Military history is this Fall River man's passion. See his store of amazing artifacts.

FALL RIVER — Walk into Collectable Firearms & Militaria and you’ll walk out with more knowledge of world history than you had before.

You might also walk out with a few historic artifacts and curios, or even something to connect with your past or your family.

Michael O’Reagan is the owner and operator of this shop at 22 Rhode Island Ave. The small space, open noon to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, is packed from floor to ceiling with authentic military gear from every world superpower and nearly every war in American history — weapons, ammunition, uniforms, propaganda posters and more. Every item has a story, and O’Reagan is enthusiastic about sharing it.

“Aside from being a business, I love keeping history alive,” he said. “It’s a passion for me to teach people about this stuff.”

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From guns to helmets, store has every piece of collectable military gear imaginable

The store has been in place for about a year and a half, he said, but only open to the public full time for the past three months. His familiarity with his stock goes back much further.

“My father’s been in this business for 25 years now, buying and selling military stuff," O’Reagan said. “We go to gun shows, auctions, flea markets, estate sales.”

Collectable Firearms & Militaria isn’t a typical Army-Navy store. The items are authentic, originally intended for use in battle and, in many cases, have seen actual use. Shelves are lined with steel helmets from World War I and II, from not just the United States but Japan and Germany. An umbrella stand holds an assortment of swords, including one he says dates to the American Civil War. There are bomber jackets, boots, and entire World War II uniforms, “edge weapons, bayonets, swords, daggers, helmets, badges, pins, patches — all kinds of cool historical stuff.”

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Whatever a military history collector is looking for, O'Reagan said, “I’ve probably got it, or I had it, or I can get it.”

He carries modern firearms as well as many antiques, saying his passion is for the latter. The shop is stocked with pistols and rifles, a weapon used by the Egyptians in the Six-Day War whose stock is engraved with Arabic, an Italian Carcano, a 1934 Russian rifle, a German Ruger pistol. All are still fireable. He carries ammo for all of them, too — plus modern ammo and vintage ammo for collectors.

Prices depend on the weapon, its condition and its rarity. A replica black powder revolver goes for about $200. A World War II pistol taken from a German Nazi officer, with holster and authenticating paperwork, runs about $2,500.

The shop has been fully vetted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. As mandated by state law, he performs multiple background checks on anyone buying a firearm, and customers require a valid license to carry before they buy.

“A family outing with me, my grandfather, and my dad was going to the range," he said. “They’d set up cans and have me shoot them.”

From there, his interest grew into "the historical aspect — who the guys were that carried these rifles, who the guys were that wore these helmets," he said. “That grew into a passion and love for the history behind some of the guns.”

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'It's important history to keep alive'

Near the windows, a mannequin is dressed head to toe in the uniform of an Iraqi general under Saddam Hussein. He carries military gear once used by Nazis and taken home by American soldiers. More than one item in his shop is decked with the swastika — including a dagger once carried by an SS officer that he’s valued at $10,000.

Some things he sells, he said, would be distasteful outside their historical context.

“I understand that aspect of it," O’Reagan said. “But it’s the history of the Americans behind it.”

Every item is burdened by the weight of the past, was carried by a person smaller than the horrific circumstances they were in. O'Reagan shows off the poor build quality of the Iraqi uniform, made with what appears to have been hot glue, plastic, and foam. These details tell an important story about that country and how it kept its people impoverished despite its oil resources. The SS dagger is ornate and heavy, made of high-quality steel — its decorative, ceremonial nature, he says, tells a story about Nazi Germany’s ironic focus on glamor while committing the worst human atrocities imaginable.

Above all this, O’Reagan thinks about the American soldiers who left their families, saw evil face-to-face, and brought these objects home for many reasons — proof of valor, the spoils of war, or as keepsakes of a traumatic time in their lives. That's a crucial angle to the history, too.

“It’s morbid history, it’s bad history,” O'Reagan said. “But it’s very important history to keep alive.”

Collecting military gear to connect with his own past

The items often come to him from families whose relatives were veterans, who brought home souvenirs from their time in Europe or the Pacific or the Middle East, and who don't want to keep old war mementoes anymore.

That’s exactly why O’Reagan began collecting.

He said his great-grandfather, a World War II veteran of the Seabees, enlisted in February 1942. He was wounded in the Pacific.

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“All I have left of him is his Purple Heart,” he said. “Everything he had was thrown away.”

He said when he was about 10, his grandfather gave him that medal.

“I wanted all of the things that I couldn’t have that were his. I wanted the patch he would’ve had, the uniform he would’ve had, the rifle he would’ve had," he said. “And then I started reading about history of other guys that he fought with and served with. It spiraled out into all of this.”

The more gear he's collected, the more he's learned — and it drives his desire to share what he knows with others who also want to collect.

"It fueled a huge passion for me to constantly keep learning, constantly keep figuring things out,” he said. 

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River man turns WWI, WWII history passion into a business