What's the largest collection you've ever heard of?

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freenokia

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I only ask because my cousin told me that his father in law has 2,000 guns...

And even though he's never been the kind to lie, i'm having a bit of difficulty believing him.

So what's the largest private gun collection you guys know of?
 
When I was younger, there was a restaurant south of Burlington, VT that had the largest private collection of arms I have ever seen...

The restaurant was huge, and sprawling, and each room was a different theme...Started literally as a 'Hot Dog Stand', by a guy everyone called 'Doc White'...His collection of guns was added to by the fact that he opened the largest gun store in the area...It was physically connected to the restaurant...Also it helped that Doc was good friends with the Webbs, and in particular the ones that created the 'Shelburne Museum'...

The restaurant 'collection' included real skeletons, a Mummy case, suits of armor; a WWI water cooled machine gun sat on the piano in the piano bar...There were secret passage ways that the waiters would 'disappear' through...One room was all African weapons, spears, and shields...It was a dining 'experience'...

The guns were too numerous to count as a kid ...

A HUGE colt (3x normal size?) 'Peacemaker' (salesman sample?) boxed display was set into the wall on your way through the front door, complete with 6 scaled up ".45 Colt" cartridges...I would stare at it as a kid till my food was cold...

They had what they referred to as the 'Vatican Gun'...It was an extremely ornate pin mounted 16th(?) century 'cannon' that sat on the walls at the Vatican, and was fired to summon the Swiss Guard if attacked...

Hundreds of lever actions in racks...Same for flintlocks, caplocks, pinfire, Wall after wall of handguns from derringers to lugers...

I loved that place as a kid in the 60's...

It was torn down a couple of weeks ago...

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/...Road-scheduled-for-demolition-Harbor-Hideaway
 
hey guys, this is my first post. just had to reply. i don't have a hard time believing that. i have a buddy of mine that has at least that in his personal collection. i've never counted tho but for instance he has 101 different variations of the M1 carbine. he also owns a ww2 gun store so he buys at a rite price.
 
There are many reports that claim Charlton Heston had one of the bigger private collections and can be seen by googling Charlton Heston. True fact is that the collection shown to be Heston's actually belonged to a guy by the name of Stern. Bottom line it is a very large collection.
 
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The largest gun collection I think I've ever seen was in Buckingham Palace, though I suspect the Smithsonian may have more.
 
Mine is only over 275. Sure it is small.

Sept-2-F-Harbor-HideAway.gif
 
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J. M. Davis gun museum,,,

J. M. Davis gun museum,,,

It was once a private collection,,,
Now the museum is open to the public,,,
You simply can not see all of the guns in one day.

Unless you never stop walking.

They bill it as the largest private collection in the world,,,
"The J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum houses over 13,000 firearms."

If you've never been there,,,
You owe it to yourself to make the trip.

Aarond

.
 
JM Davis owned the hotel in Claremore, Oklahoma and over the years, hung guns on virtually every square inch of wall space in the hotel. I went there several times after Davis passed away and have never seen so many guns!

Unfortunately, they were all pretty dusty and dirty so it was good that Davis willed the collection to a museum trust that opened up not far from the hotel location. The hotel was pretty run down and I'm not sure it's still there but the collection is going great!

The collection branches out to beer steins, dolls, tobacco pipes, knives and an unbelievable array of interesting stuff. It has guns from famous outlaws and ropes used in executions. There's just no way to describe all that is to be found there!

Here's a link:
http://www.thegunmuseum.com/


Flash
 
Had to think about that for just a second. I guess the largest collection of weapons I'd ever heard of is probably the Chinese Army. Those suckers are bound to have a bunch of 'em.
 
There was an old man a few miles from here that I knew, known as a good gunsmith in the area. He died a few years ago.

I remember going to his house one time, and every room was lined with gun cases. Must have numbered in the hundreds, at least. He had a passion for Winchester '94s, and had a bunch of them.

Biggest personal collection I've ever seen outside a museum. I have no idea what his son did with them after he died.
 
I was going to mention the J.M. Davis collection also. Incredible.
I have two different friends who each own about 250 guns. One specializes in military arms, the other is a bench rest fanatic.
 
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