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Random photos of famous ML percussion/flint guns, or rather guns owned by either famous people or during famous events

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The first photo is the 56 cal Hawken owned by "Liver Eating" Johnson. Bottom rifle in picture of 3. Blow up the picture to read caption under rifle. It can be found at the Cody Museum in Cody Wyoming. Note the massive amount of metal around the bore!

hawken johnson1.jpg

hawken johnson 2.jpg

The next is a musket owned by Private Simpson who fired the first shot on Bunker Hill. That gun can be found outside of Dubious, Wyoming (famous for "Taking Chance" movie from which U.S. Marine Chance Phelps was from) and where a HUGE privately own military vehicle museum of top notch quality is located and which is in possession of this gun.

simpson 4.jpgsimpson 3.jpgsimpson 2.jpgsimpson 1.jpg
 
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Thanks for sharing. We had planned a trip out west this past summer, but between my health and gas prices, the trip has been postponed. The Cody museum was on my list to stop at.
 
Thanks for sharing. We had planned a trip out west this past summer, but between my health and gas prices, the trip has been postponed. The Cody museum was on my list to stop at.
I have been to the Cody Museum twice and both times I spent 2 days doing it. Really 5 different museums in one, with the Frederick Remington gallery extremely interesting as well as the gun museum.

Make a point of going to the Military vehicle museum also. Lots of guns and one of the best military museums I have been to and I have been to them all over the world. Veterans get in free.

https://www.nmmv.org/
The second trip I camped at a pair of lakes just north of Cody on BLM ground. Fantastic fly fishing with one of the lakes a "trophy" lake.

lake cody.jpg
 
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We lived in Northern VA for the last two years of my career and went to the NRA range a lot and to the museum several times which was always a good time and education. Maybe my health will get lined out by next summer and we can make our way out west. I have a cousin that lives in Montana, so we were going to stop there for a day or two and check out Yellow Stone.
 
a HUGE privately own military vehicle museum of top notch quality is located and which is in possession of this gun.

Dubois Wyoming is a very cute, but somewhat quirky little town. We spent 5 days there last summer doing a 7 week "out west trip", partly in the hopes of fly fishing on the Wind River, but conditions were not good for that. The museum on the other hand is amazing!. Well worth a visit, and veterans get in free.

https://nmmv.org/
 
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The 'shot heard around the world' and the gun that fired it. It doesn't get any better than that, folks.
Acutally, the "shot heard round the world" was fired at Lexington, on the village green, by a person unknown. Could have been British, or could have been Colonial (who, at that time, were British also).
 
The NRA museum at Cody, Wyoming is a treasure for those who love history & firearms & better yet it was #1 on my bucket list & is just 70 miles from the fantastic views
of Yellowstone !!
Best plan at least two days to explore the NRA museum @ Cody & at least one day to explore what the pistol packin pro-2nd Amendment old west community of Cody has to offer including daily rodeos at the fairgrounds in town. The Relic Museum is located across from Buffalo Bill's hotel was excellent ,it features historical firearms & other relics found in that part of our early frontier & even offered a few early firearms for sale.. We had reservations at a nice RV park in town that was walking distance to restaurants.
If this sound like a commercial for Cody,, it's likely I would move there if i was 50 years younger :horseback:
 
Purported to be Jim Beckworth's rifle. Gone now, stolen...

View attachment 166353

Stolen? Where did you get that info?

That is unfortunate and a little ironic. There was a gun stolen from a private collection museum owned by Jim Gordon in NM a number of years ago and the owner of the above rifle, Jeff hengesbaugh, helped find and get the thief prosecuted.

Edit: I now see that you've been to Gordon's museum, lucky duck!
 
This guy's isn't necessarily famous, but traversed the plains to UT many times through the mid 1800s carrying this Hawken. It was owned by John Brown, a Mormon pioneer. He reportedly bought I in STL in 1845. It is large!! 66cal, maybe a 40" barrel, and that barrel is thick. He could reportedly take buff at 200yd with it. I believe he crossed the plains something like 15 times with it through the years. It is available to view at the LDS Museum in SLC, Utah.

Percussion, no hooked breech, pinned stock. Tang is not beavertail shaped!
 

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