NRA-National Firearms Museum

[gijoep]

Just wanted provide some feedback in case anyone was doinga search. I took my son (12) there and the plan was to spend about 30 minutes in the museum and go to the range there the other 1 1/2 hr we had. Well......we ended up spendig almost 1 1/2 hrs in the museum and didn't have enough time to shoot. The museum was THAT GOOD. I highly recommend it. Man was it more that what I expected AND it was free.

[DiscipleofJMB]

I have been there half a dozen times.... and I never feel like I've been there long enough. It is a VERY impressive collection.



Si vis pacem para bellum

follow me @DiscipleofJMB

[dorminWS]

I drove up to Front Royal Thursday to see if the smallies really were back in the South Fork of the Shenandoah. Friday it was miserable, chilly and raining like pouring p--- out of a boot. So the elder member of our party (not me - this guy's 88) and I drove the 50 miles to Fairfax and went to that very museum. I'd driven by it scores of times and told myself that some day I'd stop, but I never had. Talk about sensory overload! The elder is a WWII and Korean War vet, and he really got a kick out of the WWII/Korea exhibits. I got a kick out of the 4-bore rifle on display; not to mention all those 1911s and high-dollar shotguns and rifles.

One thing that impressed me was the variety of folks that were there. I saw people that I'd swear would be members of Sarah Brady's outfit just to look at them and their mannerisms. I saw a mother with 4-5 little boys, and she wasn't just indulging them; she was reading them the placards and helping them learn. All in all, an enlightening experience in more ways than one.

I'm going back first chance I get. If you haven't been, you should go. Nobody asked me to pay admission or demonstrate I was an NRA member, so I guess it must be free to the general public.

And, by the way, the smallies ARE back. Even in less than desirable conditions (high, muddy water Saturday when it was slow but fish were caught, but they caught plenty of nice fish Friday) it was almost as good as it ever was except that there were understandably fewer really big smallies. Another year or two and it ought to be completely recovered.

[dorminWS]

This is a 4-bore rifle on display at the National Firearms Museum. By definition, a 4-bore, if you fired a round ball, is of such a bore diameter that it fires a quarter-pound lead ball; which equates to "(more precisely, 1.053-inch (26.7 mm), when shooting pure lead bullets). This varied greatly as in muzzle loader days shotgun gauges were custom made and often differed from the actual bore measurements. Commonly, 4 gauges were closer to .935-.955 calibre, pertaining to a 1400 gr. alloyed lead ball and closer to 5 gauge." (Wikipedia)

Of course, it can be seen from the picture that the bullet is not round, and therefore is considerably heavier for being a "bullet-shaped" projectile. I think I'd hate to be on either end of that monster.

As I said, that place is just full of fascinating things.

[RWBlue01]

I have more.