NRA Museums Guns of the Week

Few guns have exploded in popularity like the Colt Python has in recent years. Collectors have been bitten by “snake fever” and the market just keeps going up and up on these exquisite revolvers. Renowned for their exceptional finish, handling, and timing, the Colt Python is truly a joy to shoot. Since the introduction of the Python in 1955, the purchase price has gone up 14,300%!

What makes this trio all the more appealing is that they are (from bottom to top) serial numbers 2, 3 and 5; we even 2's original box. Low serial numbers are often reserved for important people involved in a gun’s design or the president of the company.

This early .45 caplock bears a heavy octagonal barrel and its simple lines belies the historical significance of Remington’s early product line. As America’s earliest gunmaker, still in business two hundred years later – Remington’s current rifles, shotguns and handguns are direct descendants of this blackpowder longarm.

When NRA members competed at Creedmoor Range in the 1870s, one of the guns they used was the Remington rolling block rifle. Issued to New York National Guard regiments, the Remington was reliable as both a service rifle and a target gun. The .45 example above also boasts a custom adjustable wrist feature.

Single-shot Remington rolling block rifles and carbines were made in the millions at the Remington factory in Ilion, NY and exported to many nations around the world.

The "Zouave" percussion contract rifle from the American Civil War is a short-barreled (33 inch) rifle in standard .58 caliber and its barrel features a lug for a saber bayonet on the right side.

Government documents referred to it as the "Harpers Ferry" rifle after the national armory, but with the facility's destruction early in the conflict, federal ordnance officials turned to Remington, who quickly produced 12,500 to equip garrison troops in the forts surrounding Washington, DC.

Hoping the American military would need one last contract for lever-action guns, Winchester manufactured the Model 1895, a box magazine lever gun that could accommodate powerful smokeless cartridges with pointed projectiles.

Unfortunately the Model 1895 did not receive serious interest from the US military, who placed an order for only 10,000. But the rifle did raise eyebrows overseas and Winchester produced more than 293,000 for Russian orders in 1915 and 1916.

Gerard Lewis was a lesser known pistol champion in the 1930s, trying out for the Olympics and earning a mention in Ed McGivern's "Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting" book.

Like all good trick and precision shooters, Lewis had no ordinary gun. This .22 Colt Woodsman he owned has an unusual offset bore accurized by A.E. Berdon and a heavy barrel crafted by Al Henderson.

Over 215,000 Colt Model 1851 “Navy” revolvers were made from 1850 to 1873, but only a small proportion of these .36 caliber revolvers were fitted with shoulder stocks that held a canteen.

As the story goes, Jefferson Davis gave Sam Colt the idea to include a canteen in the shoulder stock and even received one of the first to be manufactured.