Behind that is another door, and then a security lobby with another steel multi-reinforced and locked door, and then a metal detector, and then another door and then... well, for a gun geek like me it was a 'god rays shining down, angels singing' moment. 28,000 guns of every variety, from the tiniest little matchlock pistol to 40mm+ aircraft cannon and literally everything inbetween, from the earliest breech loading muskets to the L129A1 sharpshooter rifle.
As I mentioned before, very, very sadly we were only allowed phones/cameras inside the public museum part, but for now while it's still fresh in my mind, here's a list of some of the guns I had a play with this morning:
-5 barreled breech loader Navy boarding rifle
-Quad and triple barreled matchlock pistols
-A pair of front loading revolvers given as a gift by Mr Colt himself, intricately detailed with images of sailing ships all over
-One rifled muzzle loader used by Sharpe's infamous unit
-A wide array of muzzle and breech loading matchlock rifles and pistols, sadly not my area of expertise but really beautiful objects
-Pair of fluted breech loaders used when dueling was still in the Olympics (up to 1909)
-H&K MP5k with Saudi markings
-Gold plated MP5k
-Gold plated Stirling SMG with Ivory grips
-Gold AKs-47
-UMP chambered in 9mm
-L1A1 from the NI era
-L85A2 with DD rail, GPS Grip-pod and SUSAT
-L129A1 with irons, folding VFG, Harris bi-pod, LMT crane stock, ERGO type grip, Magpul 20 rounder and TangoDown rail covers
-MP44 with corner-shot device (mental thing)
-Something that looked exactly like an AK, but was actually a crazy 7mm bolt action
-Some Sterling SMGs and Thompsons knocked up by an IRA bloke using nothing but a Black & Decker drill, a hand file and materials from a DIY shop
-RPG-7
-Carl Gustav
-Glock 17
-7.5" M4A1 with a free-floating rail, made by a company I've never heard of and can't remember
-20s dated Tommy gun with 50 round drum, radiated barrel and the classic wooden VFG
-M1A1 Thompson
-USAS-12 (omg so hawt)
-M700 with probably the smoothest bolt in the world and an electronic trigger
Also, a small part of the stuff I saw but didn't get a chance to play with:
-M3 Grease gun with corner-shot attachment
-40mm ground attack aircraft cannon from WWI
-About 200 Bren guns and the various ancestors/derivatives
-M82A1 and A3
-16" L119A1 with H&K UGL
-M60s
-G3s
-Various iterations of the Uzi
-Pretty much every MP5 ever and some that I've never seen before, including one with a 40mm launcher
-Lord know how many AKs from every country that makes them
-AR-15s and AR-10s from the very beginning with the cocking handle on top all the way through to now
-US WWII 'trench' shotguns
-SPAS-12s
-A breech loader taller than me and quite possibly heavier
-Some concealable stabbing/cutting weapons that could easily slip through stringent airport security and just as easily kill someone, won't go in to details on those though; sufficed to say a 10p, a fork and a hairbrush can make quite an arsenal
-L96
-Plenty of Lee-Enfields
-Shed loads of Browning HPs and Sigs
-FG42s
-PPSHs
-M79
-Multi-chambered grenade launchers
-HK53/33
-Steyr AUG
-G36s
-Absolutely *suitcase* loads of stuff that I couldn't identify
-Absolutely *suitcase* loads that I can't even remember now because there was so damn manyyyyy
So yes, we'll be paying that place another visit in not too long. Who can say no to getting a free trip on works' time to look at that sort of a collection?
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