J.M. Davis Gun Museum

[Daniel T]

I had never heard of the J.M Davis Gun museum until I was up in Tulsa, OK this weekend to visit my fiance's family. Her aunt suggested that we go visit the museum, so we packed up and headed out to Claremont.

The first thing you notice is the Patton (i think it was a Patton) tank sitting on the corner. It didn't look like it was in too bad of shape, but all the hatches were welded shut. (Yeah, I checked. )

The building doesn't look too impressive when you walk up to it, but it's a lot bigger inside that it looks from the outside. When you walk in, you notice a few guns. By "few", I mean hundreds in the entry way alone. There are collages of old handguns covering the area above the help desk. It took me a half-hour to get past that section alone.

Then there was the rest. Row upon row of pistols, revolvers, rifles, machine guns, muskets, blunderbuses...amazing. We were only able to spend about 90 minutes there, and I think I only really got to get a good look at about 30% of the guns they had on display, not to mention the rest of the non-gun items they had on show. The brochure says that the collection numbers about 20,000 items.

The collection is amazing, and you owe it to yourself to go visit if you are in the region.

 

[Walosi]

When I was a kid in Tulsa, I spent as much of my hang time as possible in the Claremore Hotel. Mr Davis finally got used to me, and let me have nearly full rein around the place. The rooms upstairs were also full of guns .... FULL. There was one small room on the 2nd floor, stacked with Remington shotgun and rifle boxes - all containing NEW guns. I may have dusted some 40% of the guns in the lobby at one time or another, and actually got to clean a SAA 71/2" .45 lettered (by some Rurale Colonel) to Pancho Villa. Heaven for a gun-crazy kid. Wish I could remember a tenth of what Mr. Davis tried to teach me.

 

[Blue Line]

Suppose to be THE biggest collection of guns. If you loved that one you should go to the Phillips Ranch near Bartlesville and see all his guns. Lots of nice guns, one case has 1million dollars in 1911's in it.

 

[Warhawk]

Another great gun collection is at the Woolaroc ranch in Bartlesville, OK.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Dang it! Why are some of the best gun museums so far from home? Besides Montana for the Cody, Utah for the Browning, Nebraska for the Mountain Man Museum and now the J. M. Davis in Tusla. Road trip!

 

[pbman]

Very impressive museum, i drove by it many times and finaly stopped, to take a look, its the best gun muesum i have ever been to, and i've seen the one in cody wyoming, the imperial war muesum, and the danish gun museum.

http://www.state.ok.us/~jmdavis/

They have a very impressive collection of historic old west guns......early european and american firearms....and military weapons including Class three weapons.


And its free.

 

[Warren]

I went to the VPC museum of guns that they think is okay for non-police and non-military types to have....it was empty.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Ahh yes,the Davis Gun Museum is yet ANOTHER reason that I miss Oklahoma.The wife and I taught a CCW class there for some of the folks who worked there and their family members and friends.The tough part was getting back to the class after breaks.Tough for me and the wife that is...


4v50gary,it's worth the trip....between the Davis museum and Woolaroc Ranch and the Will Rogers museum you would see a lot.Woolaroc has a spring and a fall Rondy as well.Come on out...

 

[muddyboots]

My family moved to Oklahoma City in 1959. I was in high school at the time. We went to Claremore for some reason I don't remember. What I do remember was going into a hotel that had guns everywhere. Guns on the walls, in the stairwells, in display cases. I could even touch the ones that weren't behind glass. I guess this was the Davis collection.

What strikes me most forcefully thinking about it is that 45 years ago guns were no big deal. Everyone had them and nobody thought they were more than tools, artifacts. Of course, America was civilized back then.

 

[gypsy3]

Wonderful to hear that some of you had the chance to visit my home town.
I live and have lived in Claremore for 46 years now.
As a kid I Used to sit in the Mason Hotel Coffee shop and sip soda and chat with Mr. Davis. (The hotel belonged to him and he hung out there to visit with friends) Of course the hotel has long been torn down and the guns moved to the new museum many years ago......gosh I miss the old times....
Me and my son and grand kids walk thru the musem about once a year, just for the plesure of looking at such a fabulous collection.....

 

[Bart Noir]

In OK City on business, I drove to Tulsa for that museum. Was so impressed that years later, while in Wichita on business, I drove to Tulsa for that museum. That's a heap of driving, through country that was new to me and rather pretty. Darn good museum and collection.

Those two references to ranches in Bartlesville, OK, are they just two different names for the same place? I just know I'll be back to OK City on business in the next year or two. Guess I might get another road trip in.

Bart Noir

 

[Warhawk]

Howdy Bart .. .Same place. Woolaroc is the name of the ranch, it was the private hunting lodge of the Phillips family, Phillips 66.

It is a wildlife preserve, plus a museum. One of the Phillips brothers was an avid gun collector, and his museum has one of the world's leading collection of Colt handguns.


http://www.woolaroc.org/