The Firearms Museum houses the most comprehensive collection of American firearms in the worldI
n 1975, the entire Winchester Arms Collection, the heart of this museum, was put on loan to the museum from the Olin Corporation. In 1988, it was deeded as a gift.
To date, the Cody Firearms Museum has over 7,000 firearms with more than 30,000 firearms-related artifacts
- Winchester-made guns are not the only manufacturer there; virtually every significant manufacturer in the world is represented
- Evolution of modern arms technology from its earliest days
- Sporting Guns
- Military Guns
- Embellished Guns
- Hollywood Guns
The Cody Firearms Museum Records Office has information about individual firearms manufactured by
- Winchester
- Marlin
- L.C. Smith
- Ithaca
- Savage
- A.H. Fox
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cody+Firearms+Research+Museum
- Hawken Half-Stock Percussion
- Sporting Rifle
- Maker: Samuel T. Hawken
- St. Louis, MO
- Seral number: Not serialized
- Barrel Length: 31 1/4"
- Caliber: .56 (7 Groove)
- Dates: ca. 1861
- Catalogue Number: 2000.14.1
Gift of E. W. Roebling, III
This rifle belonged to, and was used extensively by, John "Liver Eating" Johnson (John Johnston, 1828 - 1900). He was a prominent mountain man, U S. Army scout, and later a deputy sheriff and constable for Coulson and Red Lodge, Montana.
The 1972 Warner Bros, movie Jeremiah Johnson, starring Robert Redford, was loosely based on highly romanticized stories of his life. His grave-site is at Old Trail Town in Cody, Wyoming.
The Cody Firearms Museum:Winchester's huge gun collection:
Oliver F. Winchester was the founder and first president of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in the 1860's. He started the Winchester Arms Collection as a research and reference collection containing arms of all his competitors as well as those manufactured by Winchester. By the early 1870's the collection expanded to include documentation of the historical development of firearms in general. The collection continued to expand with Oliver's successors through the years of the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. To include the works of the various companies acquired by Winchester over the years.The Pugsley Collection too:
Edward Pugsley served in various management functions at Winchester before, during and after WWII to include being the head of the Winchester Research and Development teams during the war. Pugsley was known to have a personal firearms collection rivaled by few worldwide, if any. In 1950 Winchester purchased the Pugsley collection and added it to their collection. In 1959 the Winchester collection was opened to the public in New Haven, CT.Entire Collection to Buffalo Bills:
In 1975 Winchester, then the Olin Corporation, placed their entire collection on loan to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, WY. The collection was formally deeded to the museum in 1989 and opened as The Winchester Arms Museum.Expanded in 1991:
With funding from Winchester and others the museum was expanded and became the Cody Firearms Museum in 1991. Since then the Cody Firearms Museum has become a repository for historical firearms from many different companies. Historical documents have been placed in the Harold McCracken Research Library where they are available to researchers under the supervision of research librarians.
The Cody Firearms Museum currently houses the most comprehensive collection of American firearms in the world.New Redesign:
During 2018 and 2019 the Cody Firearms Museum underwent a massive redesign and expansion project.
They now have thousands of firearms on display dating back to 1400.The museum is divided into themes:
- Firearms Safety and Basics alongside the modern shooting sports
- Evolution of Firearms - Firearms History
- Story of "The West"
- Military History
- Science of Firearms
- Art of Firearms
- Temporary Exhibits
- Collector & Research Level with high density and highly visible display cases with thousands of historical firearms along with a reference library
The Largest collection of US firearms in the world. The Cody Firearms Museum has over 7,000 firearms with more than 30,000 firearms-related artifacts.
