NRA Director Jim Supica just returned from the Texas Gun Collectors Association Gun Show. And, as he says, it was "the best combination of event and venue. Ever."
The hosted their display show last weekend, Oct. 17 & 18, in a new location – the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
The TGCA has always had a great show, with a strong tradition of educational display competition. This show features many types of guns, but traditionally is especially strong on guns of the Old West. This show was no exception, with outstanding displays of historic Texas firearms and many others.
What really set this year apart though, was the new location – the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards district.
The display and sales tables were actually set up in the Museum itself, which in a previous life was a high ceiling brick mule & livestock barn for the stockyards. The tables full of old cowboy guns were perfectly in place amidst the museum displays of period carriages, cowboy gear, and rodeo champs. And as always, visitors experienced a generous helping of warm Texas hospitality.
Dress code ran towards straw cowboy hats and boots, and easy going conversation was available at any table in the show at no additional charge. A number of Texas Rangers were on hand, including NRA Board of Director member Joaquin Jackson, who was busy autographing copies of his new book of memoirs, One Ranger Returns.
Private collectors brought out some exceptional displays, including Texas Ranger Captain Walker’s personal pair of Colt Walker revolvers, Bigfoot Johnson’s long rifle, and some of the finest engraved big S&W revolvers from the late 19th Century. The coveted best of show trophy went to an entertaining and educational display on “The Winchester Rifle”.
The NRA display of guns from Hollywood Westerns drew a number of admirers. It included Tom Selleck’s Sharps rifle from Quigley Down Under, Winchester lever actions used by John Wayne in Stagecoach and by Chuck Connors in The Rifleman, Charleton Heston’s flintlock for The Mountain Men, and a pair of Colt revolvers used in True Grit and The Outlaw Josie Wales.
