Having had the opportunity to visit Colt's Manufacturing, the National Rifle Association's firearms museum and equally impressive private collections, I know how excited firearms collectors get over vintage firearms.

I'm not a collector, but I am an enthusiastic accumulator of all sorts of stuff that my family will probably classify as "Make an Offer" items when they clean out the last of my personal effects one day. Unfortunately (for them), none of those items will be vintage firearms.

But I did stumble across an amazing personal firearms collection over the weekend.

It was the Henry Stewart collection, now on permanent display at the Virginia Military Institute museum in Lexington, Virginia.

VMI has a special place in our family, and it seems VMI was equally special to Henry M. Stewart, Jr., VMI Class of 1935. He "gifted" VMI with an amazing firearms collection.

During his travels, Mr. Stewart accumulated more than 800 great firearms examples that ranged from Revolutionary War musketry to the air rifle carried by Lewis & Clark during their 1803 Northwest Expedition.

http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2081842.jpeg> A Paul Giffard air pistol. It was the first to successfully use a gas other than air to propel a projectile. It's the great-great-great grandaddy of all modern paintball guns - and could shoot wax or lead balls. Notice the heart shaped hand shield. Yes, this was a dueling set. Jim Shepherd/OWDN photo.

Yes, Lewis & Clark carried an air rifle with them, as did a variety of folks even years before their venture. Their rifle is on display at the VMI museum, along with a number of other historic examples of air rifles, each more than capable of shooting out Ralphie's eye. They were regularly used for hunting - and other- applications.

But the items that will catch the eye of a particularly dedicated group of firearms collectors all carry the same label- Colt. The early Colts on display there borders on the unbelievable, including more than fifty of the revolving cylinder Colt rifles. To put that into perspective, from 1838-1841 approximately 950 Paterson carbines were produced.

Among those rifles was one of the only "complete" cased Colt Revolving Cylinder Musket Kit still in existence. And when it's billed as "complete" it's no joke.

All these items are in a single case:

Butt stock and receiver, engraved;
Barrel, octagon, engraved, browned, extra heavy;
Cylinder 8 shot;
Extra cylinder 8 shot;
Brass Capper, 2nd Model, Serial #298 with caps;
Bullet Mold, wood handles;
U-shaped combination tool with screwdriver, lever, nipple wrench, spring depressor;
Oil container, brass;
Screw-on handle for cleaning rod, brass;
Cleaning rod, steel;
Powder flask, marked "Patent;"
Two brass tubes containing lead balls.

Only 500 of this particular model were ever produced and one hundred were purchased by the Army of the Republic of Texas. This one is serial #380.

http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2081844.jpeg> (Top) A complete cased Colt revolving cylinder rifle kit. Spare cylinder, bullet molds, and more. The Colt Paterson Revolver kit (Below) is also complete -and unique- ever seen the multi-barrel "speed powder loader" before? Jim Shepherd/OWDN photos. http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2081846.jpeg> http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2081848.jpeg> The collection's one-of-a-kind Colt Paterson Model 1839 carbine shortened into a six-shot, six-pound, .52 caliber revolver. http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2081850.jpeg> This is a Baby Paterson in .31 caliber. Early Patersons had no loading lever. They had to be disassembled to be reloaded. http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2081852.jpeg> The exhibit contains more than Colts. This, for example is a Maynards pistol using roll- type primers. Now you know where our "cap guns" originated. Jim Shepherd/OWDN Photo.

Another Second Model Paterson Revolving Rifle Cased kit is described as "very unusual" due to it's 3 1/4-inch long cylinder, loading lever mounted on the bottom of the barrel, special wide hammer, special cylinder pin, special gun sight. It's also unusual because there's never been anything published (before today) on Serial #476. So you really did read it here first.

VMI's collection of Paterson revolvers also set me drooling. More than I'd ever seen in a single exhibit were inside the cases. To have several Patersons, the first commercially produced repeating firearm using a revolving cylinder and a single, stationary barrel is enviable. Having this many and not be Colt or the NRA is stunning.

There are dozens, including a pair of #5 "Texas" holster models in .36 caliber sitting next to a Six Pound Colt Paterson revolver.

No, that's not a misprint.

That particular revolver left the factory as a Colt Paterson Model 1839 carbine, but someone altered the stock into a handgun and shortened the barrel to create a one-of-a-kind six shot, .52 caliber revolver.

How rare are complete Paterson kits? One boxed kit on display is virtually identical to the 1836 Colt Paterson kit sold in September of 2011 for a record $977,500.

And it's not the only Paterson "kit". The collection includes the ones that make Colt collectors weak in the knees- Colt No. 1 Baby Patersons. They're on display, in quantity.

If that's not enough, consider this: less than half of the entire collection is on display. Museum staffers told me "oh, there are lots of other guns we've not gotten on display yet."

If you're a firearms or United States history enthusiast and you want to visit a museum with an equally impressive collection relating to both, I suggest you plan a visit to Lexington, Virginia with this destination loaded into your GPS:

VMI Museum
Virginia Military Institute
415 Letcher Avenue
Lexington, Virginia 24450

The museum hours is open 9a.m.- 5p.m. daily, but will be closed December 23 through January 3. The phone number is (540) 464-7334. Tell them you heard about their firearms collection from The Outdoor Wire and they might let you know if a tour of the firearms still waiting display in the collections vaults might be possible. No promises, but they are amazingly accommodating.

As an FYI: Lexington is located 2-1/2 hours from Richmond, Virginia, 3-1/2 hours from Washington, DC, and four hours from Charlotte, North Carolina.

VMI abuts the grounds of Washington & Lee University. While you're there, you might want to wander over to W&L and visit the chapel and office of Robert E. Lee. It is preserved exactly as it was the last time General Lee, then the President of Washington University, was there.

It's a stroll through American history that is worth the trip.

--Jim Shepherd