I'm down in VA for the holiday and this morning hit the National Firearms Museum at NRA Headquarters with my Dad. Thought I'd share some pics to whet everyone else's appetite.
The place is absolutely stuffed with guns and is done up beautifully. In many of the displays, the guns are just numbered and you have to pop over to one of the computers and type in the case & gun number to get info on what you're looking at. Not a bad system, but it slows you down if there's not a computer right by the display you're looking at.
The Mayflower gun. Found in the house of one of the Mayflower passengers.
Beautiful antique inlay
I love a pepperbox.
Not a pepperbox, but that same multi-barrel aesthetic
Not a gun, but I'm that kind of nerd so here ya go anyway
MB Associates Gyrojet from the late 60s - crazy rocket projectile gun allegedly built for a James Bond movie. The serial number is of course 0007
Bennett & Haviland "Many Chambered Gun" Interesting repeating design from 1838 - you can see the 12 brass chambers - each is loaded invidually and then cranked sucessively into position using the dial on the underside of the gun.
An early Garand prototype, a competing design, and a cutaway M1 that could be fired by an electronic mechanism to demonstrate the action.
Bullpup
Awesome old shooting gallery. It lights up and moves the targets every few minutes. Shame they won't leave a few gallery guns out for some real fun.
1.25 caliber punt gun from the age of market hunting. Mount on prow of punt. Point punt at ducks. Fire. Collect 100 ducks.
A 4-bore rifle that belonged to Henry Morton Stanley. As in "Dr. Livingstone I presume?" Stanley. There's a cartridge on display there by the rear support.
The place is absolutely stuffed with guns and is done up beautifully. In many of the displays, the guns are just numbered and you have to pop over to one of the computers and type in the case & gun number to get info on what you're looking at. Not a bad system, but it slows you down if there's not a computer right by the display you're looking at.
The Mayflower gun. Found in the house of one of the Mayflower passengers.
Beautiful antique inlay
I love a pepperbox.
Not a pepperbox, but that same multi-barrel aesthetic
Not a gun, but I'm that kind of nerd so here ya go anyway
MB Associates Gyrojet from the late 60s - crazy rocket projectile gun allegedly built for a James Bond movie. The serial number is of course 0007
Bennett & Haviland "Many Chambered Gun" Interesting repeating design from 1838 - you can see the 12 brass chambers - each is loaded invidually and then cranked sucessively into position using the dial on the underside of the gun.
An early Garand prototype, a competing design, and a cutaway M1 that could be fired by an electronic mechanism to demonstrate the action.
Bullpup
Awesome old shooting gallery. It lights up and moves the targets every few minutes. Shame they won't leave a few gallery guns out for some real fun.
1.25 caliber punt gun from the age of market hunting. Mount on prow of punt. Point punt at ducks. Fire. Collect 100 ducks.
A 4-bore rifle that belonged to Henry Morton Stanley. As in "Dr. Livingstone I presume?" Stanley. There's a cartridge on display there by the rear support.
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