Today is going to introduce a very peculiar .22LR caliber pistol, its structure is not too novel, but the appearance is absolutely dizzying, this is the United States in the 1950s by the Whitney Whitney "Wolverine" pistol launched by the Whitney Company.
The Whitney Wolverine pistol, this stunning look, this glitzy line, is teeching
Let's start with the designer of the Wolverine pistol. The wolf badger pistol was designed by Robert E. Lee. Robert L. Hillberg, a typical American red-necked man, grew up playing with his father with guns and became extremely interested in firearms. Hilbert joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, retired from the army after the war, and with his talent and expertise in firearms, he entered the High Standard company as an engineer and participated in the design of weapons such as the M37 tank machine gun.
The designer of the Wolverine pistol, Robert M. Robert L. Hillberg, this is what he looks like when he gets old.
During his tenure at The High Standard, Hillberg designed a pistol called the TRI-MATIC, which was based on a barrel handle that could be converted between the .22LR, .32ACP, and .380ACP calibers by replacing the conversion kit. Although the gun was not finally put into production, its streamlined shape was very similar to that of the later Wolverine pistol, and can be considered to be the prototype of the appearance design of the Wolverine pistol.
Hillberg TRI-MATIC pistol, this pistol found only such a picture, no more information.
In 1954, Hillberg moved to Bellmore-Johnson Tool (BJT Co.), where he was supported by his new employer, Howard Johnson, the company's executive director, who used his imagination to design firearms. At that time, the .22LR caliber sports pistol was a very popular civilian firearm, Hillberg looked at this market, wanted to design a unique appearance, can make a deep impression at a glance .22LR caliber sports pistol, relying on the novel appearance to attract users and open a market.
But Belmer-Johnson Tools had only produced stamping and casting molds before, and did not have gun production capacity, so Hillberg and Howard Johnson ran to New York to find a famous gun dealer, Jacques Galef, and showed him the Hilberg prototype gun, hoping to talk about licensing production. Finally, in April 1955, the two sides signed a contract to register a Hillson Firearms company by Hilburg and Johnson, which produced Hilberg's pistols and authorized JL Galef & Son Inc. as the exclusive marketer for the first batch of 10,000 units, with additional orders to be added in the future. Regarding the wholesale price of Hillburg's pistols, the two sides agreed to be $16.53 each, which was very low, and Hillberg and Johnson expected to use low wholesale prices to drive down low costs, occupy the market with price advantages, and expect small profits to sell high.
Under the contract, Hilson applied for a loan from the bank and decided to set up a factory in Connecticut a mile from the famous Whitney Arsenal in the United States, and to take full advantage of the value of the Whitney brand, they renamed the company Whitney Firearms Inc.), of course, this has nothing to do with the historical Whitney (this practice of using the name of a famous ordnance company in history to rub the heat is very common in american gun companies, such as the Springfield Ordnance Company that borrowed the name of Springfield), and the new hand name to be produced is taken from Hillberg's favorite football team, the University of Michigan Wolverine, and is officially named the Whitney "Wolverine" pistol.
Advertising page for the Whitney Wolverine pistol that year
The Whitney Wolverine pistol was officially put into production in 1956, the streamlined appearance of the gun, the gear-shaped muzzle ring gives people an extremely strong visual impact, reminiscent of supercars and spaceships in science fiction films, which is the aesthetic style of the 1950s. The Whitney Wolverine comes in two colors, roast blue and nickel-plated, and the grip pieces are made of plastic in three colors, black, white, and dark brown.
Nickel-plated gun body, brown grip piece of the Whitney "Wolverine" pistol along with the box
Grilled blue gun body, brown grip piece of Whitney "Wolverine" pistol
Nickel-plated gun body, white grip piece Whitney "Wolverine" pistol
The bottom handle of the Whitney "Wolverine" is made of investment cast aluminum, and the mass of the whole gun is about 23 ounces (652g), and it should be known that the pistols in the 50s are almost all steel bottom handles, and the aluminum bottom handle is already "lightweight". The barrel of the gun is 4.65 inches (118mm), using the principle of free bolt, the hammer rotates the firing, it is a unique place is that it does not use the common sleeve structure of automatic pistols, but has a separate bolt, the crosshair and the door are mounted on the top of the barrel guard that wraps the barrel at the bottom of the cast aluminum gun, so that only the bolt recoil is fired, and the crosshair and the shooting door are not moving, which has certain benefits for shooting accuracy.
The Whitney Wolverine has no sleeve, and there are circular protrusions with knurled flowers on the left and right sides of the bolt tail for hand pinching and pulling, and the sight is mounted on top of the barrel guard.
The look of the hammer in a closed state
The crosshairs and illumination doors located at the top of the barrel guard
The first loading is carried out in the form of a bolt puller
The Whitney Wolverine pistol uses a 10-round single-row magazine for ammunition, the magazine mortise is located at the bottom of the grip, the magazine material is steel, and there is a large opening on the side, which not only plays a role in weight reduction, but also can use a .22LR bullet inserted in the hole on the side of the magazine tray to pull the magazine down, and then reload it from the magazine mouth one by one.
10-round magazine for the Whitney Wolverine pistol
The Whitney Wolverine's magazine is stuck at the bottom of the grip
The Wolverine has a round hole in the side of the magazine tray plate, which is loaded with a bullet inserted in the hole and pressed down on the plate, and then reloaded one by one.
Wolverine fires, pay attention to the recoil bolts
Unfortunately, despite the turbulent appearance of the Whitney Wolverine pistol, it has not gained high market recognition. This is because the .22LR caliber sports pistol market was already highly involved at that time, with both the colt "ranger" (Colt Woodsman), the old famous gun, and the Ruger "standard" Mark.I, a rising star, and competitors such as high standards, almost blocked in all directions. Compared with these products, although the appearance of the "Wolverine" is refreshing and looks very fun, but the performance is not outstanding, the price is not cheap, there is no obvious competitive advantage, and eventually the "Wolverine" only produced about 14,000, which was discontinued in 1957, and the Whitney Company also closed down due to poor management.
Colt "Ranger" pistol
Ruger "standard" Mark.I pistol
High standard HDM pistol
The "Wolverine" pistol also ushered in a return to the light at the beginning of this century, the United States Olympic Arms (Olympic Arms) since 2002 to produce and sell a replica of the "Wolverine", this time the bottom of the gun is no longer cast aluminum, but the use of more modern polymer, the top of a raised ridge, and provide black, brown, pink and many other colors for choice, but the Olympic Weapons Company in 2017 closed, this replica of the "Wolverine" pistol also announced the discontinuation.
Olympic Company's replica of the plastic bottom "Wolverine" pistol and the box that accompanies the gun
An Olympic replica of the Wolverine pistol with a pink bottom handle
Although the Whitney Wolverine pistol did not achieve the expected sales performance, this did not erase the gun design talents of its designer Hillberg. Hillberg, who died in 2012, designed a variety of firearms throughout his life, but when asked which one he liked and was most proud of, his answer was the Whitney Wolverine pistol, which transcended the times and had a sci-fi look.