Cody Firearms Museum: English Wheellock
This English-made hunting wheellock is an extremely rare gun. Whilea popular firearm made by gunmakers all over the world, very few signed English wheellocks have lasted to present day. This gun, made by Robert...
Something Fishy: Joseph Aster’s Foot Operated Revolver
There’s an old rumor floating around that Charles Duell, commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (1898 – 1901), once said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” With that, he...
“Southern Belle” American Longrifle
The Southern Belle American longrifles have a history that predates the United States. It is one rooted in European tradition. Initially made in Europe, American settlers adapted these rifles to suit their needs on...
Annie Oakley’s Winchester Model 1892 Smoothbore Rifle
It’s safe to say that a lot of people recognize the name Annie Oakley. She's one of the most iconic shooters in American history, a woman who got her start shooting at a young...
Catherine the Great of Russia’s Blunderbuss Gift to King Louis XV of France
Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia (1729-1796) was born Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst and was the child of a Prussian Prince. At age 15, she was invited to Russia to meet and later marry the...
The US Military’s Last Flintlock Pistol
The concept of percussion ignition was invented in 1805 by a Scottish Reverend named Alexander Forsyth. English-born artist Joshua Shaw invented what we know as the percussion cap in 1822. Living in the United...
Color Case-Hardened GLOCK 43: Merging the Old West With the New
Earlier this year the Cody Firearms Museum was home to an exhibition called GLOCK Makes History: The Birth of the Polymer Handgun Market. The exhibit chronicled the history of polymer handguns, starting with the earliest "plastic" pistols manufactured by Heckler & Koch....
The Holy Grail of 1911s: The Singer 1911A1
John Browning’s 1911 is arguably the most iconic handgun of all time. Everyone knows what you’re talking about and can picture one in their head. A total of 2.7 million 1911s were made during...
How Sam Colt Won WWII
Sam Colt went to London’s Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 to display his new guns and to show off what he had accomplished in the world of manufacturing. After all, this was the “Great...
The Hunt Volitional Rifle: The Winchester Lever Gun’s Earliest Ancestor
When firearms buffs hear the names Samuel Colt, Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, they think of both the gun designer and the manufacturers that bear their name . Ditto Oliver Winchester. Little known fact: the man...
Federal Government Spends $1 Billion a Year on Gun Law Enforcement
The Federal Government spends a billion dollars a year on federal gun laws. Most of that money is for enforcement, but some of it is to push state and local governments toward infringing on...
When is a Bolt Action Rifle Not a Rifle? When it’s an Automatic Pistol
If someone told you the Springfield M1903, the gun carried by the thousands in World War I, wasn’t a bolt-action rifle but was instead an automatic pistol, you’d probably be confused.
Except that whole automatic...