Dury's Gun Shop

Two counters, same shop.

Northside and Southside are not a main store and a branch. Same family, same 67 years, and the same bench doing the gunsmithing behind both of them.

If you called one and were told something, that is the shop's answer and not one counter's opinion. Which one you drive to should come down to which one is closer to you, and nothing else.

Northside 533-5431. Southside 533-5468.

We've split some of what we post into pages of their own, so you can follow the part of the shop you actually care about instead of all of it.

This one is Dury's Collector's Corner. Here it's commemoratives, and why the box and the paperwork end up deciding more than the engraving does. The unglamorous half of collecting, which is most of it.

The main page still carries the whole shop. Follow this one if old guns and the histories attached to them are your side of it.

We've split some of what we post into pages of their own, so you're not scrolling past a collector's piece to find a season date.
First one up: Dury's Outdoors. Hunting gear, field craft, and Texas dates we've actually checked against the right county.
The main page still carries the whole shop. Follow this one if hunting is your side of it.

Dove season starts today, and the rest of it stacks up behind: archery 3 October, general season 7 November.

The pattern here does not change much. The weeks before a season opens are gear and questions. The weeks after are repairs.

Both of those happen on our own bench, in house, and that is the half of this business people know least about. Sixty-seven years of it.

Northside 533-5431. Southside 533-5468.

"Excellent condition" is the phrase we hear most, and it is the one that holds up least well.

Condition is not a general impression. It is a list of specific findings, and any one of them can move a number by a lot. A refinish changes things. A replaced part changes things. Markings worn past reading changes things. None of that is dishonest and none of it is unusual. But it gets found, so it is better found early.

When we look at a piece we say the unflattering parts out loud, and we tell you why. That is exactly why it means something when we say a piece is right.

Two locations in San Antonio since 1959. durysguns.com
Northside (210) 533-5431 · Southside (210) 533-5468.

If you are bringing a gun in to find out what it is, four things separate a real answer from a maybe.

Anything that came with it. The original box. Factory paperwork or a factory letter. The tools, the holster, the spare magazines. People leave those at home because they do not seem important. They move the number more than almost anything else does.

Whether it has been apart. If a gunsmith has worked on it, or a part has been replaced somewhere along the way, say so. We will find it either way, and knowing up front saves going back over everything.

The markings, left alone. The numbers and letters on the barrel and the receiver are usually where the answer lives. You do not need to be able to read them. Just do not clean them.

What the situation is. Whether there is a timeline changes what we would actually recommend, and we would rather work around a real constraint than guess at one.

None of this takes any expertise on your side. It just means the first conversation is a real one instead of a preliminary one. And whether you do anything with it after that is entirely up to you. Plenty of people find out what they have and take it home.

Two locations in San Antonio since 1959. durysguns.com
Northside (210) 533-5431 · Southside (210) 533-5468.

Good news for dove season!
Mourning and white-winged dove numbers continue to trend near historic highs.

👉 Dove forecast: bit.ly/DoveForecast26
👉 Dove report: bit.ly/DoveReport

A photograph will tell you something about a gun. It will not tell you what it is worth.

From a photo you can usually get the make, the general model, and whether the piece is worth a proper look. That part is genuinely useful.

What a photo cannot settle: whether the finish is original or redone, whether the parts are the ones that left the factory, what the markings actually say, the condition of the bore, and whether it is the common variant or the one collectors want.

Those are the things that move the number, and most of them need the gun in hand under good light.

So use a photo to work out what deserves attention.

Two locations in San Antonio since 1959. durysguns.com
Northside (210) 533-5431 · Southside (210) 533-5468.

Second day. Doors open at ten, and we are here until four. Fort Worth, Amon Carter Exhibit Hall.

If you have something you want looked at properly, today is the day to bring it. Security will check it at the door.

And if you are not in Fort Worth, we are back at both stores Tuesday.

We are at the gun show in Fort Worth today, Amon Carter Exhibit Hall at the Will Rogers Center, until five. Come find our table.

If you are walking the aisles and wondering whether the thing in your truck is worth showing anybody, the answer is usually yes.

We look at everything. Old military rifles nobody in the family could identify. A pistol that came with a house. Shotguns that have not been out of the case since the eighties. The ones that surprise people are almost never the ones that look expensive.

Come find us and we will tell you what you have. No appointment, no obligation, and you take it home with you either way.

And if you are not at this show, it changes nothing. We have gone to Florida this year for the right collection. Where it is has never been the hard part.