GUNS & AMMO
Expert advice, appraisals and the fascinating stories behind your firearms
Advertisement
My grandfather bought this shotgun new approximately 75 years ago (above). The forestock can be removed so the barrels can be changed. The stock has a flying duck on each side, probably stamped in. There are two barrels: a Cooey Model 840 20-gauge barrel with a full choke, and a Savage Model 219 .30-30 barrel. I’m curious about what this gun might be worth, although I’m not interested in selling it.
Advertisement
STEVE DYCK
MORDEN, MANITOBA
Manufactured around 1965, your shotgun is a Cooey 840, which is the model number used after Winchester purchased Cooey. Previously, it was called the Model 84. Typical of Cooey firearms, this is an unadorned utility shotgun, yet well made with quality materials. Cooey firearms are highly respected, and rightly so. There is some collector interest in these guns, although the wear on the wooden components pretty much eliminates any interest in your particular gun. The metal parts seem sound, though, so its value is as a shooter; someone looking for a good knock-around gun isn’t going to worry about the wood much. It’s probably worth $125 to $150.
Advertisement
The Savage 219 single-shot rifle was made from 1938 to 1965. I remember seeing it in a Savage catalogue when I was a kid in the early 1960s; it came in .30-30 or .22 Hornet, or with both barrels. I thought the combo was kind of neat and tried to talk my father into buying one. He already had a .22, a .30-40, and a 20-gauge shotgun, however, and wouldn’t have dreamed of buying another gun. I’m not sure how the barrel you have got separated from the Savage receiver, but it was never intended to be used with any non-Savage receiver. Even if it does fit on the Cooey, I wouldn’t shoot it.
The Savage 219 was a plain utility rifle and never very expensive, yet it seems to have a bit of a cult following. I think the .30-30 barrel would sell to someone who has a 219 in .22 Hornet, probably for $100 or so. That’s a fairly small market, however, so I’m not sure how you would find a buyer.