Photo from the Gun Shop Guide review of Williams Family Museum

Williams Family Museum

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Photo from the Gun Shop Guide review of Williams Family Museum

The Williams Family Museum is Jeff Williams’ private collection of about 1,500 antique guns in Elko, Nevada. It was never open to the public; instead, the collection was shared with the world through its own YouTube channel.

Not open to the public: Never open to the public. The collection was shown through The Williams Family Museum YouTube channel.

On the channel

  • A full walk-through of the collection, starting with the chronological wall exhibits
  • Displays organized by individual firearm companies, plus the floor exhibits and a pistol episode
  • A Winchester and Browning history series: the Henry repeater, the Models 1866, 1873 and 1876, the Browning-designed 1885 and 1886, the 1887, 1893, 1897 and 1901 shotguns, and the Browning and Winchester separation
  • Remington XP-100 episodes on the .221 Remington Fireball, plus the .256 Hawkeye and .22 Remington Jet
  • A tour of the reloading room, with episodes on reloading and firearm safety
  • Lucretia Borgia, the name Buffalo Bill Cody gave his buffalo rifle

Our notes

Jeff Williams, a former Elko County commissioner, started collecting in 1961 and built the collection to about 1,500 guns. The Williams Family Museum was never a public museum with doors and hours. In late 2021 the family opened it up another way, with a YouTube channel that took viewers case by case through the collection.

The channel posted 36 videos between 2021 and 2023 and drew more than 3,000 subscribers and over 360,000 views. The tour episodes walk the chronological wall exhibits, the company displays and the floor cases. The history episodes are where the channel shines: a guided run through the Winchester lever actions and shotguns of the John Browning years, told with the guns in hand.

The images below show part of the collection.

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Timeline

  • 1961 Jeff Williams begins collecting
  • 2021 The Williams Family Museum YouTube channel launches in October with a tour of the collection
  • 2022 Winchester and Browning history series and reloading episodes
  • 2023 Most recent video, on Buffalo Bill’s rifle Lucretia Borgia

Good to know

  • The collection is private and cannot be visited; the YouTube channel is the way to see it
  • For Nevada museums and stops that are open to the public, see the Nevada guide

More maps than the glovebox of a lost elk hunter: Gun Law Maps by State

Nearby on the guide

More history: All firearm museums · Nevada guide

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