Let's go to the UGCA gun show!

    Lots of people bring old guns or related items to our show for free appraisals or to sell.  Maybe you want to do this at the next show.
If you do not bring a gun, maybe you can leave with one.

We usually give away a great door prize.
The happy winner from this show received this high quality replica of the famous Colt Model 1851 Navy revolver.
[No photo available of the winner this time.]

Now- on to some of the Great Displays!
Click on the title to go directly to one of these displays or enjoy scrolling down the page to see them all.

The Old and the New: Hall's Patent Rifle and the Common Rifle (Grand Prize Award Winner)
      John showed up with one of the traditional muzzle loading military Model 1817 "Common Rifles" and also a newfangled "Hall's Patent Breech Loading Rifle." Nice condition guns, too!
These show the changing military technology, but also the tremendous influence on manufacturing techniques. The "old" method was largely hand made parts, while the new featured totally machine made parts that were 100% interchangeable in every respect.

The Civil War Cavalry (First Place Award Winner)
      Mel has been collecting Civil War cavalry items for a long time, and his collection has steadily increased in scope and quality and it is really impressive.

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Left- too much to get into a single photo, we see the handguns flanked by racks of carbines on both sides. Right- a better shot of the many different handguns used by the Civil War cavalry.

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The "Old Sarge" himself seated behind one rack of long guns, and another rack on the other side. I think we figured out that he has an example of every type of carbine used during the war.

A very nice Henry rifle, the forerunner of the Winchester lever actions rifles.
VERY impressive! Thanks for sharing with the public.

Zimmerschuetzens (rimfire target rifles) (Second Place Award Winner)
Gary not only collects these, but he shots them as well! Indoor target shooting in homes was a very popular sport in Germany (and many countries) circa 1880-1920, and featured full size rifles but using very low powered ammunition so that there was little safety risk and no need for massive backstops. These often used a primed case and lead ball, similar to the "BB Cap" cartridges offered later for .22 caliber rifles. Today's counterpart is precision air rifle shooting which has edged out .22

Some beautiful rifles. The "funny shaped" stocks look strange, but actually help insure precisely the same position of the shooter's face against the stock each time which helps achieve better accuracy.

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Some of the ammunition and tools used

Schuetzens and Scheiben Pistolen (Third Place Award Winner)
Gaylord is another shooter-collector. His display featured the larger bore rifles and pistols used for German target shooting competition mainly in the period 1880-1920. The workmanship and accuracy of some of these fine arms is truly incredible. Take a close look if you see these at one of our shows, or a show in your area.

The Long and the Short of it
Jerry realized that many of the guns in his collection were more or less oversize and miniature examples of the same sort of gun, hence the display title. There were so many really great items that we were unable to get photos of them all.

Across the front of the table are two extremely long guns, a wall gun and Kentucky rifle, and immediately behind them are their very short counterparts, a carbine and a buggy rifle.

Famous English gun maker Durs Egg made tiny pocket or muff pistols as in the cased set, and massive holster pistols like the ones in front.

Top to bottom are three powder flasks, a 3" for baby bear, a 4 1/2 inch for Mama bear and a 14 inch monster for Papa bear.

Cannons!
Collecting rifles, shotguns or pistols is fun, but big boys' toys really ought to include a cannon! If you spouse is unreasonable about letting you get a full size one, then how about a slightly smaller example? Our two members here can fix you right up with a number of different types- firing or not!

It's Called Colt
Jimmy had another display, featuring a variety of Colt items, instead of variations of a single model of a gun.

Revolutionary War
Richard and friends, part of a new group of living history folks displaying for the first time. Very interesting!

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Antique Stirrups
One of our very best members, who always has a display, and it is almost always a different one. These are examples of stirrups from all over the world from the last few hundred years.

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WW2- Eastern Europe
Jim C. recently spent some time in that part of the world and has a new appreciation for what took place in this less well known theater of operations.

Some very fine old Western arms and accessories!

Costume Contest Winners
We were proud to recognize all of our costume contest participants, even though we missed a couple for photos. (Sorry!) Here are Rick, Noland, Mel, Ben, Brian, Shane and Zach.

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We apologize that photos were not available for all of the displayers. We will try to get everyone next time!