JM Davis museum - claremore OK

[Streetstar]

Was in the town of Claremore Oklahoma on the northern outskirts of Tulsa) . I have always seen billboards advertising the JM Davis museum.
The museum delivered in spades. Mr Davis was a prominent local businessman who converted a hotel he owned into a rudimentary museum for his blossoming firearms collection ---- later , the collection got too big and it is now housed in a conventional stand alone museum building
I've been there twice and only had an hour to spend each time i was there, so i concentrated on firearms with some historical provenance, or on things i was unfamiliar with --- but the place also has several walls of every variety of Winchester , Marlin or Savage a levergun fanatic can think of.
As said, i really enjoyed the Euro stuff, like some Schutzen rifles, old duelling pistol sets, and the crime guns . Very small sampling of pics is below
1st is Pretty Boy floyd's "assault shotgun" - note the vertical foregrip

Anyway, the museum is 70% firearms, but there is also a massive collection of cool beer steins, along with a bunch of neat old saddles and guitars. I'd almost call it a "must visit" if one ever finds him or herself within 50 miles of the place or so

[M. M. Wright]

It's the J. M. Davis museum. I used to go to the Mason hotel to trade with Mr. Davis. Quite a collection. Much of it gone now as there was some scandal about the son of an official there pilfering about 1/3rd of the collection. Never much press coverage and it quickly died away. Still well worth going to.

[Streetstar]

It's the J. M. Davis museum. I used to go to the Mason hotel to trade with Mr. Davis. Quite a collection. Much of it gone now as there was some scandal about the son of an official there pilfering about 1/3rd of the collection. Never much press coverage and it quickly died away. Still well worth going to.

your right -- changed it (don't know how i confused Davis with "Manion" - )

I didnt have time to take good pics of everything, but i really thought the old "pirate guns" -- blunderbusses, and the little short brass flare guns used for throwing flaming balls at other ships, were very neat

[Cimarron]

Way back in 1968 I remember going to the Mason Hotel. I remember the Thompson machine gun that hung over the regestration desk and every square inch of wall space in the lobby being hung with guns! In the ball room, as I recall, there were tables with guns stacked several deep everywhere. The ones on display today are definately not all that Mr. Davis owned!

[JimT]

The last time I was there several years ago I was told the collection is large enough that they do not display it all at one time. It is rotated every so often.

[M. M. Wright]

Just did a little on-line searching about the museum and found an audit from 2008 found 6,000 guns missing. An Uzi was found in Maine! An un-identified gun was found at a crime scene in Muskogee OK.
There was also a story about some young man who took his mother's keys (she worked at the museum) to the museum and went in but the alarm went off and he fled.
The museum foundation has sued the Sate of Oklahoma for lack of maintenance and theft prevention. If I knew how, I would post some of the horror stories here but you can find them in the Tulsa World and the Claremore Progress archives.