GUN COLLECTING LINKS

INDEX OF FIREARMS LINKS LISTED BELOW:

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IMPORTANT FIREARMS SITES

ArmsBid.Com – Fantastic collector gun auction Oct. 26-27 in KC area.  Fully photo illustrated online catalog will be posted here fall, 2003.  Absentee bids invited.

NRA.org (National Rifle Association) Home Page

BATFE – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.  Information on how to apply for a C&R collector Federal Firearms License. Try using FFL eZ check to confirm FFL info.

GunCite - Some outstanding links & well-reasoned editorializing on many gun issues.  Good source of firearms stats & related materials.

Blue Book - To order the Blue Book of Gun Values, an excellent reference on gun values.

GOOD SOURCES OF INFO:  Also see info on Specific Types of Guns

DownRange.TV - Nifty new website with lots of firearms videos.  I'm working with them on a series of Supica on Gun Collecting videos that will be posted on their site.

Culvers Shooting Page - Host to a bunch of good specialty forums (Krag, trapdoor, cast bullets, mil. shotgun, Glock, reloading, SMLE, etc. etc. etc., PLUS good "static website" information on this grandaddy of gun websites.

The High Road - A large, active, well-organized & well-moderated forum, with boards for most areas of firearms interest.

The Firearms Forum - Nice interactive gun, shooting, politix & chitchat website, organized into various topical forums.  Post your questions & commentary.

rec.gun FAQs – The rec.guns newsgroup is a great firearms discussion newsgroup, and a good place to post general firearms related questions or comments. Good info available at their FAQ website.

The Box 'o Truth - Jeeze, where do I put this fun link?  This is, errrr.... guys shooting stuff.  The email that turned me on to it described it as the "Snopes of gun stuff".  It may not be quite that, but if you ever wondered what a stack of dimes fired out of a 12 gauge would do to a plastic jug of water, this is the site for you.

Curio and relic Forum - Interactive forum on C&R firearms, strong emphasis on old military rifles.

Parallax Bill's Curio & Relic or Military surplus shooters and collectors forum - another nice interactive C&R forum.

Frontier Forum - Interactive forum for cowboy action shooters, and old west firearms enthusiasts; nice ambiance.  Especially near & dear to my heart is the BOSS (Brotherhood of Schofield Shooters) section for enthusiasts of S&W Top-break revolvers.

Gun I.D. & Values database - an ambitious project in the beginning stages.  Not a lot of information there right now that I could find, but they invite user participation and if you have an inclination to help develop such an online resource, I'm sure your input will be welcome

Firearms Talk - A relatively new forum, looks to be well organized, with their heart in the right place.  Not much activity at this writing, but it certainly could catch on.

New!  Davidson's Gallery of Guns - Seems to be primarily a commercial site, but with some substantive material; maybe the online equivalent of mainstream gun magazines?

Antique Firearms listings - listings of guns which qualify as pre-1899 "Antiques".

ArmsCollectors.com - good info for gun collectors, incorporating links to find more info on specific questions.  Also, some good articles on specific models of antique guns.

OldGuns.net – great site, extensive links, dates of manufacture, firearms markings, sales listings.

Store Brand crossover - who made "trade name" guns (Revelation, Western Auto, etc.)

Fulton Armory Home Page - great folks, and great source of info on modern semi-auto rifles.

Civil War Soldiers & Sailors - excellent starting point for researching a CW soldier's personal records.

Arms & Armor I.D. – Good info on old edged weapons & armor, plus research for a fee service

Reference Library by Vivas & Son - some good articles & tables on martial guns, plus some S&W revolver exploded drawings.

Exploded Firearms Diagrams - no, not the "hot-handloaders homepage" - assembly/disassembly drawings.

U.S. Military Dates of Manufacture

Old Rifles – Photo gallery of military rifles, bayonets & pistols from many countries

S&W Forum - One of my favorite online forums. 

 Colt Forum - interactive forum

AR-15 Forum - A very popular interactive forum, & wealth of info on AR-15's.

New! Winchester Model Primer - WACA's information on primary Winchester Models.

HiStandard.info  Informative site of John Stimson, past-Pres. of HiStd Collectors Assoc.  Good source of info on High Standards.  Also see High Standard Collectors Assoc.

Belgian Guns - Hard to find info on Liege guns, plus they will try to i.d. your Belgian gun for you by email!  The place to go if you  have a little revolver with "ELG" on that no one seems to be able to identify.

ColtAutos.com – Sam Lisker’s page w/ great info on Colt Auto pistols.

1911A1 Autopistols –  1911 Forum    

Cool animated 1911 pistol  cutaway function illustration.. 

Mosin Nagants

Swiss Rifles

Collecting & Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle – Just what the name says, lots of info on specific types.

S&W Model Two Old Army Info & Survey - If you have a S&W Model 2 Old Army tip-up revolver, please take a moment to fill out Ron Curtis's survey on this historically important model.  The information will help in a forthcoming publication on the topic.  http://model2survey.com

S&W Model Table - guide to the various S&W Model numbers and frame designation letter system.

Martini Henry lots of good info on military Martini Henry's

Trapdoor Collector Homepage – Great site for Trapdoor Springfield info, sales listings.

Carbines for Collectors – Good info on late 19th – 20th Century non-US military long guns.

Civil War Guns – Articles by noted writers on CW firearms, plus info on reenactor CW skirmishing.

Black Powder Cartridge Military Rifles – Hard to find info on early European military cartridge rifles

GUN RELATED ITEMS - GOOD INFORMATIVE WEBSITES:

Cartridge Collectors – International Ammunition Assoc. website — good info on collecting old ammo

US Military Knives  - also info on US Bayonets

Holster History - Nice maker profiles; main web page, VintageGunLeather.com ,  sells vintage holsters & leather as well.

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GUN COLLECTOR CLUBS

NRA list of gun collector clubs - good starting place to find a local collector club.

Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Assoc. – our local gun collecting club’s homepage.

S&W Collectors Assoc .  includes info on how to order a S&W factory letter  

Colt Collectors Assoc. .

updated -  Winchester Arms Collectors Assoc. - includes a primer on major Winchester models.

The Remington Society .

Texas Gun Collectors Assoc. .

High Standard Collectors Assoc. .

Ohio Gun Collectors Assoc.

Marlin Collectors

Browning Collectors Assoc.

L.C. Smith Collectors Assoc.

Parker Gun Collectors Assoc.

Replica Percussion Revolver Collectors Assoc.

Houston Gun Collectors Assoc.

National Congress of Old West Shooters -- cowboy action shooting club

Single Action Shooting Society - cowboy action shooting club

Good, more complete, listing of gun collector clubs from OldGuns.net

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Gun Parts Corp - Biggest source of gun parts in the world

Brownells - Major gunsmith supplier, carries Renaissance Wax, which I recommend for preservation of antique & collector firearms.

Doug Turnbull Restoration – I always urge restraint in restoration efforts. If you are set on tackling it, Doug is one of the best, plus a great guy.

David Chicoine - The expert in antique S&W repair & restoration - also PARTS.

Jim Horvath has quite a few antique S&W parts, no website, but email DriftDive56@aol.com

Gunsmithing Only - Mike Allee, a great all-around local KC area gunsmith

Dangerous Dave, the Old Western Scrounger – Great source for obsolete ammo.

AmmoGuide.com - great reloading website.

Sarco – lots of military parts, plus repro material

Ponderosa - obsolete gun parts

Trapdoor parts – Parts for Springfield Trapdoors.

GunGrip.com – NC Ord, source of good reproduction "hard rubber" type grips for older handguns, plus more.

Snake Oil - Another product I like for firearms lubrication & preservation.

ENGRAVING:

D'angelo engraving - Wayne A. D'Angelo, former S&W Master engraver.

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GREAT PUBLICATIONS

Man At Arms Magazine – MAA & Gun Report are the top gun collector magazines.  MAA also publishes some outstanding books for arms collectors.  Surprisingly, Gun Report does not seem to have a web site that I can find.

New! - Shotgun News - Years ago this was an all-advert tabloid, now it features outstanding articles on collectable & military firearms, along with columns on gunsmithing & shooting, and my own Ask the Gun Guy column on old guns & gun collecting.

New! - Gun Digest - Formerly Gun List - Another old advertising-only paper, Gun List has followed SGN's lead, and now includes great articles on firearms.  I enjoy SGN & GD articles because they tend to feature older guns rather than the new production firearms featured in most newstand magazines.

Krause/DBI Publications - Gun books - Std. Cat. Firearms; Std. Cat. S&W; Flaydermans.  Also publishes Gun Digest (above)

Blue Book Publications, Inc. - Blue Book of Gun Values (& Air Gun Values, & Repros)

Bullet N Press - Books & articles by David Chicoine.  See his review of Rick's & my Standard Catalog of S&W - here.

Bruce Canfield – Authoritative books on 20th century US military arms by noted author.

John Ross – Homepage of author of Unintended Consequences, best gun novel ever. Good commentary

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GOOD LISTS OF OTHER GUN LINKS

MouseGuns.com - Although it has quite a few dead links, this site has links to lots of interesting, fun, and nostalgic firearms pages on the net.  Apparently started out as a site on "mouse guns" (small caliber last-ditch backup pocket pistols), but seems to have expanding to encompass just generally neat firearms stuff.  Recommended as a place to visit when you have some time to float around the net looking at things gunnish.

Firearm Buzz - I just recently found this site, and thought it was very nifty as it provides reviews of various gun websites and forums, in more detail than usually found.  Not sure how they work yet, but I'm guessing some of the website placements are paid ads.  All in all tho, an interesting & useful site, with a neat concept.

Internet Shooting Directory – another great links page

GunHoo: Gun Pages Central: Firearms Links – all sorts of links for all types shooting

American Firearms Page – links, plus some good info on NFA weapons, import/export

Gun Index

Gun Manufacturers -- alphabetical list of links to current gun manufacturing companies

LISTS OF TOP RANKED GUN or HUNTING RELATED SITES:

     CasCity.com is Cowboy Action Shooting oriented  .

Supica's Open Firearms Links page - Our open listing of all firearms related pages.  These have not necessarily been screened or reviewed.
 

Collector oriented Gun Shows  Any gun show is a good thing, but some are better for collector guns than others.  Here are links to some shows that have had a history of being good for antique & collector firearms:

Man at Arms Gun Show Calendar

NRA Events - Some of the best gun events for collectors are sponsored by the national NRA, but I'll be danged if I could find them listed on the NRA website.  That link will take you to the collector part of the NRA site.  Upcoming events include NRA National Gun Show different location each year, next one in KC last weekend in July 2005;  NRA Gun Collector Seminar October 6-9, Branson MO;  and the gun collector club display competition at the NRA Annual Members meeting, May 22-23, 2006 in Milwaukee;  May 11-15, 2007 in Salt Lake City.

Tulsa - Worlds biggest gun show, and one of my personal favorites.

Kansas City - My home collector club, MVACA, and always one of the top 10 collector shows in the country.  Last weekend in July & usually in January.

Ohio Gun Collectors - OGCA is a great club with frequent shows - watch for their Spring display competition show.

CGCA Denver show.  - Sometimes called "the World Series of Display Competition".  Great show, in the Spring.

Beinfield Las Vegas Shows - lots of the high dollar pieces come at the Vegas winter show - a good one.

Baltimore show - Usually St. Patricks day weekend at the Timonium fairgrounds, and without doubt one of the best antique gun shows in the country.  I'm all for strict enforcement of safety rules, but for my simple Kansas tastes this MACA show has always been a bit overboard on their enforcement of various & sundry non-safety policies, with their infamous blazer-clad gestapo patrolling the hall eager to pounce on the tiniest infractions.  It just kinda makes me nervous.  But then, I get nervous whenever I'm east of the Mississippi....  If you're a Yankee, you'll doubtless love it. 

TGCA - Texas Gun Collectors Association, excellent small show, heavy on Colts & Winchesters.

Gun Show calendar - commercial & collector - About the best online source I've found for listing all shows, both commercial & collector oriented, by month & state.

NEW - AmericanGunShows.com - a new site listing gun shows & auctions by state & date.

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OTHER COLLECTOR FIREARMS DEALERS & MISC.

ArmsBid.com - Kull & Supcia Firearms Auctions, the other Old Town Station website.  Spring & Fall firearms auctions, consignments wanted!

Rock Island Auction - Major firearms auction house

R Flayderman’s – Author of the definitive book on antique guns, and a premier dealer & arms expert.

Steve’s Militaria – Some nice guns for sale from the author of one of my favorite books "Imported Military Firearms"

VivasAndSon.com - Robert Vivas home page, neat collectible guns for sale.  Robt. is an outstanding researcher on the firearms of New York law enforcement.  Also includes a Reference Library with some great info (isn't it nice when a commercial dealer goes above & beyond to help promote research and gun collecting?)

GunsNStuff.net - Guns & accessories, ammo, tshirts - general selection of commercial gun show type stuff.

Gutterman Historical Weapons – Nice folks with some outstanding antique arms.

R Scott Duff – 20th Century military arms & related items for sale, with some great informational content.

AntiqueGunsInc - I'm not familiar w/ Brent, put his website is nice w/ a very positive image.  Feedback invited

Bayonet Collector's Web Ring

Sixgunner.com

TheGunRoom.net - I've not had personal experience with this new site run by Wren Wasmus, but it has a nice look to it. Please feel free to email me about your experiences with them (or with any of the sites that we link to). -- Jim

GunsCanada - Not really collector oriented, but has some good very basic info on firearms types, plus info on Canadian gun laws.

NEW - VintageGunLeather.com - Dealers in antique & vintage gun leather & related leather goods.

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JUST FOR GRINS

Men in Coats -- Took a few minutes to download for me; will start automatically once downloaded.

Truth or Fiction  & Snopes -  Rumor control for the web.  Next time you get an email saying Bill Gates will pay you for forwarding it, or that a giant wild hog was killed in Georgia, or that the Secret Service couldn't stand the Clintons, take the time to check it out here before you pass it on to all your friend.  Could save you some embarrassment, plus makes fascinating reading!

Time on your hands?  These website will let you pass the time shootin' zombies, tossin' paper wads in the wastebasket, or evolving.

On a more serious note (each worth a moment of your time) ....

Reveille - For our veterans.  You won't regret taking the time to let this 11 minute video download, and then watching it.  I promise.

Carlos Hathcock - Tribute to Gunnery Sgt. Marine Sniper

Thanks to the Greatest Generation!   Worth the 3 minutes of your time that it will take to download & view, I promise!  And thank a vet.

My heroes have always been cowboys

Tribute to Veterans

What the news is NOT telling us about Iraq

The sentencing of the Shoe Bomber

 LIFE - DEATH CLOCK  Ticks off the time between deaths in the U.S. from a number of causes.  VERY interesting.  Be sure to notice the lives saved clock at the bottom!

(Thanks to JCE of Wyoming for 11/2007 updates of museums & misc. good links)

Sales made only on TERMS listed on this website.