The Whitney Wolverine is a semi-automatic

.22 LR The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smooth ...

caliber

pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

created in 1956. Notable for its advanced, "space-aged" looks and then-new

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

construction, it has a 10-round magazine, a barrel long and a weight of only .

History

The Wolverine was engineered by

Robert Hillberg Robert Hillberg (August 27, 1917 – August 12, 2012) was a firearm designer and the head of Research & Development at the High Standard Manufacturing Company. His designs included the folding shotgun stock, the Whitney Wolverine lightweight pis ...

, who learned about aluminum casting during WWII while working with aircraft guns and later became research engineer for

High Standard Manufacturing Company High Standard Firearms was an American manufacturer of firearms, based in Houston, Texas. The company was founded in New Haven, Connecticut in 1926 as a supplier to the numerous firearms companies in the Connecticut Valley. It was based in New ...

. Only 13,371 of these .22 semi automatic pistols were made in its short period of production between 1956 and 1958. There were approximately 500 nickel-plated according to company records, the rest finished in varying shades of anodized blue. The plastic grips came in either a black, dark brown or white; the white grips are found mostly on the nickel-plated models.

Investment casting Investment casting is an industrial process based on lost-wax casting, one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques. The term "lost-wax casting" can also refer to modern investment casting processes. Investment casting has been used in var ...

of the frame by

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

was a new idea for the gun industry at the time; now it is widely used by almost every major gun manufacturer. Its name, ''Wolverine'', was after Hillberg's favorite football team, the

University of Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

. The ''Whitney'' name was used because the factory was located near the old

Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney hi ...

factory site. A victim of extremely poor marketing in the beginning, financial problems and then being under priced by $2.00 by both Ruger and Colt with their new semi-automatics .22, the company was doomed. The original retail price was $39.95 blue and $44.95 nickel-plated (equivalent to $ and $ now).

Revival attempts

Two companies have attempted to revive the Wolverine model originally design by Whitney, with one of them having succeeded.

Olympic Arms Olympic Arms, Inc. was a manufacturer and marketer of AR-15 and M16 pattern rifles, carbines and pistols. The company manufactured Colt 1911 (M1911) series 70 style pistols under the name "Safari Arms" and the "Whitney" 22 caliber pistol. Histor ...

manufactured and sold a version with a polymer frame, instead of aluminum. The Olympic Arms version of the Wolverine model Whitney pistol began production in 2002. Its one-piece polymer frame was available in a range of colors: black, brown, tan or pink. However, as of January 2017, Olympic Arms had shut down production and the Wolverine is no longer available. Samson Manufacturing Corporation had planned on creating their own version, but it never came to fruition. Samson stated that they had the original molds and dies, and had a huge inventory of original parts from the 1950s that they obtained from the original manufacturer.

References

* * {{refend

External links

''Rock Island Auction''
Whitney Wolverine
''Forgotten Weapons''
Manual

Whitney pistol`s patent US 3060810
Semi-automatic pistols Semi-automatic pistols of the United States .22 LR pistols Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1956