NRA Museums

10/12/2023

Our dear Friend and NRA Gun Collectors Committee member Frank Horak of Dallas, TX passed away. His services are in Dallas Monday the 16th and Tuesday the 17th. He will be forever missed.

06/17/2023

Join us at the Nation’s Gun Show at the Dulles Expo Center Saturday 9-5 & Sunday 10-5. Join the NRA at the door & get in FREE!

03/17/2023

See y’all there.

03/17/2023

The Maryland Arms Collectors Baltimore Show is going on now. Come see our Medal of Honor Exhibit 9-5 Saturday and 9-3 Sunday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.

11/22/2022

We are OPEN Thanksgiving Day !
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
FREE Admission.

10/31/2022

Happy Halloween from the NFM Staff.

10/12/2022

Our dear friend and benefactor, Bailey Brower, passed away last Saturday. He was the leading authority on Savage Fi****ms and literally "wrote the book." The donation of his Savage Pistol collection to the National Fi****ms Museum was one of the most significant gifts of the last decade.

Or condolences go out to his wife Taz and the rest of his family.

Vaya con dios mi amigo.
https://www.dailyrecord.com/obituaries/asb286833

Bailey Brower, Jr. of Chatham Township, NJ passed away peacefully on Saturday, October 8th, 2022 at his home after a short illness. He was 94 years...

08/25/2022

By Resolution of Congress... is the name of the museum's newest exhibit. It highlights Congressional Awards for military merit and valor from 1782 - 1904. On exhibit is an original Gilbert & Jane Stuart painting of George Washington, two of the 15 swords Congress presented during the American revolution, three of the 27 swords presented during the War of 1812 and one of the 17 Hall's rifles presented for the Battle of Plattsburgh.

Also on display are four Medals of Honor all presented for actions during the Civil War.

Come on and visit this remarkable collection of our country's rarest symbols of valor.

07/22/2022

We are at The Nation’s Gun Show at the Dulles Expo Center, Chantilly, VA. The exhibit is all about the Medal of Honor. Come see 4 original, authentic Medals of Honor and related artifacts from 9 Medal recipients.

Public Hours:​
Friday 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Saturday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

07/13/2022

05/20/2022

The NRA Cabin is open for business 9-4 Friday & Saturday at the 145th N-SSA Spring National at Fort Shenandoah, VA. Drop on by and say hello.

05/09/2022

The National Fi****ms Museum is open for business again. NRA 1st Vice President Willes Lee dropped by and helped remove the two year old "closed" sign this morning.

04/21/2022

We are beyond excited to announce that we will be reopening to the public at 9:00 a.m. Monday May 9th !!!

01/17/2022

The 26th Annual NRA National Gun Collectors Show will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada this coming weekend January 21-23, 2022.

Show hours are: Friday & Saturday: 9-5 Sunday: 9-2

Westgate Resort & Casino
3000 Paradise Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89109

There is still time to enter a display for the $5,000 in display competition awards. Email Cheryl Goyda at [email protected]

See ya there !

We're glad you stopped by. We have been producing quality antique arms and collectible knife shows for more than 59 years.

01/17/2022

The NRA's National Fi****ms Museum is ranked # 8 by Trip Advisor on the list of Speciality Museums in Virginia. We placed ahead of Mount Vernon and even Cooter's ! We are looking forward to reopening soon. We will keep you posted as soon as we have a date.

Since Virginia is known for its extensive history and unique attractions, it’s no surprise that it would also be home to interesting specialty museums for everything from Richmond’s fav…

10/03/2021

Gary Bowling is the 2021 N-SSA/NRA Civil War Match National Champion at the 144th N-SSA Fall Nationals. Gary is the first person to win this award twice.

He is also the High Senior Skirmisher.

10/01/2021

Fort Shenandoah outside of Wi******er, VA is the home of the North-South Skirmish Association (N-SSA) This weekend the NRA is onsite co-sponsoring the N-SSA/NRA National Civil War Matches. Come watch the excitement 9-5 Friday & Saturday (Artillery shoot is Saturday!) Visit the NRA Cabin to sign up or renew your NRA Membership.

07/23/2021

At the Nation’s Gun Show in Chantilly VA. Come by and see John Wayne’s, Chuck Connor’s and Tom Selleck’s film used rifles.
Saturday 9-5
Sunday 10-5

07/09/2021

Come see the Dirty Harry guns from the Museums Hollywood Guns exhibit at the Forks of the Delaware show in Allentown, PA this weekend. Saturday 9-5. Sunday 9-2

05/14/2021

Just a farewell message to all the folks that may remember me. I retired as Senior Curator on Wednesday after 35 years with NRA. Like you, I deeply hope that NRA will one day be able to reopen the National Fi****ms Museum.

Doug Wicklund

04/23/2021

It’s happening again !

The National Fi****ms Museum is back on the road. The Nations Gun Show at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, VA.

Friday 11-8
Saturday 8-5
Sunday 8-5

10/03/2020

Our Fairfax museum may be closed to the public for the immediate future but we have a display of our Theodore Roosevelt fi****ms services up at the Chantilly Gun Show. Come on out to see us today and tomorrow.

06/30/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - Iver Johnson "Hammer the Hammer" Revolver. A good slogan can make or break a fi****ms's popularity and with our GOTD, having a reliable safety system was foremost. Many of the early revolvers that had their firing pins mounted in their hammers were subject to accidental discharges if they were dropped. Iver Johnson's transfer bar safety design prevented the firing pin from contacting a cartridge until required. For those that wanted a safer .32 or .38, this was a powerful marketing feature. Just how powerful? Consider that most modern C**t, R***r, and Smith & Wesson revolvers have similar transfer bar or hammer block safety features currently incorporated in their mechanisms.

06/29/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - CZ75 Pistol. We wanted to keep going with the Czech theme and while our GOTD was introduced in 1975, Czech shooters were not able tp purchase them until 1985. This steel frame double-action 9mm pistol had a lot going for it, and modern practical pistol shooters favored the "cocked and locked" capability that this design offered. The CZ75 was one of the first "wonder nines" on the market that offered a double-stack magazine and by 2007, more than a million of these pistols had been produced.

06/28/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - CZ52 Pistol. Our GOTD is one of about 200,000 pistols manufactured in Czechoslovakia from 1952-1954. This model, chambered for the 7.62x25mm cartridge used in the Tokarev pistol, incorporated a vertical pair of roller cams for its short recoil locking system, which allowed for the use of powerful cartridges. Despite some advanced features including a hammer decocker, the use of materials with inferior heat-treating and general wear and tear sometimes resulted in damge to components. Once imported to the American market, aftermarket conversion barrels allowed easier obtained 9mm ammunition to be utilized.

06/27/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - Galesi .25 Pistol. Our Italian GOTD came from a company in Brescia that started production after Italy entered WWI. In short order, the firm was making semi-automatic pistols based on the Fabrique Nationale Model 1906. Available chamberings were to eventually include three different.22 rimfire calibers, .25 ACP and also .32 ACP. The production run for this firm continued until 1991, but the vast majority of these pistols were manufactured in the 1960s and 1970s.

06/26/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - PAF Junior .25 Pistol. One of the many foreign copies of John Browning's .25 ACP pistol design, this GOTD has its own right to fame by being the first South African commercial firearm manufactured in 1954. But fame is fleeting and in the case of the Pretoria Arms Factory's pistols, a frame flaw resulted in many slides and barrels flying off when a retaining lug broke off. To add insult to injury, the polymer blend selected for the pistol's grip panels shrank and cracked fairly rapidly. Due to these defects, the firm went into bankruptcy rapidly.

06/25/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - BYF44 P38 Pistol. A year later and this Ma**er-made P38 shows how the war was going for Germany. Bombing raids were starting to impact on vital resources and the bakelite grip panels were made of materials substituting for the petroleum/rubber products in short supply. By the end of the conflict, the finely polished and blued surfaces had been dispensed with and thin stamped steel grip panels were in usage. Ma**er was one of three firms producing these 9mm semi-auto handguns for the Third Reich.

06/24/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - BYF43 P38 Pistol. Today and tomorrow's GOTD posts will show you what difference a year can make. This Ma**er manufactured P38 pistol was built in 1943 and has the German WWII code "byf" stamped on the slide. At this point in the war, things were still going comparatively well for Germany. The fit and fine finish on this semi-automatic pistol reflects that. This double-action design had replaced the classic Luger P08 pistol in military issue and by this point was widely distributed in German military forces throughout Europe.

06/23/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - Browning Baby .25 Pistol. John Browning's diminutive pocket semi-auto was known as the Model 1905 (FN Model 1906 in Europe), the Vest Pocket and even the "Baby." But its popularity resulted in a lot of imitation from armsmakers in Belgium, Italy and Spain. The redesign was to eliminate the original's long grip safety, but introduce a magazine safety preventing firing if the magazine was removed. In addition a cocking indicator was fitted that would protrude when the slide was cycled in loading.

06/22/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - Belgian Brevet Consul Revolver. Belgian gunmakers regularly produced copies of arms made in other countries, sometimes under formal licencing and other times without approval. When officially sanctioned, these brevet fi****ms often carried the name of the firm that was being copied. An unwary purchaser might however be led to believe that the gun was not a copy, but an original. This cased .455 centerfire revolver was likely made in the 1880s and followed the pattern of a British revolver.

06/21/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - Para-Ordnance LDA Pistol. Canada is where our .45 ACP caliber GOTD's story began, where a former paintball gun company founded in 1985 began to manufacture high capacity .45 pistols. One of our staff once built a pistol using one of their first alloy frames made and discovered that while parts were mostly interchangeable with other 1911 style pistols, finding the double-stack magazines was another thing entirely. Eventually, Para-Ordnance was to offer pistols in .38 Super, 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP chamberings and brought out a Light Double Action (LDA) variant intended for law enforcement applications.

06/20/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - Hopkins & Allen Safety Police Revolver. Time for a hard luck GOTD. While it was actually called the Triple Action Safety Police, this double-action revolver only saw a limited production run from 1906 to 1915. While made in .22, .32, and .38 versions, the H & A company had a major disaster of a fire that destroyed much of their tooling, then in 1905 lost all of their inventory in a warehouse robbery. The crowning blow was when Germany invaded Belgium after that country had awarded the company the manufacturing contract for their new military rifle. The resulting bankruptcy resulted in Hopkins & Allen folding in 1917.

06/19/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - C**t Commander Pistol (Texas Ranger). Rounding out our presentation of five Texas Ranger sidearms, we wanted to conclude with a favorite, C**t's smaller Commander pistol. With a shorter barrel and slide, the Commander was offered in both steel and alloy frame variants, and could be ordered in 38 Super, 9mm, or .45 ACP chamberings. Like the larger Government Model, this semi-automatic handgun came with a 7-shot magazine as standard. This GOTD has a custom set of stag grip panels added, inset with miniature Ranger Association Foundation badges.

06/18/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - C**t 1911 Pistol (Texas Ranger) Over the years, C**t's 1911 pistol has become associated with the Texas Rangers, with many officers who had originally carried a variety of sixguns changing to a semi-automatic that offered faster reloading. Much as their revolvers had seen embellishment, so did their M1911s and our GOTD bears an engraved set of Mexican silver and plated brass grip panels. Across the border, Rangers could easily acquire grips like these and their presence came to be a part of the informal uniform, much as the converted silver five-peso coin that served as a badge.

06/17/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - Sig P220 Pistol (Texas Ranger). In the past, all a Ranger needed was a C**t single action and a Wi******er rifle, but with modern times come modern solutions. Our double-action GOTD is chambered in .45 ACP and was part of a group of pistols imported by InterAmerican of Sacramento, CA. This semi-automatic handgun comes with an eight-shot magazine as standard and with its alloy frame, offers a little weight reduction over a C**t 1911 pistol.

06/16/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - C**t Mark IV Series 70 Government Model Pistol (Texas Ranger). Next in our series of Ranger sidearms is this semi-auto .45 ACP with custom trigger and grip safety accents. But for some, the presence of a miniature silver Texas Ranger badge mounted in the right grip panel is the best feature. While legal in 49 states, only the Rangers can bear this badge design in the Lone Star State by law.

06/15/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - Intercontinental Arms Maverick Derringer (Texas Ranger) Today, we are starting a series of special GOTD pieces that are associated with Texas Rangers and were received as part of a collection. This Maverick derringer is a modern Italian copy of the Re*****on over-under design and was offered in several chamberings. Our .45 C**t example would offer a two-shot backup capability when needed, although stout recoil in its small size might hinder the speed of the second shot. But tucked into a pocket or boot for concealed carry, it could have been some Ranger's "ace in the hole."

06/14/2020

GUN OF THE DAY - EM-GE MkIII Pistol.This break-open action German made 6mm pistol traces its heritage back to Gerstenberger & Eberwein of Guseenstadt. Originally this firm made tear gas handguns in the 1930s, but the postwar restructuring of German arms companies resulted in another company purchasing the EM-GE brand name and marketing a line of starter pistols in the 1960s. These inexpensive blank-firing arms were widely distributed, with some being converted later to fire regular cartridges on the black market.