Tag Archives: cody firearms museum

Ballistic Art

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If you are a fan of fine art in the form of engraving on the media of ordnance grade steel, perhaps you know of the firearms modified by the late art collector and conservator Raymond J. Wielgus across a 30-year period that spanned from the 1970s to his death.

Browning Model 1902 Semi-Automatic Pistol, Raymond J. Wielgus, Art Institute of Chicago

Browning Model 1935 Semi-Automatic Pistol, Raymond J. Wielgus, Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago has 25 amazing guns that were given the attention of the skilled Mr. Wielgus, all available for viewing online.

Other examples of his finely embellished damascene engraving style are in the Cody Firearms Museum.

The Winchester Pugsley Anti-tank gun

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This prototype Winchester shown off by Ian over at Forgotten Weapons dates from 1918, a time when John Browning was working on his .50 BMG round and the Germans had their own giant T-Gewehr 13mm Mauser rifle in the trenches of Western Europe with the aim of sniping early armored vehicles.

Via the Cody Museum

The now-99-year-old elephant gun was dubbed a “swivel rifle” by Winchester and looks about as steampunk as the most goggle-wearing fan of Jules Verne could imagine. Termed simply as a “bolt gun” in patent paperwork by inventor Edwin Pugsley, this space rifle is as funky as they came– but predated the Barrett .50 cal by almost a century.