#GOTD - Our Oldest Blunderbuss. On Valentine's Day, wouldn't you be thinking about old blunderbusses? Our information from the donor indicates this smoothbore was likely repaired in Mexico and was a California estate gun that dated back into the later 1600s.

Come out and visit our booth at the Chantilly Gun Show! Open at the Dulles Expo Center today, Saturday and Sunday. We'll have some beautiful guns on display along with a lot of other great vendors. Hope to see you there!

#GOTD-Acrylic Winchester 52 Rifle. This gun is clearly a Winchester Model 52 bolt-action rifle, fitted with a transparent acrylic stock. Evidently on the firing line, this rifle was a real head-turner, resulting in its owner receiving a variety of trophies and shooting medals.

Come out and visit our booth at the Chantilly Gun Show! Open at the Dulles Expo Center today, Saturday and Sunday. We'll have some beautiful guns on display along with a lot of other great vendors. Hope to see you there!

#GOTD-.357 Stainless:S&W's Model 66 Revolver. Offered in barrel lengths ranging from 2.5 inches up to six inches, this six-shot revolver remained in production until 2004. The Model 66 came back into manufacture in 2014.This is a special U.S. Border Patrol Commemorative Model 66.

Come out and visit our booth at the Chantilly Gun Show! Open at the Dulles Expo Center today, Saturday and Sunday. We'll have some beautiful guns on display along with a lot of other great vendors. Hope to see you there!

#GOTD-President John F. Kennedy's New Frontier Revolver. Our engraved .45 Colt was part of a two-gun set that was being custom made for Kennedy. This long-barreled sixgun bears serial number PT109 after Kennedy's naval command in WW2 and has several special embellishments.

#GOTD -The Reid Knuckleduster. Over 50% of this company's production run was in .22 rimfire and from 1868 to 1882, just over 10,600 of these revolvers were manufactured. The trade called them knuckle-dusters, but the company itself advertised them only as "Knucklers."

#GOTD - Annie Oakley's Double Barrel 410 Shotgun. The backstory on our GOTD is that this .410 bore double barrel, made by Gold, Hibbard & Spencer was the gift of Annie Oakley to a childhood friend in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. #history #nramuseums

#GOTD - Doubled in Silver: A Pair of Rat-Tail Pistols. Only iron and silver form the components of the two handguns, with the silver stocks rendered in delicate filigree, and accompanied by a matching silver-mounted ramrod/dagger. Possibly made for a Near Eastern potentate.

#GOTD - Rocky Mountain Delight-The .22 Turret Rifle. This was marketed as the least expensive plinker in the mid-1970s, citing that 250 shots could be fired for a dollar in 1974. Number 4 buckshot, .224 diameter, was used in this rotating turret single-shot design. #history

#GOTD - Made for Joe: A TV Star's Sig Pistol. This specially made Sig 1911 .45 is seen on "Criminal Minds" on CBS in the hands of FBI Special Agent in Charge David Rossi, played by Joe Mantegna. Visitors to our Museum in Fairfax, VA can view this in the Hollywood Guns exhibit.

#GOTD-Mysterious Magnum:The Ruger Hawkeye Pistol. Offered by Ruger from 1963-1964, the .256 Magnum handgun has a real following of fans. The flat "cylinder" on the Hawkeye is a swiveling breechblock that allows the cartridge to be placed in the chamber at the back of the barrel.

#GOTD-A Maharajah's Treasure: H&H Double Rifle. This .465 Nitro Express Holland & Holland double rifle is believed to have been displayed at Bashir Bagh Palace in Hyderabad during the 1920s. This gun has gold everywhere-even with golden cloisenne sideplates with a stalking tiger.

#GOTD - The Perry Self-Priming Rifle. This breechloader was supposedly made for an expedition to South America. It was manufactured in Newark, NJ in the late 1850s and its innovative reservoir priming system would have allowed for some quick shooting when needed.

ARTIFACT OF THE DAY - Phrenologist Special Cane. The head on this cane provides an educational rendering of a cranium with regions identified for their pertinence in determining character traits and personality. This was received as part of the Doc J. Thurston III estate.

#GOTD-Make Mine Marbles:the Game-Getter Gun. An over-under configuration, this combination gun allowed firing either rimfire .22s from the top barrel or a shot charge from the bottom .410 barrel. Many Model 1908 or Model 1921 guns had barrels shorter than the 18-inch minimum.

#GOTD-Miniature Kentucky Rifle. Made by Gerald Gutchess who created many Pennsylvania pattern long-rifles seen at Colonial Williamsburg. Built in 1/10 scale, it is one of the few pieces in the museum collection that cannot be readily fired.

Happy to announce the reopening of the Museum! Open 9am to 4pm, every day except Christmas, free admission and ample free parking. Come see us!