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Show Cheyenne Gun Collection Spans Century; Traces History of Most Modern Weapons A collection of guns which would thrill the youngsters of the "Indian and cowboy" period or old-timer who remembered the "bad days" of the old West is owned by Jesse Hansen of Cheyenne, writes a Cheyenne United Press correspondent correspond-ent in the Chicago Daily News. This history of the modern gun is traced in the collection. First came the blunderbuss, then the percussion cap and ball gun in which a cap was used instead of flint for igniting the powder in the barrel. This cap was placed over a projection underneath un-derneath the hammer with a small hole in the projection carrying the fire to the powder and discharging discharg-ing the gun. The breech - loading Maynard came in 18G5. It fired the shell with a roll of caps much on the order of the Fourth of July caps used in toy pistols. This gun was next in line to the modern cartridge and gun. The oddest piece in Hansen's collection col-lection is an 1837 pistol with a revolving re-volving cylinder of six barrels instead in-stead of the regulation cylinder holding six cartridges and the one barrel of today. The gun was designed primarily for use at close range and served admirably when a gambler found It necessary to convince someone across the table that the game was on the "up and up." The hammer on the gun is a long affair on the top and falls down sharply to discharge dis-charge the shell. The gun was known as the "pepper box." A cap and ball pistol of 1845, probably prob-ably used for dueling purposes, is another feature of the collection. It is of Colt make and has the rear sight on the firing point of the hammer. ham-mer. The sight can be used only when the hammer is cocked. Another oddity of the collection is a century-old muzzle-loader that is superior to modern rifles in accuracy, accu-racy, according to Hansen. Hansen has the original wooden ramrod used to load the gun. Powder for it is kept in a regulation powder horn that is about 100 years old and shot is served into the gun from a leather pouch that has a four-pound capacity. capa-city. The gun and equipment came from the Ozark mountains. Hansen says only the horn on the right side of an animal could be used as a powder horn since it was to be slung over the shoulder. Horns from the left side would not hang properly. The collection includes Indian arrowheads ar-rowheads and tomahawks in addition addi-tion to guns from all over the world. |