Montana hunt

[Richard Flanders]

Yesterday when I climbed south out of Malta I was seeing the prototype Montana "big sky" - nothing but far horizon in every direction. A bit later when I crested the pass south of Lewistown and was overlooking the Billings area and the mtns to the south it nearly took my breath away. Unbelievable. And the valley up Clarks Fork going over into Cody, where I am now was absolutely gorgeous. Green and lush, full of deer and waterfowl on ponds and I almost hit a rooster pheasant standing in the middle of the highway. Best pheasant habitat I've seen anywhere in Montana. Lots of corn and grain fields and grassy, brushy meandering creek bottoms. Definitely heaven on earth! As soon as you cross into Wyoming it's about the most desolate looking sage country on earth but the rock formations are stunning. Looking forward to spending a day at the Cody museums today. I'm told the firearms museum has been completely redone and is much improved.

[Dean Romig]

Please tell us about the firearms museum when you can. I haven't been there since about '08.





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[Richard Flanders]

I haven't been to it in 20yrs and it is completely different now. Overwhelming, is the word that fits best. It really is truly unbelievable and incredibly well done. There are far more guns on display and some great displays of old manufacturing equipment - lathes, gang drill presses, a loading machine. I was surprised to see TR's Fox F shotgun on display. The auction winner chose to display it here shortly after the auction and it's insured for $1mill by the museum. It's in a kinda dark room, unfortunately; I'd like to see it in better light. The only underwhelming part I saw was the cabinet full of Parkers. Every grade is covered but few are in spectacular condition. A .410 skeet gun has it's own display near the entrance. All the museum sections are under one roof now; no going building to building, and they have basement and mezzanine sections. I'm on the way back now after a lunch break. The most impressive section in the whole place is the Indian history unit. It's beyond impressive and very moving. The section on WF Cody is also quite something - they have a lot of his personal stuff - guns, clothing, saddles, books even his beer stein + some of Annie Oakleys guns(Bakers). They have a great display of the Colt SAA's used in TV shows and movies.... Paladin, Hoss, Pa and L Joe Cartwright, etc. They even have A Colt SAA flat top target pistol that G Cooper gave to Audie Murphy as a present. The pearl grips are custom fit to his hand and the front sight blade is ivory. It is absolutely gorgeous. A $19 fee gets you two days in the museum, which isn't bad at all for such a place.

[Dean Romig]

"The cabinet full of Parkers."?? When I was there there were several cabinets and displays devoted exclusively to Parkers... and even more down in the lower level. I wonder what happened?






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[Richard Flanders]

I found just one wall cabinet of Parkers but this afternoon found another smaller display of six VERY upgraded V grades, as in deep Germanic engraving with gold inlays and stunning wood, in gauges from 410 to 12ga, all owned by the same owner. They are absolutely gorgeous. There are also a few on display in the basement, but nothing of any real rarity or condition. They are about to start a complete redo of the firearms section that will take 5 yrs or so and will add more interactive displays and put even more than the current 4000 guns on display. Getting the Olin collection was a real coup. They have un numbered J Browning and Winchester prototypes for the 1886 and 1892 and others. It's really something to see. It took a while to find but I finally found Winchester S/N 1 again. I also really liked the Winchester mod 63 .22auto that had a custom 45rd drum magazine in the butt and a silencer. It was made for a market goose hunter who wanted a lot of firepower but didn't to scare the flock away. Maybe there really is such a thing as the "good old days", eh?! Some of the most impressive guns in the entire place are the Coors collection of single shot target rifles. Lordy, they are gorgeous, but are displayed as low as ground level in bad light so you have to get on your knees to look at them and even then you can't see them well enough. Hopefully they remedy that in the redo.

[Bill Jolliff]

Visited the Buffalo Bill Historical Center at Cody about two years ago and it is truly impressive.

Picture of Teddy Roosevelt's F Grade Fox below.

Also of note downstairs are side by sides, mostly hammer guns donated by Bill Furnish. They are displayed vertically in pull out drawers with glass on both sides to really get a good look at them. I believe there are about 200 or 300 displayed there with lots of documentation. I have photo's somewhere but couldn't find them.

Found my pictures of TR's F Grade Fox tho. Also front and back pictures of the original Fox factory order card. Also a picture of Tom Kidd when he owned the gun back in 1988. And I had the pleasure of shouldering Teddy's gun when Tom owned it.

Definitely a great place to visit.

[Richard Flanders]

I didn't get much into the drawers in the basement; just too many guns to be able to see them all. I did see a few with Bill's name on them in the basement wall display, I think.

[Opening Day]

What ever happened to Tom Kidd, did he get out of foxes all together?

[MarketHunter]

He showed up at Hausmann's a couple years ago.

Destry

[MarketHunter]

Nice Work Richard!