Throwback Thursday: Teddy Roosevelt's Guns

Roosevelt, an NRA Life Member, was keenly interested in marksmanship and gun safety. He and his family regularly had target-shooting competitions at the family home in Oyster Bay, New York, although if this Smith & Wesson Model 3 Revolver ever saw service, it likely started when he was training his Rough Riders in San Antonio, Texas. (Factory records indicate that he took possession of this beautiful gun just before he began.) What's unusual about this firearm is that it's one of only a handful ever chambered in .38 Colt—most New Model 3s were chambered in .44 Russian.

President Roosevelt favored the Winchester Model 1895 Lever Action Rifle in .405 caliber. He also owned rifles produced by Sharps, Freund, Ballard and Holland and Holland, pistols from Smith & Wesson and Luger, and shotguns manufactured by Lefaucheux, Parker, Fox, and W & C Scott & son, as well as the Fred Adolph double rifle and FN pistol featured in the National Firearms Museum.