A routine family visit turned into the kind of firearm discovery most shooters will never experience. When my buddy ducked into the guest room to check on his kids, he certainly wasn’t looking for anything exciting.They were playing on the floor, half buried in toys and blankets. When he opened the door, he felt the kind of energy that usually means they’ve already found the one thing in the room they shouldn’t be playing with. Glancing toward the bed, he saw several gun cases shoved underneath it. As a parent, this is one of those moments where you tend to move faster than you originally planned, for reasons of both safety and curiosity.So he quickly dropped to a knee and began dragging the cases out.Most looked ordinary enough, long cases holding the usual sort of shotguns you’d expect to find tucked away in an older relative’s house. Then he reached for one that didn’t fit with the rest. It was green, boxy, and compact, more like something meant for a clarinet than a firearm. It looked completely out of place, reason enough to open it.Inside was another shotgun, but not the kind most people would mistake for an old farm gun or a forgotten duck boomstick ignored for twenty years in the corner.Even before he knew exactly what he was looking at, the rich walnut and exquisite craftsmanship told him this wasn’t an ordinary shotgun. It had that deep, finished look expensive guns tend to have. This was a gun that somebody bought on purpose and cared for accordingly. The fitted extras tucked neatly alongside it only reinforced the point. This wasn’t just some old shotgun tossed in a case and forgotten.At that point, he still didn’t know he was staring at a Kolar over-under package worth as much as a good truck. He only knew he’d pulled something unusual out from under his grandfather’s guest bed, and that it had apparently sat there for years.That’s where this story really begins. Ordinary Trip To Grandpa’s Leads to a Life-Changing DiscoveryNaturally, as an avid duck hunter and firearms enthusiast, his curiosity about the shotgun’s origin story and how it remained hidden for years got the best of him. His grandpa had admitted on numerous occasions that he had very little interest in firearms. Yet, a dozen or so shotguns were stashed away under the guest bed. Including the masterpiece in the green case.Turns out, his great-uncle (grandpa’s brother) was the family’s shotgun aficionado. Collecting and shooting shotguns was what he loved doing. To compete in skeet competitions, he invested in the Kolar Standard Skeet Model (now the Kolar Max Skeet), special ordering it from a local gun shop in October of 2002. Kolar Arms shotguns are rarely found on gun shop shelves. They’re high-end custom firearms, worthy of sitting behind glass in museums and gun safes in personal collections, not a pawn shop gun rack. So how in the world did this custom over-under end up forgotten and neglected under a bed for years? As he marched back to the living room to reveal his discovery, his grandpa told him that several years ago, when his brother passed away, he received many of his shotguns, but he had no use for them. So, he stuffed them under the bed and forgot about them until that fateful day when the kids chose to play in the guest room. His grandpa then made a shocking statement: “Why don’t you keep it? If it stays here, it will only hide under the bed.” So, at the end of the visit, he loaded his kids and the green gun case into their SUV, planning to research the shotgun, clean it, and ensure it saw the light of day when he made it home. It’s Worth How Much?His research began on Facebook. The Kolar Arms Facebook Group proved helpful. A Kolar employee told him that his grandpa had just gifted him a shotgun worth well over $15,000. After adding the XLC package, sub-gauge inserts, and spare carrier barrel, the total price exceeded $20,000.Flabbergasted by the high price tag, he became reluctant to shoot or even handle it. Despite traveling to and competing in competitions, the firearm was clearly well cared for before his great-uncle detained it in the case. Some minor cosmetic flaws were present from general use and age, but nothing that significantly devalued it. This over-under was still very near museum quality. Just to be certain the price wasn’t a typo or incorrect, he visited the Kolar website and called customer service. The company verified that the firearm currently in his gun safe was worth north of $20,000. Now convinced that he owned a shotgun that cost nearly as much as his truck, thanks to his kids, he had to figure out what to do with it. Parting Shots: Discovering a $20,000 Kolar Over-Under ShotgunHe has no plans to sell the Kolar over-under, though it would pay for a nice chunk of his kids' college in the future. Instead, he will fix the minor cosmetic issues before shooting it for the first time. It will remain a family heirloom when he passes it down to his kids and tells them the story of how he found it. After all, if it hadn’t been for them, he would never have seen the strange-looking green case hiding the forgotten $20,000 shotgun.If this post has you ready to hit the range, head over to gunranges.com - a free directory to help you find shooting ranges near you, wherever you are in the United States.