The Buffalo Bill Center of the West of Cody, Wyoming have just opened a new exhibition that showcases 64 fascinating guns from the Smithsonian’s National Firearms Collection. The guns will be on display at the Cody Firearms Museum until fall 2015. The Buffalo Bill Center kindly sent me some photos of a few of the guns on display …

The above rifle was made in ca. 1730 for Catherine The Great by a Russian gun maker named Permajakov. A velvet cheek piece could be attached to ensure the Empress would not do any harm to her face.

The enormous gold Miquelet lock musket pictured above was a given to President Thomas Jefferson in 1805 by the Ambassador of the Bey of Tunisia to mark the conclusion of the Tripolitan Wars. The rifle measures 7 feet in length. It was made in 1789 by a gun maker named Muhammad of Montenegro.

This multi-tool knife was made in 1880 by the Holler Firm of Germany. It has over 100 tools, including a five shot .22 revolver! Its body even includes mini folding knives. Unfortunately it lacks the most important  tool of all, the bottle opener, which had not yet been invented.

Photo Credit: Miniature Gatling gun patent model no. 36836, November 4, 1862. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center. L.373.2012.51

Photo Credit: Thomas Jefferson’s North African Miquelet Jezail (Musket), 1789. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center. L.373.2012.11

Photo Credit: Catherine the Great’s Russian Jaeger Flintlock Rifle, ca. 1730. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center. L.373.2012.52

Photo Credit: John S. Holler German multi-bladed folding knife with 100 “blades,” including a .22 caliber pistol, ca. 1880. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center. L.373.2012.5