44hunter45 passing through Bozeman Monday, Sept 01 2025

[44hunter45]

I'm hoping you slackers will either be hunting or fishing. But - I will be passing through Bozeman on Labor Day in the early afternoon.
I don't know what will be open, but ping me if you want to grab some lunch. Something close to I-90.

DM if interested.

 

[44hunter45]

Back in town Thursday after Yellowstone.

 

[44hunter45]

Weatherby in Sheridan this morning.

Cody Firearms Museum this afternoon and tomorrow. Then on the Yellowstone.

 

[44hunter45]

More humid and greener in Wyoming than home. That is not right. Still smoky.

Weatherby was cool. We both liked Sheridan a lot. Then off to Cody. It was about 1PM MT when we headed west through the Bighorn N.F. I have to say this is the best maintained and sexiest N.F. I have ever seen. It left me feeling like our local ranger district is a Walmart parking lot.

Cody firearms museum was AMAZING. We actually added time to this for a longer second day. We cut time out of the Yellowstone agenda.

I paid for my son and me to take the Vault Tour. It turns out this is a brand new offering and we were the first ever. There are no pics of this because we had to sign a no photo waiver and lock our cell phones in a safe. If you are a "Forgotten Weapons" fan, you would recognize this room from content Ian has filmed at the museum.
When you buy the tickets you tell them what you are most interested in seeing on the Vault Tour. We had never been to the museum before so really didn't know what to expect.
Everything on our wish list was on regular display. We got to choose a second time what we wanted to see in the vaults.

We white-glove handled matchlocks from the 16th century. You are allowed to "dry fire" them because all that does is move the rope clamp toward the pan. There is no "lock" per se, just a mechanism to bring the smoldering rope to the charge. It feels weird there being no click, but just a movement. In use you would have to hold the ember against the charge until it flashed. We also shouldered a Hall Model of 1819 tip-up breech loading flintlock. Really interesting because the hammer is at 12 o'clock, right in front of your right eye. The sights are at about 10 o'clock. After a few attempts at shouldering your eyes adjust to this and you can aim both eyes open instinctively.

My son is interested in failed military trial weapons. We were taken to another vault where we were shown many of these. Some are so obscure the staff cannot identify them. They have no markings at all. They are classed as military trial guns by their period, technology, and markings if they have them.
Really cool to see complete one-off prototype guns.

This whole thing was slated for 1 hour. We were in the vaults for almost two. They would have kept going, but we decided it was time for us to head to Yellowstone.

The guns in the museum are not restored and this is intentional. The only "cosmetic" treatment they get when acquired is corrosion inhibiting treatment. If they need functional repairs, they are made functional as best as possible. The museum is not equipped to manufacture obsolete parts. The guns all are kept in ready to load and fire condition as much as possible. They have three Burgess shotguns. I would say @shrapnel 's is in better condition than any of them.

We WILL do this again. Next time I will ask to handle T.R.'s 1895 in .405 Winchester, and an original Samuel Hawken St. Louis percussion rifle.

YNP was YNP. Traffic jams every time a bison dropped a patty near the road. Saw more bison than we could count, mule deer, elk, pronghorn, marmot. No bears.
Hiked Mammoth Hot Springs boardwalks until dusk. Drove the rest of the Grand Loop to the West Gate. We have now done the entire YNP road system over our multiple visits.

Hilarious seeing something invisible digging just off the road at Tower Junction. We could not see the animal, but there was dirt being tossed 5' into the air.

Made it to West Yellowstone about 9PM. Had a crappy sandwich and a good beer. Slept in an obscenely overpriced room.

Had breakfast at 6AM and we were gassed up ($5/gal) and on the road by 7:30AM. Saw the last bison of the trip sauntering across the highway near the West Yellowstone airport. We chose route 191 though Big Timber. We waved toward @Big Fin and team as we came through Gallatin Gateway. It would have been creepy to do more than that.

Home without incident at 2PM PT today.

A great father/son time with my youngest. Once they are grown it is tougher to get this kind of time together.

 

[Elktrack]

More humid and greener in Wyoming than home. That is not right. Still smoky.

Weatherby was cool. We both liked Sheridan a lot. Then off to Cody. It was about 1PM MT when we headed west through the Bighorn N.F. I have to say this is the best maintained and sexiest N.F. I have ever seen. It left me feeling like our local ranger district is a Walmart parking lot.

Cody firearms museum was AMAZING. We actually added time to this for a longer second day. We cut time out of the Yellowstone agenda.

I paid for my son and me to take the Vault Tour. It turns out this is a brand new offering and we were the first ever. There are no pics of this because we had to sign a no photo waiver and lock our cell phones in a safe. If you are a "Forgotten Weapons" fan, you would recognize this room from content Ian has filmed at the museum.
When you buy the tickets you tell them what you are most interested in seeing on the Vault Tour. We had never been to the museum before so really didn't know what to expect.
Everything on our wish list was on regular display. We got to choose a second time what we wanted to see in the vaults.

We white-glove handled matchlocks from the 16th century. You are allowed to "dry fire" them because all that does is move the rope clamp toward the pan. There is no "lock" per se, just a mechanism to bring the smoldering rope to the charge. It feels weird there being no click, but just a movement. In use you would have to hold the ember against the charge until it flashed. We also shouldered a Hall Model of 1819 tip-up breech loading flintlock. Really interesting because the hammer is at 12 o'clock, right in front of your right eye. The sights are at about 10 o'clock. After a few attempts at shouldering your eyes adjust to this and you can aim both eyes open instinctively.

My son is interested in failed military trial weapons. We were taken to another vault where we were shown many of these. Some are so obscure the staff cannot identify them. They have no markings at all. They are classed as military trial guns by their period, technology, and markings if they have them.
Really cool to see complete one-off prototype guns.

This whole thing was slated for 1 hour. We were in the vaults for almost two. They would have kept going, but we decided it was time for us to head to Yellowstone.

The guns in the museum are not restored and this is intentional. The only "cosmetic" treatment they get when acquired is corrosion inhibiting treatment. If they need functional repairs, they are made functional as best as possible. The museum is not equipped to manufacture obsolete parts. The guns all are kept in ready to load and fire condition as much as possible. They have three Burgess shotguns. I would say @shrapnel 's is in better condition than any of them.

We WILL do this again. Next time I will ask to handle T.R.'s 1895 in .405 Winchester, and an original Samuel Hawken St. Louis percussion rifle.

YNP was YNP. Traffic jams every time a bison dropped a patty near the road. Saw more bison than we could count, mule deer, elk, pronghorn, marmot. No bears.
Hiked Mammoth Hot Springs boardwalks until dusk. Drove the rest of the Grand Loop to the West Gate. We have now done the entire YNP road system over our multiple visits.

Hilarious seeing something invisible digging just off the road at Tower Junction. We could not see the animal, but there was dirt being tossed 5' into the air.

Made it to West Yellowstone about 9PM. Had a crappy sandwich and a good beer. Slept in an obscenely overpriced room.

Had breakfast at 6AM and we were gassed up ($5/gal) and on the road by 7:30AM. Saw the of the trip last bison sauntering across the highway near the West Yellowstone airport. We chose route 191 though Big Timber. We waved toward @Big Fin and team as we came through Gallatin Gateway. It would have been creepy to do more than that.

Home without incident at 2PM PT today.

A great father/son time with my youngest. Once they are grown it is tougher to get this kind of time together.

That place is amazing! The vault tour sounds incredible. I don’t know how you got outta there so quickly. I spent hours drooling in that place.
What an awesome trip.
Your fall is off to a great start.

 

[Caseknife]

Made the mistake of only spending one afternoon in the BB Museum, didn't even get out of the firearm wing. That was in 2012 I believe. Need to go back.

 

[brymoore]

I’ve been to the Cody Firearm museum twice. Excellent. The different military firearms is amazing. I seem to remember us firing a fake machine gun setup last trip. 50 cal.

 

[44hunter45]

@brymoore - There is now another vendor in Cody called something like "The Firearms Experience". It's one of those where you can pay to shoot whatever you want.
They listed a M1917, Ma Deuce, M16, UZI, etc in their NFA inventory. It's geared toward nubes so we didn't want to spend hours in the safety orientation. It seemed different than others I have seen that make you buy a case of ammo at their prices. This place was less than $100 total.

They have Italian Peacemaker clones and must haves like a S&W 29 and Colt 1911.

 

[beagle001]

When we were out there in July, we ended up staying in the museum far longer than we anticipated, too. Totally worth it. And even our kids enjoyed it for a good chunk of time… they did end up getting bored by the time we went into the firearms museum portion, but otherwise it was a great experience.

We didn’t see any bears in Yellowstone, either. Some close calls at the back end of bear traffic jams but didn’t put eyes on any.

 

[BAKPAKR]

More humid and greener in Wyoming than home. That is not right. Still smoky.

Weatherby was cool. We both liked Sheridan a lot. Then off to Cody. It was about 1PM MT when we headed west through the Bighorn N.F. I have to say this is the best maintained and sexiest N.F. I have ever seen. It left me feeling like our local ranger district is a Walmart parking lot.

Cody firearms museum was AMAZING. We actually added time to this for a longer second day. We cut time out of the Yellowstone agenda.

I paid for my son and me to take the Vault Tour. It turns out this is a brand new offering and we were the first ever. There are no pics of this because we had to sign a no photo waiver and lock our cell phones in a safe. If you are a "Forgotten Weapons" fan, you would recognize this room from content Ian has filmed at the museum.
When you buy the tickets you tell them what you are most interested in seeing on the Vault Tour. We had never been to the museum before so really didn't know what to expect.
Everything on our wish list was on regular display. We got to choose a second time what we wanted to see in the vaults.

We white-glove handled matchlocks from the 16th century. You are allowed to "dry fire" them because all that does is move the rope clamp toward the pan. There is no "lock" per se, just a mechanism to bring the smoldering rope to the charge. It feels weird there being no click, but just a movement. In use you would have to hold the ember against the charge until it flashed. We also shouldered a Hall Model of 1819 tip-up breech loading flintlock. Really interesting because the hammer is at 12 o'clock, right in front of your right eye. The sights are at about 10 o'clock. After a few attempts at shouldering your eyes adjust to this and you can aim both eyes open instinctively.

My son is interested in failed military trial weapons. We were taken to another vault where we were shown many of these. Some are so obscure the staff cannot identify them. They have no markings at all. They are classed as military trial guns by their period, technology, and markings if they have them.
Really cool to see complete one-off prototype guns.

This whole thing was slated for 1 hour. We were in the vaults for almost two. They would have kept going, but we decided it was time for us to head to Yellowstone.

The guns in the museum are not restored and this is intentional. The only "cosmetic" treatment they get when acquired is corrosion inhibiting treatment. If they need functional repairs, they are made functional as best as possible. The museum is not equipped to manufacture obsolete parts. The guns all are kept in ready to load and fire condition as much as possible. They have three Burgess shotguns. I would say @shrapnel 's is in better condition than any of them.

We WILL do this again. Next time I will ask to handle T.R.'s 1895 in .405 Winchester, and an original Samuel Hawken St. Louis percussion rifle.

YNP was YNP. Traffic jams every time a bison dropped a patty near the road. Saw more bison than we could count, mule deer, elk, pronghorn, marmot. No bears.
Hiked Mammoth Hot Springs boardwalks until dusk. Drove the rest of the Grand Loop to the West Gate. We have now done the entire YNP road system over our multiple visits.

Hilarious seeing something invisible digging just off the road at Tower Junction. We could not see the animal, but there was dirt being tossed 5' into the air.

Made it to West Yellowstone about 9PM. Had a crappy sandwich and a good beer. Slept in an obscenely overpriced room.

Had breakfast at 6AM and we were gassed up ($5/gal) and on the road by 7:30AM. Saw the last bison of the trip sauntering across the highway near the West Yellowstone airport. We chose route 191 though Big Timber. We waved toward @Big Fin and team as we came through Gallatin Gateway. It would have been creepy to do more than that.

Home without incident at 2PM PT today.

A great father/son time with my youngest. Once they are grown it is tougher to get this kind of time together.

You should have stopped at Shiloh Sharps in Big Timber.

 

[TheTone]

very cool, I need to pick your brain about some of the NF you saw. I might be over that way next fall with an elk tag

 

[Straight Arrow]

We have now done the entire YNP road system over our multiple visits.

Good on you; great road tour. Next trip hikes are suggested, as you can really appreciate YNP if you get away from the traffic and into the gorgeous backcountry. A good hike is realized once you no longer can hear the screaming Harleys!

 

[44hunter45]

You should have stopped at Shiloh Sharps in Big Timber.

Good that came at the end of the trip when I wasn't suffering from the delusion of wealth.

On day two I was sorely tempted at Weatherby by a Backcountry Ti with a carbon fiber barrel. Only $3500.

I have never been into the Gunwerks thing. They are in Cody.

 

[44hunter45]

Good on you; great road tour. Next trip hikes are suggested, as you can really appreciate YNP if you get away from the traffic and into the gorgeous backcountry. A good hike is realized once you no longer can hear the screaming Harleys!

Slowing down is hard, but wonderful. When that happens it will likely be me going solo. Then I won't hear the screaming ursophobes either.