Are there Establishments/Museums that Collect Airguns out there......

[piggy589]

The Royal armoury in Leeds does have a display of airguns. It's not a major part of the museum but it's there I'll see if I can find a snap.

Dave

Isn't the home office firearm testing facility situated underneath the museum?.
One of everything ever made available for the boffins to examine and test if need be.
I could be wrong.

[micky2]

I think Danny's excellent web site is better than any Museum. you can view from the comfort of your own room.

[Powderfinger]

I can see why people are reluctant to donate to museums. Many museums end up with far too much to display. Donations to museums have sometimes been sold off or scrapped. The RAF Museum has scrapped aircraft.

[Garvin]

I can see why people are reluctant to donate to museums. Many museums end up with far too much to display. Donations to museums have sometimes been sold off or scrapped. The RAF Museum has scrapped aircraft.

I don't know why more museums don't put up pics of their surplus items online. They could post 3D detailed pics or panoramas that are very satisfying to see. Like this one:

https://www.360cities.net/image/the-sistine-chapel

Probably afraid it will lead to reduced numbers in person (pre-Covid)...

But... they could put the online collections behind a paywall and collect eg. 50p per visitor... it could really add up if a global hit...

[Binners]

I think Danny's excellent web site is better than any Museum. you can view from the comfort of your own room.

Couldn’t have said it better myself

[barnesr]

Couldn’t have said it better myself

But what is his website?????

[barnesr]

Back in the day (we're talking last century) the armoury at what was the Royal Military College of Science held what was supposedly the largest collection of small arms in Western Europe. As you can imagine it was quite the collection and I do recall a fair few airguns as well as regular firearms. Haven't got a clue as to what happened to it.....

[ratbuster2240]

The Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford is free to enter and has a gun display which includes some airguns.

https://youtu.be/VTXpJQ_hXZc

[ptdunk]

I think we as collectors are the best custodians for vintage airguns and the accompanying info, as long as we share the knowledge.

The arms expert in the Zella Mehlis Museum said there's not a huge amount of interest in Germany for old airguns (although there are some very serious German collectors) apparently after the war huge amounts of guns (including airguns) were taken by occupying forces, and most of the early records were destroyed so it's down to enthusiasts to piece the history together.
He told me he was surprised by how much he had learnt about early Zella Mehlis airguns from U.K and U.S collectors.

It would be interesting to see how much airgun history knowledge an average museum arms expert has, given that some areas are extremely specialist.
we've had some contributors on here uncovering previously unknown history and information. Has anyone ever chatted to a Museum Arms expert about early airguns?

I'd love to see a proper nerdy vintage airgun enthusiast (myself included) present something old and rare on Antiques Roadshow and see what the expert's knew that we didn't.

I agree the Vintage airguns gallery is the closest thing to an Airgun Museum.

Cheers,
Matt

[Geezer]

Back in the day (we're talking last century) the armoury at what was the Royal Military College of Science held what was supposedly the largest collection of small arms in Western Europe. As you can imagine it was quite the collection and I do recall a fair few airguns as well as regular firearms. Haven't got a clue as to what happened to it.....

It’s still there, though not open to the public. But I don’t recall many airguns at all from my time there in recent years.

[Binners]

But what is his website?????

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/

Sorry for the delay

[Unframed Dave]

Isn't the home office firearm testing facility situated underneath the museum?.
One of everything ever made available for the boffins to examine and test if need be.
I could be wrong.

I've no idea, it was a bit of a flying visit on the way back from Scotland.

Museums are getting a bit of a slating, but what alternative is there? Funding is low on the priority list and it isn't going to get any better. They have to do what they have to do to stay above water. As for appealing to the kids, again it's what they have to do. When ours were young, we took them to anything educational near to where we were at the time. These days, I'm museumed out. Something has really got to appeal to me to go to one. In fact, I actively avoid them.

There's no excuse for poor curation though, that's just bad lazy.

Dave

[johnbaz]

Hi

I went along to my local museum with an old (330 years old) Samurai sword to see if I could get any info on it, They just wanted me to donate it to them all the time, I know that if I had donated it, I'd never see it again as it wouldn't get displayed so I gave them the elbow, It was a waste of time anyhow as they let a European sword specialist give an opinion on it that hadn't a clue about them!

John
I'm

[45flint]

It’s said over here in the US if you want to have your collection never seen again donate it to a museum? Your better off selling it and having someone enjoy it. At airguns shows I try to have half my table be a exhibit of airguns most never see. Love talking to curious people about them.

[walnutfarmmick]

Hi

I went along to my local museum with an old (330 years old) Samurai sword to see if I could get any info on it, They just wanted me to donate it to them all the time, I know that if I had donated it, I'd never see it again as it wouldn't get displayed so I gave them the elbow, It was a waste of time anyhow as they let a European sword specialist give an opinion on it that hadn't a clue about them!

John
I'm

When I was far more naive I lent some aviation collectables to an aircraft museum. The only way I’ll see then again is by buying a ticket. Sadly a common story.

Live and learn, Mick