These days, RIA's once-thriving small arms mission is mostly a thing of the past, with the last vestiges departing in recent years in the wake of a 2005 Base Realignment And Closure decision to transfer tactical command functions from Rock Island to the command's headquarters in Warren, Michigan.īut anyone with an interest in small arms - a category that includes weapons intended for use by individual Soldiers - can still find one of the best collections in the nation, if not the world, at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum. For most of its history, Rock Island Arsenal was a center for the production, overhaul, repair, inspection, testing and management of small arms for the U.S.

Julia Evans, a museum studies graduate student at the Quad Cities Campus of Western Illinois University, looks for a serial number inside of a revolver while conducting an inventory of the RIA Museum's small arms collection at Rock Island Arsenal, Il. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Due to the historical and monetary value of the items in the collection, those conducting the hands-on inventory wea. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption –Ī pistol is closely examined during an inventory of the RIA Museum's small arms collection at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, Dec. 1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S.

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