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The Cody Firearms Museum has over 7,000 firearms in the collection. So are they looking to add anything to the collection?
Danny Micheal, the curator of the museum, said yes, but we tend to be really, really selective.
Micheal said the mission of the museum is to interpret all of firearms history. So in that way, we can kind of justify anything from a hand cannon to, you know, something like a very modern 3d printed firearm, since that s been in the news lately.
But they do still need to be conscious of what they can care for, manage and make sure to be good stewards of the collection they have already. Plus, when it comes to certain topics, Michael said the collection is already pretty well represented.
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Pop culture usually influences the way we live. And it turns out firearms collecting is no different.
Danny Michael, the Cody Firearms Museum curator, said in the past Western movies really influenced what type of guns were collected but today that is changing. A great example is the Die Hard series. Where John McClane, you know, wields a MP five and a Beretta 92. And so later on these guns become collectible tourists, said Michael.
A certain population who sees the movie and like it may decide to buy it. They say, Hey, you know, these are modern firearms that are pretty readily accessible, I could go get one and then I could shoot and enjoy that and collect it, said Michael.
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Colt Buntline Revolvers weren t very well known until a biography was written about Wyatt Earp. Earp was an American law enforcement officer who served as deputy marshal Tombstone, Arizona Territory during the late 1800s and into early 1900s.
The book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal was written by Stuart N. Lake in 1931. The story was largely fictionalized but portrayed as a biography. In the biography, it s described that Earp ordered a number of these guns in this specific configuration with a long barrel and a stock, said Danny Micheal, the curator of the Cody Firearms Museum. These became to be known as the Buntline special after a figure, Ned Buntline.
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The Winchester Model 70 has long been called the rifleman s rifle. The gun is also an iconic American Bolt-Action that was designed in the 1930s. It’s so popular that a version of it is still in production today.
The rifle has been used by hunters and target shooters for decades. Danny Michael, the associate curator of the Cody Firearms Museum, said it’s a target rifle, but in popular perception, it was only ever sought out for its commercial use.
“The Model 70 itself was only ever used commercially. But its design roots go back to World War I when Winchester was building rifles for the British,” said Michael.