doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Remington O/U which one?

I�ve shot steel though 3200�s since the 90�s. As long as the barrels are sound and the chokes are open enough....they�ll handle steel all day long with absolutely ZERO problems. My current 3200 gets fed a steady diet of 2 3/4� Remington 1 1/8 Oz steel loads for almost a decade now. No issues.

I did not say you could not, I said they were not rated for steel shot. I know because I called Remington in those early days concerning my 3200 field gun.

https://books.google.com/books?id=xvox3v...ated&f=true

I didn�t say that you said you could not. With that said....you definitely implied that a field grade 3200 isn�t suitable for use with steel shot. I simply stated my experience with using field grade 3200�s shooting steel shot...and lots of it. Someone else might come along and give their experience shooting steel through one of these guns and what horrors they may have encountered in doing so.....but I doubt it, especially if they took the precautions (right choke combo, proper shell length, moderate velocity etc. and no, I�m not an advocate of lengthening the chambers!) .
We all know why Remington said not to use steel in most 3200�s back in the day. And we know why using steel in these guns is ok in this day and age.

I absolutely love 3200s. I have a dozen of them in the gun room right now. Down from 20-30 at my peak. The updates were done for free for many years. I shot one without the updates for years. After 250K shells I sent it in for the updates. Worked the same after updates but I never shot it another 250K shells. Maybe 50K. By then I had perfected a spectacular flinch due to shooting too many .458 and .375 for a African Safari which sadly never happened.

I stopped shooting entirely for about a year before trying just about everything to cure my flinch problems. Tried using different fingers, different guns, shooting low gun only and even learning how to shoot left handed. I even went to shooting .410 for about a decade in a effort to eliminate my flinch problems. After five years of shooting left handed I was able to return to shooting right handed with a very rare flinch rate of one in a few hundred instead of my original one in five shells.

What exactly did the companies do to make a shotgun barrel "rated for steel"???? Unless they somehow made the steel stronger or thicker or harder or whatever or whatever, I wonder if they did anything other than quit taking the easy route on their guns with the advent of steel and simply say they were rated for it. Some of you with a lot more knowledge of metallurgy than I will probably have an answer to the question of this doubting Thomas!!

For me the choice is easy, an original Model 32. I use one exclusively, a two barrel set, for skeet, trap and clays. I have also owned a 3200 and it�s a great gun, but it�s not a Model 32. While they look similar, they are very different inside. There is a reason the Model 32 design was purchased by Krieghoff and is by far the dominant gun for clays and trap. It�s just an awesome gun. You can find one on GI, GB or Proxibid for reasonable price. Not all, or even most, have been �shot to pieces.� In fact, mine, a 1936 model, has been refurbished, looks good as new and is mechanically excellent. It�s chugging right along. Again, both the 32 and 3200 are great guns, but the Model 32 is my preference.

In the early days when steel shot first showed up, the wads weren't as good as they are now. The introduction of the 3200 overlapped the development of steel on ducks and manufacturing ended in the early 1980s. Here's an article regarding the histories of the 32 and 3200. One of my lifelong hunting companions shoots his grandfather's four barrel set 32 that his dad inherited and he inherited from his dad. Simmons at one time made the subgauge barrels. It shows lots of use, but it keeps on ticking.

https://www.wildfowlmag.com/editorial/remembering-the-remington-3200/280104

I agree with LeatherWoodSteel, the 3200 has a clunky/mechanical feel compared to the 32 that handles more "old school" I made the 27 yard line with a straight grip 32.
I am now shooting a first year 32TC with double triggers--I am trying to master good doubles with it!
You can find upgraded 32's fairly easy, there are several on GI now. Un-molested--much more difficult, many years have passed in the hands of shooters that love to tinker and modify.

I used to shoot skeet with a guy who owned a Peerless. Loved it. Shot the heck out of it. Was in line to get one in 20ga, which apparently Remington had in the works--but never followed through. Another friend shoots a Peerless at targets, sometimes carries it pheasant hunting. It's been bulletproof for him too.

The 32 continued to live on in the Kreighoff. However, the 32 itself was based on a French gun called the Petrik. (Imagine that . . . someone copying the French!) But the Petrik wasn't as different from typical OU's as were the Darnes and the Manufrance Ideals from typical sxs. They wouldn't have copied it in the K-guns if it hadn't been a good design. But as others have said, there aren't many original 32's out there. They were all essentially target guns and mostly got shot a lot.

Matt Dryke won the Olympic gold medal in 1984 with a $300 Model 3200 Remington. His competition 3200s were straight out of the box, like mine were. No custom stocks, added ribs, choke work, just stock 28" skeet guns. One time, Matt was on the road for a social situation, not to shoot. He showed up at Prince Georges Trap and Skeet in Maryland, with his girlfriend, whose name I will not mention, but no gun. We were shooting on an International field, shooting legal International birds. He was shooting her gun, which was not a 3200 and was a bit short in the stock. She was a Beretta employee and shot Beretta guns. He was not up to his usual level with it. I gave him my 3200 to shoot and he liked it, ran the first 25 birds. We went on to shoot a few more rounds and Matt ran the next 75 for 100 straight. As most of you know, a 100 straight is not common in this game, either in competition and less likely in a practice session. I am not afraid to tell this story because it is true and if Matt reads this, he will get a chuckle out of it. Bill Murphy