From the vault: an inside look at some of the competitive shooting guns featured in the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia. As published in the July 2011 issue.
NRA National Firearms Museum Private Tour
Our first stop is the competition case on public display at the NRA National Firearms Museum. Here you’ll find a number of special items including the most recently added Winchester Model 52. This four-digit .22 cal. rifle was once owned by young Sam Moore who, in 1926, went to a local range, stepped up to the firing line and shot a series that ultimately led to 3,000 consecutive bullseyes. The gold medal mounted on the gun’s brace was presented to Moore by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House. This gun was donated by Moore’s son.
Of the nearly 6,000 guns held by the NRA National Firearms Museum, roughly half are on display and half are stored in the archives vault. In 1998, four years after NRA Headquarters moved from Washington, D.C., to its current location in Fairfax, Virginia, then-NRA President Marion Hammer spearheaded the construction of the new museum.
The NRA National Firearms Museum collection has a wide range of odd and unusual guns. One such gun has a unique Mexican embellishment on the grip. Owned by Marine Captain Bill McMillan, this is one of the guns used by him in pursuit of becoming triple-Distinguished.
The museum’s competitive case is filled with guns that were used over the years at various matches. Some of the guns that have earned names for themselves include a Winchester Model 52 that belonged to smallbore champion and former NRA President Thurman Randle. The Randle Trophy Match is a woman-only smallbore event whose trophy is named in his honor. You’ll notice that the barrel is covered in black paint. The original stainless steel was difficult to finish in a dark color. Consequently, many competitors relied on simple stove enamel paint to tone down the glare. Randle won so many prizes of ham, turkey, etc., that this gun was eventually nick-named “Old Bacon Getter.”
In this single case you can see a National Match ’03 Springfield, a National Match M1 Garand and many winning revolvers and pistols used over the years on the firing line at the National Matches. The medals that you see in this part of the gallery are from the William Brophy Collection, donated by his widow.
The Brophy Collection include certificates from various tournaments. One certificate in particular, framed in a blue leather cover, reads “NRA National Rifle and Pistol Championships, Damp Perry Ohio.” Some would say that this misspelling is an appropriate moniker for Camp Perry, known to have more than its fair share of damp weather.
Gun number 38 is a Colt National Match Gold Cup with an interesting story. Due to inclement weather that year, Camp Perry contestants couldn’t even paste new target centers on the backers. The match was eventually cancelled and the gun was never awarded. Since the gun had been built for the matches, Colt’s Bill Blankenship donated it to the NRA National Firearms Museum.
A rare treat not usually provided in a tour is a visit to the reference collection stored behind a heavily reinforced steel door. This half of the collection is maintained at 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 50 percent humidity. If the humidity gets much above that level, then corrosion, wood rot or swelling become a concern.
The collection is catalogued by general topic, such as “U.S. Military Section,” then by type, and finally by chronological order—from flintlocks, to Thompson sub-machine guns and M16s.
In the photo below, the Remington rolling block has been engraved and gold washed. This is the type of gun that NRA presented at its very first annual meetings. Back then, the annual meetings were held at the Creedmoor Range, Long Island, New York. The butt plate has the following inscription: “Won by D. Barclay in Three Matches of the NRA, 1876.” To win this trophy, Barclay would have shot the same exact model gun. During rapid fire, the support hand beneath the fore-grip would have held the extra cartridges between each knuckle while firing at rectangular, rather than round, targets.
At our final stop is one of the oldest guns in the collection, donated by NRA’s first president, General Ambrose Burnside. It is a Burnside Civil War carbine with an unusual plated finish that traces back to the earliest NRA museum—a small room outside the NRA president’s office in New York City.
If you’re unable to visit the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia, check out the website at nramuseum.org.
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