The USA Shooting Team is preparing to build on its Olympic medal-winning legacy as it aims for the Paris Games this summer, but it needs help from the wider firearms community before it gets there.

USA Shooting has displayed decades of dominance on the Olympic stage, including three gold medals in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 58 gold medals since shooting competitions were part of the first Olympics in 1896.

Unlike other countries, the federal government doesn’t fund the U.S. Olympic Team, and programs like USA Basketball draw sponsors like Nike and AT&T. USA Shooting relies on donations and small sponsorships, so an engraved and gold inlaid Krieghoff K-32 over/under shotgun will soon provide a financial boost to the squad ahead of the Paris Olympics.

This magnificent firearm will be auctioned off on the first day of Rock Island Auction Company’s May 17-19 Premier Auction, with 100% of the proceeds from this lot to be donated to USA Shooting. The team faces additional costs as it heads to France where the shooting venue, at Chateauroux, is 170 miles south of Paris and the Olympic Village.

This magnificent engraved and gold inlaid Krieghoff K-32 with a four-barrel set will be auctioned May 17 to open the Premier Auction benefitting USA Shooting. At top left, the engraved and gold inlaid Gotz Single Shot "free pistol" presented to German 1936 Olympic silver medalist Eric Krempel is also available in the Premier Auction.

Shooting for Olympic Glory

Ivan Roe, who qualified in the 50M small bore event in March said afterward, “Representing the U.S. is — it’s a dream I’ve had since I was a little kid, so, it’s a culmination of everything I’ve been doing the last two decades. It’s a huge, huge milestone.”

That sentiment should get American hearts beating, flags waving and pride swelling.

Vincent Hancock, who qualified in skeet shooting for his fifth Olympics, will chase after his fourth gold medal in the same event, a feat only accomplished by five other athletes, including three Americans: track and field stars Al Oerter and Carl Lewis and swimming legend Michael Phelps. He would be the first shooter to earn a fourth gold for the same event in separate Olympic Games.

The left side of this beautifully embellished Krieghoff K-32 shotgun has an amazing game scene pheasant hens in flight over upland landscape with gold inlaid birds and border on a brillant coin finish.

Hancock’s gold in Tokyo was one of six medals won by the USA Shooting Team, its best Olympic performance since 1964. Other Tokyo medalists were William Shaner in men’s air rifle and Amber English in women’s skeet who won gold, silver medalists Kayle Browning in women’s trap shooting and the mixed team air rifle shooters Mary Tucker and Lucas Kozeniesky, and the bronze medal mixed trap team of Maddy Bernau and Brian Burrows. Since the Olympics began in 1896, USA shooters have earned 121 medals, including 58 gold medals, the most by any country in shooting sports.

Olympic athletes have always been at the top of their sport, and such performances don’t come without sacrifice. U.S. athletes must find the time amidst +intense training while also pursuing sponsorships and fundraising opportunities. Most countries massively fund their athletes, but not the United States. Funds appropriated by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee are lean, and shooting competitors are almost exclusively funded through donations and meager sponsorship dollars.

Rock Island Auction did something similar to provide a financial lift for USA Shooting in the lead-up to the delayed Tokyo Olympics, auctioning off a Krieghoff K-80 and a range day with two-time Olympic medalist Corey Cogdell-Unrein that netted a donation of $30,425 to the USA Shooting Team. In an interesting bit of bidding, the gun was sold three times in a matter of minutes in Rock Island Auction’s May 2021 Premier Auction.

The winning bid for this beautifully embellished Krieghoff will ease the financial strain as American shooters pursue Olympic glory.

The stunning engraving on the right side of this K-32 shotgun, to be auctioned for the benefit of USA Shooting, has a gold border around a game scene of gold inlaid pointer and quails on a coin finish.

Gold Inlaid Krieghoff for the Gold!

Master Engraver Angelo Bee’s artistry is on display in this striking Krieghoff K-32 and its four-barrel set. It is built with blued steel barrels with dual bead sights on the matted vent rib marked with a gold inlaid “12” at the base. It has highly attractive gold bordered scroll engraving on the front barrel hanger with scroll engraving and a gold inlaid mallard on each side.

Bee’s gold borders and floral engraving surround four exceptional game scenes cut into striking coin-finished backgrounds that are gold inlaid and intricately detailed. On the right is a depiction of a pointer and quails, while the left has a covey of pheasant hens in flight over an upland scene. Underneath, four mallards are landing on a pond, while on top are a trio of quail bedded down on the top latch. The exquisite scrollwork continues onto the triggerguard that is also adorned with a quail. The top lever is pierced in the form of a grouse.

This fantastic sporting arm also has a single selective gold trigger and is fitted with beautifully figured fleur-de-lis checkered forend with engraved and gold inlaid shoe and a pistol grip stock with a rosewood grip cap and a blank inscription oval. It has an extra set of 12 gauge barrels with matching gold inlay and engraving, a full length 20 gauge insert and sets of full length 28 gauge and 410 bore inserts as well as eight extra choke tubes and an aluminum takedown case.

The engraving and gold inlays of the game scene on the underside of this Krieghoff K-32 are as opulent as the more visible game scenes with four mallards landing on a pond along with a single quail on the trigger guard.

Berlin 1936 Olympics Pistol

Also on offer is a firearm that already bears Olympic glory, Erich Krempel’s engraved, inlaid and relief carved Gotz single shot free pistol. Krempel, the top German pistol shooter of the 1930s, earned a silver medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics 50M Free Pistol event and was presented this gorgeous Gotz pistol by the Suhl Schuetzen Guild for his success. The gun, beautifully engraved on a blued finish with a carved stock, was a war trophy of Col. John H. Sampson who brought it back after World War 2.

This Gotz single shot free pistol was presented to 1936 Olympics 50M Free Pistol silver medalist Erich Krempel, of Germany. The gun, a World War 2 war trophy, has Krempel's initials engraved on the left side of the receiver.

Back to the Future: 2024 Paris Olympics

Who will be the bidder who boosts the financial fortunes of the USA Shooting Team and win a spectacular engraved and gold inlaid Krieghoff K-32 four-barrel set with its gilded mallards and pheasants? The winning bid will help alleviate the additional costs faced by the American shooters and hopefully ease their path to Olympic glory and maintaining the U.S. team as one to be reckoned with in international shooting sports.

The top of this beautifully embellished Krieghoff K-32 shotgun features a trio of quail bedded down on the top latch. The top lever is pierced in the form of a grouse.