Frizzen Pan!*

As much as I love the classic lines of the 1911, or the timeless elegance of a revolver, I have to admit that flintlock firearms are some of the most beautiful in the world. Oh, sure, a Glock is more accurate, carries more ammo, blah blah blah; a Remington 700 can hit targets that a Brown Bess never dreamed of; modern pistols work in the rain and high humidity... But for sheer jaw-dropping beauty, there's nothing like a muzzleloading arm, of which there were many at the NRA Convention:

There were rifles:

Cold dead hands!

There were pistols:

UnTupperware

There were even dueling pistols:

Lost Art

Deadly Elegance

(yeah, there are two sets of dueling pistols shown. There's a reason for that...)

I'm an unabashed fan of the history that goes along with firearms. When I pick up my Winchester 1906 and see the name engraved in the side, I wonder who the woman was that had her name engraved there. I wonder how my grandfather came into possession of this little pump action rifle; whether it was a payment on a debt, something he happened upon by chance, or just coincidence that it wound up in his collection. When I look into my gun safe and see the Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5mm, I hear my grandfather's voice: "Italian battle rifle. Only dropped once."

And the best part is that I can grab either of those rifles, hit the range, and use them exactly as they were used decades earlier...

That is all.

*inside joke with commenter SCI-FI