Photo courtesy NRA MuseumClick Photo to View Larger Image
With today’s plastic-framed Glocks and Keltecs, aesthetics have been sacrificed on the altar of functionality. Not so in the early 20th century — in that period, the best firearm designers created guns that looked as good as they worked. One example is the classic Colt Woodsman. This design came from the legendary John Moses Browning and was later refined by Colt before the pistol’s introduction in 1915. The Colt Woodsman’s frame design evolved over time in three distinct series: Series One 1915–1947, Series Two 1947–1955, and Series Three 1955–1977. Shown above is a stunning Carbonia-blued and engraved Third Series model with ivory grips.
Engraved Colt Woodsman from NRA Museum In the NRA Museum’s Robert E. Petersen Gallery are many fine engraved arms. This Colt Woodsman .22 pistol is one of the Third Series guns that were made until 1977. Heavy barrels in either 4.5 or 6 inch lengths were offered in this variation. The Museum’s staff says: “We think the poised golden rattlesnake near the serial number is the [best] embellishment without putting down in any way the ivory grip panels or gold outline inlays.”
You can see this lovely Colt and countless other fine firearms at the NRA Museum in Fairfax, Virginia. The Museum is open every day from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm, and admission is free.
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Each day, on Facebook, the NRA National Firearms Museum showcases something special from the Museum collections. Recently the Museum displayed a trio of snakes — three very special Colt Pythons. From bottom to top, these three prized wheelguns are: Colt Python serial number 2, number 3, and number 5. And yes, that is the original box for Python #2 (at bottom). The museum says such low serial number guns were typically produced for a company executive or key members of the gun design team.
Loved for their beautiful finish, nice balance, and great trigger, Colt Pythons have proven to be excellent investments. Since the Colt Python was first introduced in 1955, Python prices have gone through the roof. A pristine, LNIB early-era Colt Python can now command $4000.00 or more. The Museum estimates the price of Pythons has risen 14,300% since 1955.
You can see hundreds of other interesting firearms on the National Firearm Museum website, www.NRAMuseums.com. Or, if you’re lucky, you can see the collections in person. The NRA now operates three Museum locations: the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia; the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum (at BassPro) in Springfield, MO; and the Frank Brownell Museum of the Southwest in Raton, NM.
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With today’s plastic-framed Glocks and Keltecs, aesthetics have been sacrificed on the altar of functionality. Not so in the early 20th century — in that period, the best firearm designers created guns that looked as good as they worked. One example is the classic Colt Woodsman. This design came from the legendary John Moses Browning and was later refined by Colt before the pistol’s introduction in 1915. The Colt Woodsman’s frame design evolved over time in three distinct series: Series One 1915–1947, Series Two 1947–1955, and Series Three 1955–1977. Shown below is a stunning Carbonia-blued and engraved Third Series model with ivory grips.
Click Photo to View Larger Image Photo courtesy NRA Museum
Engraved Colt Woodsman from NRA Museum
In the NRA Museum’s Robert E. Petersen Gallery are many fine engraved arms. This Colt Woodsman .22 pistol is one of the Third Series guns that were made until 1977. Heavy barrels in either 4.5 or 6 inch lengths were offered in this variation. The Museum’s staff says: “We think the poised golden rattlesnake near the serial number is the [best] embellishment without putting down in any way the ivory grip panels or gold outline inlays.”
You can see this lovely Colt and countless other fine firearms at the NRA Museum in Fairfax, Virginia. The Museum is open every day from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm, and admission is free.
Now through April 20, 2015, the Museum hosts a Theodore Roosevelt exhibit: “The Trappings of an Icon”. This includes Roosevelt memorabilia on loan from Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
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The NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits extravaganza is less than a month away. From April 10-12, the NRA will hold its annual gathering at the Music City Center in Nashville. This is a big event with over 550 exhibitors in a 450,000 square-foot facility.
One of the highlights this year will be the presence of the “Gun Gurus”, firearms experts Jim Supica and Phil Schreier of the NRA Museum. Jim and Phil will film an episode of NRA Gun Gurus while in Nashville. If you own an historic, collectible, or unique firearm, here’s your chance to have it evaluated by two of the foremost firearm experts in the world. You can apply today to have your firearm evaluated. If you make the cut, you (and your guns) may appear on a future episode of NRA Gun Gurus.
Interested in learning about your most prized firearm? CLICK HERE to request a session with the NRA Gun Gurus in Nashville on April 9, 2015. You’ll need to submit an image and description of your gun.
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A.P. Lane’s Gold Medal-Winning Colt Revolver
This Colt Officer’s Model revolver, factory-fitted with a skeletonized hammer, belonged to legendary Olympic shooter A. P. Lane, who was known as the “Pistol Wizard”. Lane used this Colt Revolver to win FIVE Olympic Gold Medals — three in 1912 and two in 1920.
A.P. Lane was one of the greatest pistol shooters of his generation. He shot scores that were typically 25-50 points higher than those of his competitors. And he exhibited true Corinthian spirit. At the 1912 Olympics, Lane shared his match ammunition with another competitor who used that ammo to capture the Silver Medal (Lane won the Gold).
This revolver, factory-fitted with a skeletonized hammer, was used by American A.P. Lane in winning five Olympic Gold Medals in the 1912 and 1920 Olympic Games. It’s a .38 caliber, Officer’s Model centerfire revolver from the early 20th century. Olympian A.P. Lane’s Gun can be found in Gallery 13, Firearm Traditions for Today, at the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia. The Museum exhibit includes a panoply of Lane pieces – his revolver, his five Gold Medals, and the five Olympic certificates that went along with them.
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Watch Video History of the A.P. Lane Revolver
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The NRA’s popular Guns & Gold TV Series returns to The Sportsman Channel for ten (10) new episodes in 2013. Season Two kicks off Monday, January 7th and future episodes of Guns & Gold will air Monday nights at 9:00 pm ET/PT. Guns & Gold was the #1-rated show on The Sportsman Channel in early 2012. This season’s 10 all-new episodes will feature “more guns, cooler guns and weirder guns”.
During Guns & Gold’s new season, NRA National Firearms Museum experts travel around the country, making a circuit of important gun shows (including the NRA Annual Meeting). At each venue, Museum Director Jim Supica and Senior Curator Phil Schreier appraise collectible and unusual firearms brought in by show attendees. Think of this as a PBS-style “Antiques Roadshow”, but with antique and unusual arms as the centerpiece. For more info, visit NRAgunsandgold.com.
Watch the video below to see a Guns & Gold sample from 2012 covering Teddy Roosevelt and the Winchester Model 1895. Roosevelt loved the 1895. He famously referred to his 1895, chambered in .405 Winchester, as his “Big Medicine” rifle. Did you know T.R. took a crate of 1895s to Africa for his safaris?
Report based on story by Kyle Jillson in NRAblog.com
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Story by Lars Dalseide forNRAblog.
Last year, the National Firearms Museum received a shipment from Sagamore Hill — the ancestral home of President Theodore Roosevelt. While Sagamore Hill undergoes renovation, the National Parks Service was kind enough to lend a portion of the estate’s collection to the NRA Museum. That collection now is on display under the exhibit named Trappings of an Icon.
“Basically it tells you about the life of Theodore Roosevelt,” explains Senior Curator Phil Schreier (in photo above in coat). “Hunter, Statesman, Soldier. In the first case we have two firearms from his hunting career. First an 1886 Winchester rifle known as the tennis match gun because he used winnings from a tennis match to purchase the gun.”
The second firearm in the opening case is a suppressed Winchester model 1894 rifle. A favorite of the President’s when clearing the grounds of the local, pesky critters. Schreier explains: “Archie Roosevelt wrote that his father liked to shoot varmints around Oyster Bay with this gun so he wouldn’t disturb the Tiffany and Du Pont families that lived near by.”
For more on the opening of this special Theodore Roosevelt collection, tune in to Curator’s Corner on NRANews and SiriusXM Satellite’s Patriot AND Patriot Plus.
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by Lars Dalseide for the NRA Blog Disabled soldiers from Project Enduring Pride stopped by NRA Headquarters earlier this year for a tour of the NRA National Firearms Museum and a trip to the Range. Apparently the group had a whale of a time because they’re on their way back for more.
Led by Director Ken Strafer, Project Enduring Pride is a community outreach program that works with and assists the severely wounded warriors returning from Afghanistan and Iraq and now recuperating at Military Medical Centers and Veterans Administrations Hospitals in the Washington, Richmond, or Baltimore areas. Project Enduring Pride assists the men and women who were wounded in the service of our country with the sometimes difficult transition from military to civilian life.
“The event will start with lunch in the Café, followed by museum tours and shooting on the Range,” explained Range Customer Service Specialist Debbie Crews. “I hope everyone is ready to provide an exciting day for these wonderful young men and women.”
Firearms for the Enduring Pride shoot come from the personal collection of various members of NRA staff and volunteers. Ammunition, gift bags and other items have been donated by organizations including Brownells and the U.S. Border Patrol.
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In late 2010, the NRA’s National Firearms Museum opened its Robert E. Petersen Gallery, which now showcases 400 of the finest and most valuable firearms from the publishing magnate’s world-renowned collection. We know most of you haven’t yet visited the Petersen Gallery, so we’re presenting some “eye candy” from the Gallery to give you an idea of the quality of the collection.
If you can’t make it to Fairfax, VA to view the collection first-hand, you can view a “virtual gallery” on NRAMuseum.com. The flash-based web gallery features hundreds of pro-quality “glamour shots” of the most notable arms in Petersen’s collection, including spectacular double guns and historic Gatlings. Controls allow you to rotate and zoom the images. Below are some representative samples from the Petersen Collection online gallery. CLICK HERE to view dozens more.
NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia was recently visited by Raimo Helasmaki of the Nammo Group. Based in Finland, Nammo is the parent company of Lapua, manufacturer of ammunition and reloading components. Helasmaki, Executive VP of Nammo’s Small Caliber Division, was in the Washington, DC area for the annual Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) trade show. We’re glad to see a top European executive travel to the USA where he can get direct feedback from American shooters on his company’s product line.
Lapua was founded in 1923 as a state-owned cartridge company. Over the years, Lapua kept perfecting its product in response to the needs of its worldwide customer base. Lapua remains an industry leader, creating some of the most accurate ammunition, brass, and bullets on the planet. Proof is in the performance — 80% of the Biathlon medals at the 2010 Winter Olympic in Munich were won by athletes using Lapua ammunition.
Helasmaki met with several NRA officials in Fairfax, including NRA’s General Operation Executive Director Kayne Robinson. To wrap things up, he toured the National Firearms Museum, guided by Phil Schreier, Senior Museum curator (at left in photo above).
by Lars Dalseide, courtesy the NRA Blog.
A Model 52 rimfire target rifle with a storied history was recently added to the NRA National Museum Collection. With this rifle, one of America’s great marksmanship feats was accomplished.
The 3000 Bullseye Rifle
Back in 1926, an 18-year-old Massachusetts shooter named Sam Moore took his Winchester Model 52 rifle in hand and began shooting. By the end of the day, he had set an amazing record in competitive shooting, totaling 3,000 consecutive bullseyes with his trusty Winchester.
The amazing feat received national attention, with Moore being presented with a gold medal by President Calvin Coolidge on behalf of the NRA. The engraving on the back reads:
Presented to L.S. Moore by the President of the United States in behalf of the National Rifle Association Junior Rifle Corps World Record — 3000 — consecutive bullseyes.
Moore went on to graduate from the US Naval Academy in 1931, helped develop the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, served in WWII as a USMC aviator and maintained his interest in shooting until his passing in 1982.
Moore’s rifle and engraved gold medal arrived at the National Firearms Museum earlier this week, donated by his son David. While unwrapping the bolt-action in the museum, I remember thinking that there is a lot of shooting history tied up in these two pieces. This suspicion was confirmed when one of the provenance documents received with the rifle revealed that Moore ceased shooting on the 3,000 bulls-eye day only because the heat of the rifle finally made it impossible to handle.
Moore rifle history provided by NRA Museum Curator Doug Wicklund.
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In the NRA Museum’s Robert E. Petersen Gallery are many fine engraved arms. This Colt Woodsman .22 pistol is one of the Third Series guns that were made until 1977. Heavy barrels in either 4.5 or 6 inch lengths were offered in this variation. The Museum’s staff says: “We think the poised golden rattlesnake near the serial number is the [best] embellishment without putting down in any way the ivory grip panels or gold outline inlays.”
A.P. Lane’s Gold Medal-Winning Colt Revolver
Disabled soldiers from 
“The event will start with lunch in the Café, followed by museum tours and shooting on the Range,” explained Range Customer Service Specialist Debbie Crews. “I hope everyone is ready to provide an exciting day for these wonderful young men and women.”
The 3000 Bullseye Rifle
