and giggles I'll attach a pic of the modification, and the semi finished product. I need to  find a local smith that can knock off the rust and blue the barrel and maybe re do the nickel on the receiver. Or maybe just blue the whole thing, I haven't made up my mind yet.