Gun Collectors Club began as a hobby project. After realizing there were already plenty of discussion boards, I decided to do something different. To my surprise, the site grew far beyond what I expected. It is May 2026, twenty years later and the site averages more than 2,500 unique visitors daily.
From a planned forum to a collector website
When I launched this website back in 2006, I did not plan for thousands of daily visitors. I simply wanted a place to write about old guns, share photographs, and document the collecting side of the hobby.
The popularity of the site eventually created a dilemma. I needed clients and potential clients searching the web for me to find my CPA practice business website, not this hobby website. That problem turned into a valuable lesson in search visibility, publishing, branding, and performance.
Performance became part of the hobby
The bulk of the data transferred by this site comes from photographs of old guns. Over time, I learned that the photographs are the heart of the site, but they also create the biggest performance challenge.
That led me to focus on compression, image sizing, lazy loading, caching, and CDN delivery. The goal is simple: keep the site enjoyable to browse without making visitors wait on unnecessarily heavy pages.
Monitoring and optimizing the amount of data served has led to significant improvements in website efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
User experience matters
The less data a website needs to serve, the faster it will load for visitors, especially those using slower connections or mobile devices. I still want large, clear photographs, but I also want the site to feel quick, stable, and easy to read.
Gun Collectors Club remains a hobby website. The firearms shown here are not for sale. The purpose is historical interest, collecting, photography, and personal commentary from one collector’s perspective.
Questions or Comments?
If you have a question about firearms history, serial number research, collector resources, or would like to get in touch with Greg Cook, please visit the Contact page.
About Greg Cook
Greg Cook writes about firearms collecting, personal history, and the stories behind interesting guns. His Army MOS was 76Y, Unit Armorer, and he brings that practical background to his collector articles.