Connecticut Yankee
Member
This is well-worth the trip. It isn’t a large museum but the quality and rarity of the items are the draw. Most of the exhibits and examples are exactly what you think of when the phrase “museum quality” is used, some of the older items (e.g. Civil War) look as if they were just handed to you from the finishing line. It concentrates on SA items, especially the Civil War and after but there are varieties on non-SA items that are both interesting and rare.
You start with a video of the history of SA which is shown in the Machine Gun display room. There are about a dozen MGs here, including two Gatlings, a Nordenfeldt, a Vickers, a water-cooled Browning, an MG42 and a Vulcan. You then have several displays of the chronological/technical evolution of firearms from hand-cannon to matchlock to wheelock. After that there is a large collection of Civil War arms. For the WW I displays they have several versions of scissoring/telescoping rifles/devices used to snipe from a trench without having to expose yourself to enemy fire and a Pederson device mounted in a correct Springfield. There is the metal container for the device and a ten magazine pouch with all ten magazines.
The Garands are fascinating. There is his original patent rifle from the 1920s then a series of developmental models as he worked out the design. There is Serial Number 1, Serial Number 81 (the first one made completely of machined parts with no hand-fitting), etc. up to the last one produced in May of 1957. There is also a true M1 Garand short rifle one of the 250 made in 1944-45, which everyone calls a “Tanker” Garand and a paratrooper folding-stock Garand. Later on in the exhibits there are many of the variants and models as the M1 evolved in the T-series and then, eventually, became the M14.
For foreign weapons there are several case displays, one of British, one of French, one of German, one of Japanese weapons from WW II. The highlights of these are a Japanese Type 4 (also known as Type 5, don’t ask me why) copy of the M1 Garand in 7.7mm, one of only 250 made and (in a different case as you enter the museum) an FG42. For the latter it is interesting to see exactly how compact this bullpup is.
Other rare birds are several variants of the SPIW, one with two side-by-side magazine fed rifles (appear to be 222-ish caliber) and another, never fully completed, prototype with a 3-barrel revolving 40mm launcher and what appears to be a drum for 223 flechette rounds. There are some early Armalites in both .308 and .223. There is one of the 20 stamped (rather than machined) “Colt” .45 auto pistols from the end of WW II (see “Pistols and Revolvers” by WHB Smith) and a Liberator FP-45 that I think is chromed (although it could just be highly-polished, unblued steel). They have Eisenhower’s Presidential Presentation M14, serial number 1, high-polish blue and select stock, this had a ‘flaw” of some sort, so they kept it and presented him with Number 2.
As you leave, there is a small gift shop which is heavy on Civil War and Garand books as well as other items (SA drinking glass, SA shot glass, posters). There is a DVD devoted solely to Garand's work on his rifle. When we were leaving one of the staff recommended “The Fort Dining Room” which is nearby. We didn’t go there but it might be worth a trip.
You start with a video of the history of SA which is shown in the Machine Gun display room. There are about a dozen MGs here, including two Gatlings, a Nordenfeldt, a Vickers, a water-cooled Browning, an MG42 and a Vulcan. You then have several displays of the chronological/technical evolution of firearms from hand-cannon to matchlock to wheelock. After that there is a large collection of Civil War arms. For the WW I displays they have several versions of scissoring/telescoping rifles/devices used to snipe from a trench without having to expose yourself to enemy fire and a Pederson device mounted in a correct Springfield. There is the metal container for the device and a ten magazine pouch with all ten magazines.
The Garands are fascinating. There is his original patent rifle from the 1920s then a series of developmental models as he worked out the design. There is Serial Number 1, Serial Number 81 (the first one made completely of machined parts with no hand-fitting), etc. up to the last one produced in May of 1957. There is also a true M1 Garand short rifle one of the 250 made in 1944-45, which everyone calls a “Tanker” Garand and a paratrooper folding-stock Garand. Later on in the exhibits there are many of the variants and models as the M1 evolved in the T-series and then, eventually, became the M14.
For foreign weapons there are several case displays, one of British, one of French, one of German, one of Japanese weapons from WW II. The highlights of these are a Japanese Type 4 (also known as Type 5, don’t ask me why) copy of the M1 Garand in 7.7mm, one of only 250 made and (in a different case as you enter the museum) an FG42. For the latter it is interesting to see exactly how compact this bullpup is.
Other rare birds are several variants of the SPIW, one with two side-by-side magazine fed rifles (appear to be 222-ish caliber) and another, never fully completed, prototype with a 3-barrel revolving 40mm launcher and what appears to be a drum for 223 flechette rounds. There are some early Armalites in both .308 and .223. There is one of the 20 stamped (rather than machined) “Colt” .45 auto pistols from the end of WW II (see “Pistols and Revolvers” by WHB Smith) and a Liberator FP-45 that I think is chromed (although it could just be highly-polished, unblued steel). They have Eisenhower’s Presidential Presentation M14, serial number 1, high-polish blue and select stock, this had a ‘flaw” of some sort, so they kept it and presented him with Number 2.
As you leave, there is a small gift shop which is heavy on Civil War and Garand books as well as other items (SA drinking glass, SA shot glass, posters). There is a DVD devoted solely to Garand's work on his rifle. When we were leaving one of the staff recommended “The Fort Dining Room” which is nearby. We didn’t go there but it might be worth a trip.
