Cody Firearms Museum
The Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West houses over 7,000 historically significant firearms with more than 30,000 firearms-related artifacts. We seek to provide every visitor – from gun aficionados, to firearms novices, to those without previous firearms experience – with a unique educational opportunity. This museum is more than just guns; firearms help inform the story of the West, the story of gun cultures, and the story of people.
The Firearm of the Mountains: The Hawken Rifle and the American West
When most people imagine the “rifle that won the west” the Winchester ’73 and Colt Single Action Army are the first firearms…
Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers: Margaret Thompson-Murdock’s Competitive Shooting Legacy
Believe it or not, two of the world’s best sharpshooters were not men. First came Annie Oakley (1860-1926). Around age 8 she…
Speaking in Code: Rare Winchester Telegraph Code Books
Among the rarest items in the McCracken Research Library’s archival collections are three Winchester Telegraph Code Books from 1905 and 1909. At first glance they look like…
Records and Research at the Cody Firearms Museum
Here at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, we house in our archives and collections several artifacts and historical documents on…
Armed in the Colonies: Firearms, Militia, and Early American Law
American society has always been connected to firearms culture in some capacity. And in the modern day there are endless discussions on…
The Birth of the American Long Rifle
If any firearm were to define the colonial and foundational years of the American experiment it would undoubtedly be the American long…