Harry O
07-26-2018, 10:32 PM
Evidently, it has been a while since I have been east of Des Moines. Was traveling east on I-80 and passed a HUGE building with Brownell’s on the front of it. I never saw it before. Made a U-turn at the next exit and went back. It is a huge warehouse, but it has a medium sized show room in the front. I remember going to the original Brownell’s a couple of times many years ago. It was about 20 or 25 miles south of I-80 and did not have a show room at all. I was able to call in an order and pick it up, though. If you are on I-80 you can’t miss the new one.
I also stopped at the Rock Island Arsenal museum, where else, on Rock Island in the Quad City area. This is not an auction house or an importer of Philippine knock-offs. It is an actual Federal Fort that was begun during the Black Hawk war, later became a prison camp for Confederates, and finally manufactured parts for artillery during WW1 and WW2.
They have a small museum with probably 1,000 small arms. They are pretty much jumbled together. Some are captured guns (including captured Indian guns to Iraqi guns) sent back for evaluation. Many more are prototypes of US military guns sent there for testing. There are a lot of Garands that I have only seen in pictures (no wood on the front to reduce weight and a folding stock for paratroopers). There are many M-16’s from 1st prototype to 1st production run (not much visible difference). There were a lot of 9mm pistols that were tested prior to selecting the M-92. And, there were a lot of versions of M-16 bullpups and submachineguns, mostly ugly looking.
You have to have two acceptable forms of identification, fill out a two page form, and undergo a background check to get it, but it only takes about 15 minutes to get approved. For the wife, we hit several art museums. At least, they had paintings that looked like something instead of “modern” art.
I also stopped at the Rock Island Arsenal museum, where else, on Rock Island in the Quad City area. This is not an auction house or an importer of Philippine knock-offs. It is an actual Federal Fort that was begun during the Black Hawk war, later became a prison camp for Confederates, and finally manufactured parts for artillery during WW1 and WW2.
They have a small museum with probably 1,000 small arms. They are pretty much jumbled together. Some are captured guns (including captured Indian guns to Iraqi guns) sent back for evaluation. Many more are prototypes of US military guns sent there for testing. There are a lot of Garands that I have only seen in pictures (no wood on the front to reduce weight and a folding stock for paratroopers). There are many M-16’s from 1st prototype to 1st production run (not much visible difference). There were a lot of 9mm pistols that were tested prior to selecting the M-92. And, there were a lot of versions of M-16 bullpups and submachineguns, mostly ugly looking.
You have to have two acceptable forms of identification, fill out a two page form, and undergo a background check to get it, but it only takes about 15 minutes to get approved. For the wife, we hit several art museums. At least, they had paintings that looked like something instead of “modern” art.