WOW, cool vintage pistol

I have never seen one in person. hey, so the beretta neos is NOT the first "space gun" after all !! I like the flowing lines of the Whitney. a great find, even the original box. good old Alcoa aluminum, my 1952 JC HIGGISN mdl 30 rifle has that name cast into the "roof" of the receiver. how does the pistol shoot? I don't believe they were made too long, I could not locate a lot of info either. I guess the pistol maybe was all the company made. congrats on your find, on gun broker they are very expensive.:bthumb:

 

My jealousy knows no bounds,,,

My jealousy knows no bounds,,,

Aarond

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From what i have found only 13000 pistol had been produced, out of that approximately 500 where nickel plated. Only 3000 had the name Wolverine on them before it was removed due to the name Wolverine being pattern by a another company. Upon removing the name from the side of the pistol it was technically called a Lighting even though the box still said Wolverine. I could be wrong im no expert this is just what I picked up here and there, but I would love for someone to tell otherwise because I would like to learn as much about this pistol as I can.

 

I had also read that the name was removed from the pistol itself, so this is an earlier one? I undertsand these originals had good function and decent plinker accuracy. Magazines and parts are difficult to come by. Triple K has repro magazines and grip panels. I see Jack First and Poppert's in Google, having some parts. There is a new version now, some of the new version's parts might interchange?

The new version of the Wolverine made by Olympic Arms, with a polymer frame, starting in 2004. It gets mixed reviews:

http://www.olyarms.com/shop/pistols/pistols-whitney.html

Olympic Whitney parts:

http://www.olyarms.com/shop/parts/whitney-parts.html

Article on disassembly:

https://www.gun-tests.com/special_r...eports/handguns/Whitney-Wolverine-Firearm-Maintenance-10162-1.html#.WjVP4huou00

Here's a good article:

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2014/6/20/olympic-arms-whitney-wolverine-22-lr-pistol/

Wikipedia article on both:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Wolverine

Hope these help, there is more info you can Google.

 

That is a super nice, rare find.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

 

+ 1 :bthumb:

 

A real beauty, I'm quite envious!

 

That was my very first handgun (sort of ) and I still have it!

 

AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! The uber-rare gold edition.

 

Pistol

Awesome design!

 

"Wolverine"

Iirrc, from some reading and searching after I got mine a few years ago, only about 250 or so made it out the door with "Wolverine" before the Univ of MI's football team got their pads in a bind and threatened to sue. To get one of the verboten ones, box and all, is a real coup. Over a K$ several years ago.

The fellow (I have forgotten his name) worked in the aircraft industry in WWII. He designed the machine guns for the Lightning and some of the other fighters. He then went with High Standard for a few years, and then he and another HS guy went out on their own. He named it [pistol and the company] "Whitney" because he was a big fan of Eli Whitney and his many inventions.

A combination of errors spelled the short run of the company. First the name boondoggle gave them fits. Then, with no real business acumen they made a lousy deal with a NY distributor which had a sole distributor ship clause. DOOM! He didn't distribute. Bankruptcy followed. The company struggled for a few more years with a total of a little +/- 13,000 total production up into the late '50s. Mine was made about 1957.

By some historians, another factor was that Sturm & Ruger were bringing out the RSP at about the same time, circa 1950, for $1.75 cheaper. Money talks, and we know where Ruger is today.

Finally, Olympic Arms (Washington St.) purchased the rights and with a few mod's brought the pistol back to market. As to be expected, less quality and a whole lot higher price tag, but still reasonable I guess. Some parts were original to the remake, and some weren't. I think it was within the last year that Olympic went out of business. I purchased most every original part I could before they closed their doors. The company's main interest was in ARs. The new pistol magazines still functioned in the original and I picked up a couple of them shortly after I bought it.

What I find most interesting about the pistol is the utter simplicity of design. Remove the barrel nut and the whole action slides right out of the back of the grip. The rear sight is only a bent piece of spring metal with a slot in the middle, but mine is very accurate. My son who has much better eyes than I do, and probably a whole lot steadier, can shoot little bitty groups with the thing at 10 and 25 yards. If you should get a FTF, just cock the hammer and try it again.

I ran across mine, pistol only, on consignment at a plantation that had $ birds and a small trap & skeet range. A friend and his son and I were shooting out there on New Year's day 4 or 5 years ago. When we went in to pay for our rounds, I saw the pistol in a display. I recognized it immediately and almost had a seizure. It was about 1/2 the price of all I had seen on line. The friends were pushing the clock and I didn't have time to do much more than take a quick look at it.

I hemmed and hawed with myself for about 3 weeks and finally called the plantation on a Friday afternoon to see if they still had it. They did. I told them to put my name on it and I would be out in the morning to get it. They even let me shoot it on their rifle range before I put up my money. Wow!

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It is one of my real prize acquisitions. I remember seeing adds for the pistol in the F&S and some of the outdoor mags when I was a teenager. Wow!! (again) "Tom Corbett and the Space Cadets" was a major SCIFI on TV in the afternoon when I got home after school and their pistols even resembled the "space gun." Some of you other grey beards may remember the "Captain Video" show as well. We won't get into "Howdy Doody"

Have you taken it out and shot it yet? :AR15firin

VH man:

 

I did buy the book and found alot about the pistol. The one thing I did notice is the pistol I own has a S stamped in front of the serial number and on the original warrenty card. Almost all shown serial numbers shown have no letters. Dose anyone have this on their Wolverines?

 

Since your pistol has the "Wolverine" name on the frame, the "S" may further indicate that it was an early production pistol. Interesting to say the least.

I looked mine up in my log and it has no "S" which I did not expect to be there.

That is really a great find. Out of curiosity, did it cost an arm and a leg?

Or were you plumb lucky like I was.....

VH man:

 

I don't know if it was luck but I paid $500 for it. I didn't even know what a Wolverine was just had seen it in display case and thought it was cool looking. The gun shop said it sat there for two weeks and no one even looked at it.

 

Made out like a Bandit

I'd use Standard Velo in it, just to be safe...older guns can crack with more
powerful Hi-Velo ammo...no telling how much metal fatigue and all that...
altho the pics show a pretty nice example of the breed

 

I got this pistol for a good price because it has the well known chip in front of the hammer. The pistol it self shoots CCI ammo with no problems federal ammo jams. The sights shoot a little high but at 50' I can hold all shoots in the black if I compensate and aim low right. It is a pistol that has to be cleaned after every use with very little oil When it is reassembled. I purchased this because let's face it, it's cool looking but it's not my type of pistol. I purchase old rifles that have bin tucked away and never shot of years, I don't have to have to worry about scratching or damaging them. If I keep this pistol it's more likely to get damaged or the box and paper work will get destroyed. I will be selling it along with the Whitney wolverine book I purchased for my cost of $550. I live in the great state of Ma. Where all gun shipments must go Though a dealer, once I have made arrangements with my local dealer I will post the contact information if anyone is interested.

 

1 for sale here,...https://www.simpsonltd.com/products/c37952

 

anyone happen to know the location of the factory where the Whitney was built?

 

Look at the link posted just before you posted. There are a lot of detail photos. It says new haven ct on the pistol.

 

I remember when these guns first came out, though I couldn't tell you what year that was. I think (as I did then) that it looked a lot like a Mauser HSc.

 

I love the looks of these!

 

If anyone is interested the local gun shop I use (outer limits pro shop) I think will ship firearms, informed me as of 1/31/18 they just received another wolverine. The prices for used guns is sometimes way under their value. If someone is looking it mite be worth a call.

 

Its been awhile. Did you get run over with offers to buy the Whitney. It would be a bargain for a $1000.00

Just curious.
\
VH man:

 

Do any of you happen to know where the factory was that these pistols were built in? Doing a story on the company and the factory

 

I read somewhere quite awhile ago that it was called Whitney because the factory was located near the old Whitney musket factory in Hamden, Connecticut.

 

The frames were made by Alcoa and marked so under the grips.


-kBob

 

i really like it , you did great grabbing it up ,