National Firearms Museum
National Firearms Museum is a museum in Virginia, at a modelled elevation of 135 m. Signal Mountain stands 413 m to the west, 20 miles off. The nearest named place is Waples Mill Meadow Park, a park 0.7 miles away. Old Georgetown Pike passes 8.9 miles off. 57 named summits stand within 25 miles.
The story
The NRA National Firearms Museum is a museum located at the NRA Headquarters Building in Fairfax County, Virginia. Approximated 2,500 guns are displayed in 15,000 square feet. The NRA National Firearms Museum is operated by the Museums Division of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), with partial funding provided by the NRA Foundation, a 501(c)3 corporation. It was established in 1935 at the old NRA Headquarters in Washington DC, and moved to its current location in 1998. The museum's exhibits cover seven centuries of firearms development and history. The main museum galleries are organized chronologically. Exhibits include firearms used for competition shooting, hunting, personal defense, recreational shooting, and police work. Also on display are military arms used by the United States, its allies, and enemies in major conflicts from the American Revolution through Desert Storm. Each gallery is evocative of a period of time in American history, including a stockade fort at Jamestown, firearms of the Old West, a Coney Island shooting gallery ca. 1900, and a kid's bedroom from the 1950s. Life-sized dioramas include a nineteenth century rifle-maker's shop, a trench on the Western Front in WWI, and a shelled-out town square in Normandy in WWII. Two galleries feature firearms and the arts. "The Robert E. Petersen Gallery" features masterpieces of firearms engraving. The "Hollywood Guns" exhibit features actual guns used in movies and television over the past 80 years. Historically attributed guns on display include:
Guns owned by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan Firearms of exhibition shooters such as Annie Oakley, the Topperweins, and Ed McGivern The first machine gun used in combat by the U.S. Army (Roosevelt's Rough Riders) Guns of Olympic gold medalists including Launi Meili, and other shooting champions A massive four-bore rifle carried on the Stanley expedition to find Livingstone Sidearms of American generals and Medal of Honor recipients Napoleon Bonaparte's flintlock fowler Arms attributed to Gen. W. T. Sherman, abolitionist John Brown, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, and other historic figures. The NRA Museums Division is the custodian of approximately 10,000 firearms with many of them displayed at three NRA Museums - the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax County, Virginia; the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Missouri; and the Frank Brownell Museum of the Southwest at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico. The NRA Museums Division has published three books on firearms - Illustrated History of Firearms, Treasures of the NRA National Firearms Museum, and Guns of the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum. It has produced five seasons of the cable television shows NRA Gun Gurus and NRA Guns & Gold. NRA Museums staff, firearms, and locations are featured on Gun Stories, American Rifleman Television, the "NRA News Curators Corner" segment, and other television shows.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q12062391, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What to expect
- Operated by
- National Rifle Association of America
- Fee
- No
How to reach it
- 8.9 mi off the Old Georgetown Pike
- 10.1 mi off the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Byway
- 10.8 mi off the George Washington Memorial Parkway, National
- 16.0 mi off the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Byway, National
Overlooks nearby
- Overlook 2 · 10 mi
- Overlook 1 · 10 mi
- Great Falls Overlook 3 · 10 mi
- Scott's Run Falls · 10 mi
Named places within 25 miles
- Waples Mill Meadow Park: 0.7 mi
- Random Hills Park: 0.7 mi
- Fairchester Woods Park: 0.8 mi
- Westmore Park: 1.0 mi
- Cobbdale Park: 1.2 mi
- Fairfax County 9/11 Memorial Grove Garden: 1.2 mi
- Kearny and Stevens Monuments: 1.9 mi
- Confucius: 2.7 mi
- Seniors 2020 Rock: 4.9 mi
- Pieta: 5.3 mi
- Pollinator Meadow: 1.2 mi
- Heart Haven Meditation Garden: 2.3 mi
- Green Acres Community Garden: 2.6 mi
- Vienna Elementery Garden: 4.7 mi
- Vienna Elementery Garden: 4.8 mi
- Fluffy Rides: 1.2 mi
- The Caboose: 4.7 mi
- Freeman House Historic Site: 4.7 mi
- Pupatella Car: 6.1 mi
- Wolf Trap National Park West Lot: 6.4 mi
- Fairfax Villa Park: 1.3 mi
- Bells Bird Sanctuary Park: 1.7 mi
- Daniels Run Park: 2.8 mi
- Vernon J. Walker Nature Center: 4.5 mi
- Glade Recreation Area: 4.7 mi
- Unnamed Puppy Dog: 1.5 mi
- Heavy Load: 1.6 mi
- Filly: 1.6 mi
- Horse head: 1.7 mi
- The George Mason Statue: 2.7 mi
- Fairfax Museum and Visitors Center: 2.3 mi
- Hunter House at Nottoway Park: 3.7 mi
- Fairfax Station Railroad Museum: 4.3 mi
- Freeman Store & Museum: 4.7 mi
- Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: 6.7 mi
- Pony Barn: 4.7 mi
- Picnic Area at Ellanor C. Lawerence Park: 5.1 mi
- Composer's Cottage Picnic Area: 6.3 mi
- Filene Center Lawns: 6.3 mi
- Picnic area D: 7.1 mi
- Choo Choo Hill: 6.4 mi
- Freedom Hill: 6.5 mi
- Gantt Hill: 7.0 mi
- Rock Hill: 7.7 mi
- Prout Hill: 7.8 mi
- Clean Drinking Manor Spring: 17.4 mi
- Silver Spring: 18.7 mi
- Takoma Spring: 19.3 mi
- White Rock Spring: 19.7 mi
- Harmony Spring: 20.8 mi
- Sycamore Beach: 9.7 mi
- Purplehorse Beach: 9.7 mi
- Lake Barcroft Beach: 10.1 mi
- Fishing Shore: 13.3 mi
- Beaver Landing: 17.2 mi
- Coe Creek: 9.5 mi
- Scott's Run Falls: 10.2 mi
- Great Falls: 10.3 mi
- Stubblefield Falls: 10.5 mi
- Brambleton Sign/Water Decoration: 13.2 mi
- Manassas Safety/Rest Area West: 9.3 mi
- Manassas Safety/Rest Area East: 9.3 mi
- Dale City Car-Only Safety Rest Area South: 18.4 mi
- Dale City Car-Only Safety Rest Area North: 18.5 mi
- Rosier Bluff: 17.6 mi
- Indian Queen Bluff: 18.3 mi
- Indian Head: 19.8 mi
- Possum Nose: 21.6 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 25 miles of National Firearms Museum. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal Mountain | W 274° | 413 m | 19.8 mi |
| High Point Mountain | W 269° | 397 m | 20.4 mi |
| White Rock | W 274° | 387 m | 19.9 mi |
| Chestnut Peak | W 275° | 374 m | 18.7 mi |
| Griffin Mountain | W 275° | 295 m | 21.7 mi |
| Biscuit Mountain | W 261° | 268 m | 20.8 mi |
| Hogback Mountain | NW 318° | 187 m | 21.7 mi |
| Steptoe Hill | WNW 304° | 176 m | 22.0 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:14 | 18:46 | 19:21 |
| June solstice | 05:45 | 19:59 | 20:39 |
| September equinox | 06:58 | 18:33 | 19:08 |
| December solstice | 07:25 | 16:09 | 16:51 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: Apr–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 33 | 35 | 42 | 53 | 62 | 70 | 75 | 74 | 67 | 55 | 45 | 37 |
| Precip in | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.4 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Vienna, 3 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidataOfficial siteOpenStreetMap element node/5606076053
Day trips start here
- Fairfax · 2 mi
- Fairfax County · 4 mi
- Vienna · 5 mi
- Centreville · 6 mi
- Chantilly · 6 mi
- Reston · 6 mi
Take the scenic way to National Firearms Museum.
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