June in Cody

We are into our busiest weeks of the year. 

This weekend (June 12-14) the CFM and the town of Cody host the Winchester Club of America annual gun show.  The show is at the Riley Arena (1400 Heart Mountain Street – Cody). 

Next weekend (June 19-21) the Winchester Arms Collectors Association annual show is also at the Riley Arena. 

The Records Office will be doing serial number searches for folks at both gun shows and offering discounts on CFM memberships.  I invite to stop by the shows if you are in the area.  

The rest of the  BBHC also has a lot going on this month with the Plains Indian Museum Powwow and the grand opening of the new Whitney Gallery of Western Art and many other activities.  The whole town bustles with events and activities so visit Cody in June!!

Travels and gun shows

We wished Dave a fond farewell a couple of weeks back and have been settling in to work sans curator.  No word on the search for a new curator, but we hope to have someone in place this fall.

I returned home from the Denver gun show last Monday (May 18).  It was a good weekend; we did around 150 serial number searches, eight Cody Firearms Museum memberships and a number of Factory Letters.  I wish I could make it to the Orangeville, Ontario show on May 31 as I am in the area visiting family, but unfortunately, I fly back to Wyoming that day.  We are looking forward to the two big gun shows in Cody in a couple of weeks.  The Winchester Club of America show is June 12-14 and the Winchester Arms Collectors Association show is June 19-21.  Makes for a couple of long weeks for us, but we enjoy seeing old friends and making new ones.

Perpetuated Oddities

If you spend enough time in the gun business, you learn better than to say that Winchester, Colt, Smith & Wesson, Remington, or anyone else “Never did this.”

I am about to do the unspeakable…

We received an inquiry from a gent. His question has to do with a Winchester Model 12 shotgun and whether or not it was ever produced in a left-side-eject/left-handed version. He bases his question in an image printed in the George Madis book, “The Winchester Model 12″. On Page 83, there is an image of a Model 12 with a factory-installed Cutts compensator.

The issue here is that the image shows the right side of the gun, with no visible ejection port. My belief is that the image used in the publication of the book was flopped, creating a reverse image. In other words, Winchester never did this.

There. I said it. At least I won’t be here next week when someone shows up with one…

Cheers,

Dave K.

Thanks to all of the supporters and firends I met over the last (nearly) six years!

Lots to do

So I am watching it snow while thinking about all of the various and sundry things that are going on.

The BBHC is about to announce a new venture with some local Cody businesses. We will be producing a BBHC-approved reproduction of the Winchester Single-Shot Rifle (aka, the Model 1885). We are looking at a limited run of 100 guns at a decent premium. The unveiling of the prototype will take place at the Colorado Gun Collectors Association Show in Denver next month. If all goes well, we will be able to proceed to the next step and go all out. If this project is a success, we will look at making this the first of a series of five guns.

In preparation for my departure, I am trying to get things caught up administratively. There is a small pile of things that need resolved before I am out the door. Amongst these is my participation on the AAM reaccreditation committee.

As part of the 10-year cycle, we have to renew our accreditation with the American Association of Museums. The final package will fill about three 3″ binders. I am the tech-person and I have to assemble everything into something understandable. I know I have mentioned it before, but it is something that needs done before I become the ex-Curator.

Cheers,

Dave K.

Gun Show Support from the Cody Firearms Museum

All -
The following is a listing of the shows that we will be supporting through the beginning of summer.

The Records Office will be available by phone (307-578-4031) during regular work hours and on the dates listed. Keep in mind that we will have “boots on the ground” at the Denver and Cody shows.

- April 4 – Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show, Tulsa, Okla. – Sat. 8 a.m.– 4 p.m.
- May 16-17 – Colorado Gun Collectors Assoc. Annual Gun Show, Denver, Colo.* – Sat. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. & Sun. 9 a.m. – noon
- June 13-14 – Winchester Club of America Show, Cody, Wyo.* – Sat. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. & Sun. 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
- June 19-21 – Winchester Arms Collectors Assoc. Show, Cody, Wyo.* – Sat. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. & Sun. 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Cheers,
Dave

More “gun guy” questions

We often receive questions from gun guys who are hoping to better understand the production of antique arms – particularly Winchesters.

A recent question to me was related to the percentage of case hardened Winchester Model 1873s. Although no one has done a solid survey, I referenced Jim Gordon’s book on the 1873, Winchester’s New Model of 1873, A Tribute, and according to him, “Case hardening was a relatively common feature. A substantial majority of the Model 1873s with deluxe wood or other special features were shipped with case hardened receivers.” (pg. 199)

So, quite often, the importance of what knowledge is in your head is not as great as knowing which book to reference.

Hope this helps.

Dave

1,000,000 is less than 350,000? (or: Customer Service is the Key)

I am constantly impressed by the ability of the Records Office Staff to respond positively to questions from our customers. Just today, I was informed that a customer, when told that we did not have the record for his Winchester became incensed (and questioned the validity of the staff member’s education) because “1,000,000 is less than 350,000″.

To clarify this matter, a description of the records office is in order. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company (as part of the Olin Corporation) and the Marlin Firearms Company gave us the records pertaining to more than 4 million guns manufactured by Winchester, Marlin, and the L.C. Smith Gun Company (These being links to the collector organizations). The staff of the Cody Firearms Museum uses these records to determine production information on these guns as a fee service.

The benefit of this service, while interesting to someone trying to find more information about “grandpa’s old Winchester”, is an inexpensive insurance policy for the collector of these guns. Being able to find out what a gun looked like when it left the factory can keep you from spending $10,000 (or more) on a gun that isn’t worth $1,000.

Unfortunately, we don’t hold the records for every Winchester, Marlin, or Elsie (as the collectors call them). Our list of represented serial ranges (in PDF format) will let you know if we should have the record for your gun. Unfortunately, the aforementioned gentleman looking for information on his Model 1894 could not understand why we do not hold a record on his gun serialized in the 1 million range when we hold the records from 1-353999.

Gotta love Customer Service

Cheers,

Dave

Disaster Planning

Yesterday, the staff of the Cody Firearms Museum went through a mental exercise to determine what would be on the top of a list of what should be removed from the building if we found ourselves with the need to relocate. This was made at the request of our conservator, Beverly Perkins. As part of her position, Beverly looks at possible emergency situations and tries to plan how best to respond to them in order to best protect the objects.

As part of her request, Warren and Bob (the two Curatorial Assistants for the CFM) and I did a walk-through of the gallery in order to identify what we thought of as objects that we felt must be removed from the building if there was cause to do so. We didn’t have a price tag in mind – we just wanted to look at guns and other objects that we felt, individually and as a group, should be saved. This decision was made as a result of rarity in some cases (Walter Hunt’s prototype which preceded the Winchester lever actions) and price tag/historical association (a blunderbuss given to Louis XV by Catherine the Great).

Our first list (we haven’t pared it down yet) took up two legal-size pages. Looks like we have some work to do to cull it a bit.

Cheers,

Dave

Heading Home

I am sitting at gate D43 in McCarran Airport, waiting for boarding to start. The weekend here in Vegas was topped off by attending the Greg Martin Auction yesterday.

I had some thoughts about the auction that resurfaced this morning while reading this post on the L.C. Smith Collectors Association forums.

While the subject matter in the forum posts applies, in general, to all collecting, it also helps to bring to light the differences between the different collector areas.

Europeans in general, and Brits in particular, have no issue with rebuilding/refinishing guns as they are still tools for the most part. Classic/antique shotguns are still used by the gentry and American tourists to go birding. Working guns, just like classic cars, need to be rebuilt occasionally and there is an expectation of this.

As I saw at the auction, the Colt Collectors wanted a factory letter that supported the various aspects of the gun, but it did not really cause a problem if the gun did not match the letter.

Winchester Collectors, on the other hand, will not normally give a gun a second look if it does not match the letter exactly.

Glad I’m not paid enough to collect.

Cheers,
Dave

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Winchester Wingo - in the original crates

I want to make this one a short one given that we are in a short week, if for no other reason.

Today I took a ride to a warehouse used by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center to store some of our oversized objects that need different housing. In the midst of the objects there are a Model T Ford, several wagons (horse-drawn), storage/shipping crates for past traveling exhibits, old office furniture, and (from the Cody Firearms Museum collection) a crated-up Winchester Wingo machine. This machine is one of two known to exist. It was designed to throw hollow balls of ice for use in an indoor target shooting game. The one that came to Cody from a private individual was, as far as I know, never unpacked.I know that some donors would be concerned to see something like this, but when we are dealing with something like the Wingo machine, it is better to have left it in the original packaging.

Also – on a separate note, I wanted to mention a new blog by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the shooting, hunting and firearms industry. I should also mention at this time that the Cody Firearms Museum is a non-profit member of the NSSF.

Time for me to go home for the day. Have a safe week and don’t eat too much!

Cheers,

Dave