Most amateur military historians spend more time online or in books than we spend actually handling vintage firearms. Most of us can’t own more than a few historic firearms, and the ones we own may not be in the best condition.
Some of the finest weapons are not in private collections, but in museums. Perhaps that is for the best. All of us have seen a pistol that someone’s grandpa brought back from Ypres in 1918, or a bayonet that came back from Okinawa in a duffle bag, only to find that it has suffered badly from storage in a damp garage. From time to time, we may get to look at a beautiful gun at a gun show, but our examination will probably be cursory, and it’s unlikely that we will be allowed to disassemble a Civil War Colt revolver at a gun show. There’s seldom space
