Virginia: "Rich history, special gun"

[cuchulainn]

from the Progress-Index

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10485542&BRD=2271&PAG=461&dept_id=462946&rfi=6

Rich history, special gun

By: JASON REEVES , Staff Writer

DINWIDDIE - The Winchester Model 1894 rifle is sometimes called the gun that won the West.

A Colorado gun maker has released a limited run of the historic firearm that highlights Dinwiddie's past, from stock to barrel.

Investment Arms Inc. has intricately crafted each .45-caliber rifle with about 17 scenes of Dinwiddie history. All woodwork is laser carved and the gun's metal was detailed in a 40-step process with nickel, silver plate and a 24-karat gold overlay.

Eleven of the Dinwiddie rifles were produced, including one proof and 10 special-edition firearms.

Each gun took about 130 hours to craft and costs $3,400, said Investment Arms official Jim Combs.

"It's one of the most collectible items out there," Combs said of the Winchester model. Each gun is individual numbered and has a serial number starting with "INV," for Investment Arms.

The company does about 20 limited-edition series each year honoring localities. Other special firearms have featured Gettysburg, the Citadel, West Point, the centennial of the Wright brothers' 1903 flight and the Athens Olympics.

Dinwiddie was chosen for its rich history and the county's 250th anniversary in 2002, said Combs.

The barrel of the Dinwiddie edition is plated with 24-karat gold and its butt features a large etching of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which crossed the county and was instrumental to growth and industry.

Civil War history, agriculture and the Appomattox River all are featured in metal work on the gun's sideplates along with a county map that highlights Dinwiddie's birth on Feb. 27, 1752.

Other artwork spotlights Blandford Church, the Dinwiddie Courthouse and Robert Dinwiddie, a Virginia lieutenant governor in the mid-1700s, for whom the county was named for.

Combs said the rifles are tailored to interests of historians and collectors, but not sportsmen.

"If one chose to put a round through it or fire it, the gun would decrease in value 40 (percent) to 50 percent," he said.

For purchase information, call Combs at (970) 215-0677.

* Jason Reeves may be reached at 722-5172.

©The Progress-Index 2003

 

[JohnBT]

Sounds like a very nice rifle. I am a bit surprised by the choice of Dinwiddie County as a theme though. I guess we just have too much history hereabouts and tend to overlook a lot of it.

Old Blandford Church (1735) is positively, absolutely worth seeing - if only for the 15 Tiffany windows.

"The Confederate States honored their soldiers by placing in the church memorial windows, designed and executed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. There are fifteen of these windows, making this shrine one of the art treasures of our country."

www.rootsweb.com/~vacpeter/cemetery/blandfd1.htm

John

 

[Mike Irwin]

"The Winchester Model 1894 rifle is sometimes called the gun that won the West."

Only by people who don't know what the hell they're talking about...

 

[Quantrill]

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the centennial of the Wright brothers' 1903 flight

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I don't think the Wright Bros first couple of planes were armed, especially with 1894 Winchesters. Quantrill

 

[El Tejon]

1894? Didn't Professor Turner tell us that the West was won in 1890?

Hmmm, who told them that the M94 "won the West"? A gun rag author?

 

[Majic]

I always thought the 73' Winchester was the rifle that won the west.

 

[Mike Irwin]

A lot of rifles can lay claim to being the gun that won the west...

I think the two most logical contenders, though, are the Trapdoor Springfield and the "Buffalo Rifles" of which there were many kinds.