Cody Firearms Museum — Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

The Cody Firearms Museum, in its current state, is only 24 years old! But our roots go much deeper.

The original firearms collection for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West — the predecessor to our Cody Firearms Museum — was located in the basement of the Buffalo Bill Museum.

We were originally known as the Winchester Museum because in 1975, the Olin Corporation loaned the Winchester Arms Collection. This collection included more than 4,000 firearms, representing 30 major manufacturers, in addition to archival records. In 1988, they gifted the collection and a new wing was built to accommodate more firearms.

The Cody Firearms Museum was dedicated in 1991 and has grown to almost 7,000 firearms and nearly 30,000 firearms-related artifacts!

The Future of the Cody Firearms Museum

In the next five years, the firearms museum will undergo a full-scale reinstallation. When the new museum opens, we will have more firearms on display, a research facility, and innovative digital interactives in the gallery to better tell the global story of firearms history.