Back in 1975, a friend of mine invited me to a skeet range, and he brought his Remington Model 3200 over-under shotgun for me to use. I had used over-unders before, but never a Remington 3200. I was amazed at how well that shotgun fit me, and my accuracy seemed to have improved with it, so I decided that I would buy one someday.
At the time, a Remington 3200 was a fairly expensive shotgun and kind of hard to find at the local gun shops in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. I remember seeing one once, but it was too expensive for me. In 1976, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and my first assignment was in Jacksonville, Fla. I couldn’t get that Remington shotgun out of my mind, so I looked all around the local gun shops but never found one. This was before the Internet, when finding things was not as easy as it is today.
Then, after about six months, I was looking at the classified ads one day when I found: “For Sale – Remington Over and Under Shotgun, Excellent Condition, $450.” I was determined to not let this one get away from me. After calling the seller and making the deal over the phone, I went directly to my bank and took out a loan to buy it. Since I was only an airman first class (E-3) at the time, I was not flush with money.
When I met the seller at his house and received the shotgun, I was amazed at the condition; it looked brand new. I went through several boxes of shells during the remainder of my tour at Jacksonville Air Force Station. For the next 20 years, I was stationed only at overseas bases and never knew if my firearms would be authorized at the next one, so I left all my guns at my parents’ house.
After I retired from the Air Force in 2000, I was finally reunited with my favorite shotgun, the Remington 3200 over-under. I will never sell this shotgun, and hopefully it will always remain in my family.
Steve Kapp, Oklahoma
