No doubt you have read about NRA’s Eddie Eagle program or the National Matches, but did you know that these are just two of the 130 programs administered by NRA General Operations personnel? Among those numerous program areas, you will find the NRA Gun Collector programs.
The NRA has approximately 100 affiliated gun collector clubs nationwide, and we offer a wide variety of activities for them. The oldest program area is the gun collectors’ corner of the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits. The first of our famous Annual Meetings & Exhibits was held in the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., in 1948. In the small hotel ballroom of the Shoreham, industry displays from Freehand Scope Stands and Weatherby commanded a great deal of interest, but it was the exhibits of the Ohio Gun Collectors Association and others that captured the public’s imagination. Antique and historic arms proved to be quite the crowd-pleasers and our affiliated clubs have been sharing their prized collections with other NRA members and guests for 75 years now.
In 1960, the NRA Gun Collectors Committee of the NRA Board of Directors initiated a display competition where each club could compete for awards based on a juried evaluation of the merits of their exhibits. The Gun Collectors Committee Trophy and one of the 10 Silver Medals for best arms of the show are among NRA’s most coveted awards.
In 1996, the Gun Collectors Committee inaugurated the National Gun Collectors Show, which also held a display competition for best exhibit by single individuals instead of the cooperative efforts of an affiliated club, as is done during the Annual Meetings. These awards are accompanied by some of the most generous cash prizes in the hobby.
In addition to the standard benefits of NRA affiliation, the NRA publishes an Official Journal of Gun Collecting every other month in the pages of Man At Arms for the Gun and Sword Collector magazine, which is the finest periodical of its type in the country.
For more information about NRA Gun Collector Programs, contact Philip Schreier at (703) 267-1601 or via nfmstaff@nrahq.org. To subscribe to Man At Arms, contact Mowbray Publishing at (800) 999-4697 or orders@manatarmsbooks.com.
