| Antique firearms collectors usually | | | | collectors also look for European firearms |
| specialize in one or two historical eras. One | | | | from important eras in European history. For |
| of the most popular eras to collect firearms | | | | example a collector may be interested in |
| from is the American Civil War. During this | | | | collecting early rifles from a variety of |
| era there were a lot of advancements made in | | | | European locations so that their design |
| gun construction. Some of the items that | | | | differences can be examined and appreciated. |
| belong to this era include cannons, long | | | | They may look for English, German and Italian |
| rifles and pistols. In addition to weapons | | | | rifles. |
| you can also find bullets, shots and | | | | |
| cannonballs from this era. | | | | WWI and WWII firearms collectors can be found |
| | | | on nearly every continent. The focus of each |
| Another popular era that antique firearms | | | | collection depends on the area of the wars |
| collectors specialize in is the Old West. | | | | that they are interested, however, just about |
| Popular items from this era include rifles | | | | all World War I and World War II antique |
| and handguns, especially Winchesters and | | | | firearms are prized by firearms collectors. |
| Smith and Wesson models. Weapons and | | | | This is because by the time that the world |
| ammunition tied to Old West events and | | | | wars developed firearms had advanced |
| locations also are popular collector's items. | | | | significantly. Collectors therefore have a |
| For example a bullet from the OK Corral is | | | | choice between manual, semi-automatic and |
| more valuable as a collector's item then a | | | | automatic antique firearms. They also can |
| bullet found in the desert. | | | | collect war items like shrapnel, ration |
| | | | boxes, bullets, medals, pins, buttons and |
| In addition to American antique firearms, | | | | mortars. |