[mrming]

Anything of note in the DC area for a gun-nut to hit? Already have at least a day planned for the smithsonean avation museum...

[Razor]

Just across from the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum is the American History Museum. It has a very nice firearms exhibit. (At least it did 10yrs ago).

[RON in PA]

NRA Museum in Northern VA.

[JackC]

I think the Army has a musem in the area. Aberdeen maybe??
Jack

[DigMe]

I thought I heard something about a new spy museum in DC. That sounds pretty cool. I'd definitely try to go to the NRA museum.

brad cook

[mrming]

Good answers so far. Not sure what spy museum your thinking of, but the NSA does have a cryptography musuem just over the line in MD

[Mal H]

Here's the Spy Museum site (cool intro): http://www.spymuseum.org

The NRA Firearms Museum (http://nra.nationalfirearms.museum/) is a must.

[Norton]

The Spy Museum was pretty cool.....it was VERY crowded when we were there but there shouldn't be too many school groups there this time of year. It's on the Green Line of the Metro near the Navy Memorial. Pretty close to all of the stuff on the National Mall (depending on how much you like to walk of course:D )

[Legionnaire]

Another vote for the NRA museum. My brother and I went there planning to spend an hour in the museum before heading to the NRA indoor range in the basement ... and ended up spending almost three hours wandering the museum! (Did finally get to the range as well.)

[anapex]

If you could make it up that far the Ordnance mueseum up in Aberdeen is supposed to be pretty decent. Oh and unless you like "typewriters", big "typewriters", and even bigger "typewriters" you won't find the Cryptography museum that interesting.

[SapperLeader]

I checked out the nra museum last week, I only was able to spend a hour since they close at 4, but I am planning on going there again with a little more time to spend. It was a really nice museum, with fierarms dated from the pilgrims all the way up to modern day stuff. Lots of fun, for any gun nut.

[clubsoda22]

If you could make it up that far the Ordnance mueseum up in Aberdeen is supposed to be pretty decent.

Actually, it's very decent.

[Ham Hock]

The Aberdeen proving ground museum is top notch. Pre-9/11 there was free access to the museum, but I do not think you can get on base now without proper I.D.

[bigjoegood1]

I went on a tour of the FBI building (9th and Penn NW) about 15 years ago and that was cool. They had a cache of confiscated weapons from notorious gangsters and they showed us the 10 most wanted criminals. There was even a firearms demonstration at the end of the tour where they let loose with a handgun and some sort of full auto rifle! Spectators watched from behind a safety glass. It rocked but I'm not sure if they still do the tour since 9/11. It's worth checking out though.

This is from the FBI Webpage regarding tours. Bummer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=entertainment/profile&id=797219

FBI Building

935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20535
Phone: 202-324-3000


The FBI offers public tours of its headquarters to scheduled groups only. For more information call 202/324-3447.

HOURS:
Mon-Fri 8:45am- 4:15pm

Editor's Note: The FBI Tour is operating on a limited basis -- conducting tours for scheduled school groups only. The tour is scheduled to expand to a full schedule in mid summer. For more information call 202/324-3447.

The line of tourists snaking along benches in the courtyard of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, headquarters of the FBI, seems more natural at an amusement-park ride than a tour of the nation's hub of law enforcement. But who can complain? This is one tour that ends with a bang, literally.

Legend has it FBI tours began in the mid-1930s after a group of curious Boy Scouts requested one. Since 1937, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been giving organized tours to the public. The hour-long walk-through, while informative, is not glamorous. At times the props seem hardly more convincing than the special effects of a county fair horror ride. Movie posters from '50s G-Men films line a wood-paneled wall. Ross Perot-style charts and maps and a large photograph of Janet Reno decorate the space. But what the tour lacks in set design, it compensates with information.

The tour guide rattles off statistics about 400 offices worldwide, 56 field offices, 11,200 Special Agents of which 18 percent are women. On the second floor of the 22-year-old building, tourists zigzag through stations explaining the FBI Academy, FBI operations, gangsters, organized crime, the 10 Most Wanted, terrorism, espionage.

Tour takers also peer, albeit through a glass case, into the seamy side of life: gangsters' guns, replicas of bombs, repossessed goods, illicit drugs. A special section is dedicated to Aldrich Ames for his much ballyhooed treason. Like a scared-straight film, the Ames section details the damage and deaths caused by espionage. A short escalator ride to the third floor begins a fishbowl look into the operational labs for DNA and materials, where drug use can be gleaned from a strand of hair and the make and model of cars can be identified from smudges of paint. A glimpse into the gun archives shows the thousands of rifles, machine guns and pistols repossessed by the Feds.

Because most of the labs will move to new facilities at the FBI Academy in Virginia by 2002, upcoming substitutions could include an interactive CD-ROM of the FATS (Fire Arms Training System) that would allow tourists to simulate the split-second decisions that agents confront.

Part propaganda, part zoo, part in't-it-great-to-be-one-of-the-good-guys and part ooh and ah, the tour leaves even the most jaded visitor entertaining fantasies of Special Agentdom. The biggest crowd pleaser of one recent tour came at the end when Special Agent Robin Bonner demonstrated firearms. Clutching a 9mm revolver, then a 10mm semi-automatic, Special Agent Bonner, perfectly coifed, repeatedly hit the solar plexus of her target without breaking a nail -- a feat that Hoover would likely have appreciated.

And, no, there aren't any X-Files. Or so they say . . .

-- Julie Ziegler

[4v50 Gary]

I've visited several military bases (Fort Knox, Fort Campbell & Carlisle Military Barracks) post 9/11 and they want three things:

1) Driver's license with photograph
2) Vehicle registration
3) Big smile and cooperation

Give Aberdeen a try. BTW, minimize any luggage in case they want to search the contents.

[moa]

Aberdeen Proving Ground, off Rt.95 north of Balitmore is really cool if you are into military small arms, crew served weapons and especially armored fighting vehicles, tanks, artillery, etc. Most of the museum is outside. It is about an hour and a half drive from Washington DC.

If aircraft are of interest to you, there is the down town DC Smithsonian museum that has some aircraft, including military. However, the Smithsonian annex outside of DC near Dulles airport just opened, and it has quite a collection. I think they will have over 200 aircraft on display. Includes military aircraft.

Also, at Andrews Air Force base around the end of May each year, they have a big military display for a whole weekend. Includes aerial demonstrations. They have small arms used by the military you can pick up an inspect.

[WVleo]

Hi, Also there is Antietam . Just about 1 1/4 hours outside of DC in Sharpsburg, Md . I have firearms used by both sides of the War between the States . Stop in to The Newcomer House Antietam Battlefield Museum on Rt. 34 right next to the middle bridge . Free Addmission . Tell Me you are from THR and I'll give you a tour of the upper floors of this circa 1790 homestead , used as a hospital during and after the battle . Winter hours call 301-432-0300 . Not trying to slip in a commercial here , but this is a great unknown jem of American History here at The Newcomer House and its FREE ! We have 1 of the original copies of " The Emancipation Proclamation " on display . Another very good reason to stop in is I'm BORED ! Damn cold winter ! Stop in and shoot the breeze about guns ! These ghosts are driving me nuts ! ( ala the shining ! ) .........WVleo

[mrming]

Thanks gents for all the suggestions!