Oregon Military Museum, Clackamas, Oregon

[ordnance]

I've been associated with this museum for over 40 years and it is finally reopening in a new building after being closed for 15+ years.  It is a National Guard museum just a few miles southeast of Portland.  I encourage anyone living in or visiting the Pacific Northwest to stop by for a visit, open Wednesdays through Saturday. 

We've built a very nice small arms collection over the years and have a nice assortment of them on display.

[rpbcps]

Excellent  collection and display. You'll have to get some better shots of those Thompsons, hidden behind the HMG display. ??

[ordnance]

That's a nearly unforgivable mistake to omit the photo of the Thompsons in the U.S. case on the Thompson Forum.  Oops. Here are a few more images.  The last is our new in the wrap M1A1.  It didn't make it to the display case but we are probably going to add it at some point.

[Frank I.]

Love to get a look at that wrapped up Thompson!

and serial number

 

[ordnance]

Frank,  I took that photo of the wrapped M1A1 about 20 years ago but will get a better photo or two the next time I'm in the vault.  The wrapping was only peeled back enough to verify the serial number for inventory purposes.  It always draws comments when shown.  The museum also has a Govt. rebuilt 1918A2 BAR in the box with accessories.

[inertord]

Nice Collection! Is the 1928 Thompson a dummy gun?

[ordnance]

Frank,  No, it's an original 1928A1 but looks weird in the photo.  I'll try to post a better image later in the week.

[Remo Williams 1]

Ordnance, great photos. When you go again, can you do a closeup of the Suppressed Swedish K? Thanks.

[ordnance]

Per requests, here's a couple of the CIA suppressed Swedish K.  It is REALLY nose heavy.

[ordnance]

I'd forgotten which Thompson was in the display.  It's a cutaway that was a donation and registered on a Form 10 in the 1980s.  The original owner didn't register it during the amnesty because he thought a cutaway didn't need registration.  I think is is registered with the frame number.

[ordnance]

Here's a couple other interesting ones I'll mention.  The Madsen M50 came from CIA stocks.  I recall it has a serial number but is otherwise devoid of any markings. 

The UZI is an example produced by FN, serial number 3.  It came from the Alaska National Guard in the 1980s and we've never figured out how it ended up there.

The bottom gun is a nice original H&R M16A1 we rescued from Oregon National Guard inventory as the M16A1s were being shipped back to Depot in exchange for M4s.

[Remo Williams 1]

8 hours ago, ordnance said:

Per requests, here's a couple of the CIA suppressed Swedish K.  It is REALLY nose heavy.

Thank you Sir

[MS Collector]

Those are some fantastic displays at the museum . . . very well done!  Also, a host of nice NFA items not often seen here in the US, particuarly the MG131 and the LMG 14 Parabellum.

BTW:  I seem to recall someone on the old Subguns.com board years ago acting on behalf of the Oregon Military Museum, specifically offering the musuem as a repository for unregistered NFA items.  My recollection is that some really nice "undocumented" items popped up over the life of the Subguns.com board, with those items ending up in the Oregon museum.  Are my recollections accurate?

Again, great job with the displays!

[ordnance]

Thanks for the kind words on the display.  It didn't come out exactly as we'd hoped but we're generally happy with the compromise of available display space, items some of us wanted or didn't want to exhibit, and the work of the East coast professional display company that actually prepped the exhibit.  The items on display represent maybe 25% to 30% of our small arms collection and there are a lot of other interesting pieces that need to get out of the vault someday.

You have a good memory.  I'm sure that was me who posted regarding our museum accepting off paper items for donation.  We have received and Form 10 registered many guns over the years.  I can think of at least 3 in the last 4 years including an AK-47, an MP43, and the Colt XM16E1 seen just below the M72 LAW in the photo above. It was a Vietnam bring back that was given to a local police department after the vet passed.  The PD was somewhat aware of the value of transferable M16s and tried to sell it, only to discover the dollars weren't there without paperwork.  The next thought was to break it down and sell the parts but we contacted them and eventually arranged to save it by a donation to the museum.