Before their time? Ever shoot one of these?

[ithacaartist]

An acquisition I've been pursuing for about a year has come home to roost. I was curious about these since first seeing one five or six years ago, and now that particular pistol is mine.

Curiously, while waiting for the first one, I encountered another at auction online which needed obvious repair/parts. I low-balled it, and the fruit ripened and fell into my hands.

The tale of how replacement parts were acquired is something I'll add in a bit, but I thought I'd put up the pic of these "brothers" first, for your entertainment.

The history of their manufacture is quite interesting, too, so stay tuned.

[DavidJayUden]

I remember seeing those in the local hardware store circa 1965. Don't know anything about them but will be interested to hear their story.
dju

[MikeP]

These came out when I was in high school.
Only ever saw a couple of them.
Never got around to owning one.

[Edward Tinker]

I always wanted a Whitney

[mrerick]

Looks like you have two of about 13,000 made in the 1956 to 1957 period. The Whitney Wolverine!

A direct blowback action .22lr pistol with style...

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

[ttarp]

Ah, those are neat. I liked the odd looks so much I bought one of the Olympic Arms versions when the first came out.

[DonVoigt]

Cool,
I always wanted one.

I do believe someone is or has recently offered a look alike for sale- but don't recall who. Found it.
Olympic re-issue Wolverine:
https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/...+22LR+4.6+10RD

[John Sabato]

I am pretty sure that Ron Wood owns one of those... maybe he can give us a range report! Ron?

[Ron Wood]

Ah, fond memories! The Wolverine was the first pistol I ever shot. A buddy of mine bought one the first year they were offered. We ran hundreds of rounds through it with never a malfunction. The sights were rudimentary but the ergonomics were so good that instinctively targets were easy to hit. Just for fun a couple of times we held the grip in our left hand and "vibrated" the trigger as fast as we could with our right hand (no attempt to hit anything!)...the brass streamed out almost as a solid line and the magazine was empty in around one second. Again, never a malfunction.

Nostalgically, I always wanted one of my own and a few years ago I added a minty one to my collection. I am ashamed to admit I have never shot it, but that is on my bucket list.
Ron

[ithacaartist]

Here are some pics from the auction house for what is the younger of the two. These were usually anodized dark grey over a matte surface, with a gloss black epoxy paint applied to the cylindrical portion on top. This one has some finish loss near the muzzle, and some small scratches and dings elsewhere. There's a bit of damage to the front toe of the mag bottom, but other than that, it's in very good condition.

It's obvious from the pics that I needed to score the proper parts to complete the gun mechanically. The last original company went belly up just after 1960, and one of the reasons my friend was able to buy his so reasonably is that at the time of his purchase, the previous owner hadn't been able to replace one--or maybe more-- of the small parts (discussed below). My friend checked with Olympic Arms and completed/restored it to function.

Having this info under my belt, I did a search for Wolverine parts before I bid and came up with a page, ostensibly from the Olympic Arms website, which had everything listed--a schematic, parts list, a "shopping cart," etc. After I won, I waited until the pistol arrived to find out what it needed.

Here comes the fun part. Clicking on the "view cart" link resulted in an error page that announced the domain for sale. My pants immediately turned brown at the point I found out that Olympic Arms had pulled in its horns around two years ago and wasn't in business any more, either!

I returned to the search engine to find other sources, if any, to get what I needed. None of the usual suspects listed them, other than Triple-K, which still sells mage for them. A page or two in, I noticed that there was a apparently an Olympic page on Facebook. I went there and discovered it had only a few posts...but the latest one was from end of summer last year, which was after they closed, so...

I sent a message asking if parts were available and got no response, even after a few more days. I did notice, however, that my message had been "seen" by the recipient about a minute after I'd sent it: a glimmer of hope! My next message received a response which included an 800 number!

My selection cost almost $200. Added to the similar expense of the auction lot itself, I'm into it just South of $400 total (neglecting my labor, of course). What remains of the Olympic Arms enterprise still has parts for sale, but although I didn't strike out on any of the ones in my order, I suspect that the major components are probably what's in short supply. The helpful aspect was that the originals and the newer Olympic's composite versions use the same internals, with a few exceptions that turned out to be unimportant.

The one from my friend, #35418, was accompanied by a plastic parts box with everything for a complete barrel and slide assembly, so I have a complete upper works as a spare. I consider the $300 he asked for his to be a very good price.

What research/reading I've done so far leads me to believe that they potentially share mag sensitivity with a lot of other .22 semi-autos, but aren't all that fussy about ammo as long as high velocity rounds are used, such as Mini-Mags. Test firing revealed both of them to exhibit a strange behavior. In mostly the first portion of a full mag, they will drop the hammer--but no ignition. Re-cocking the hammer for another go gets no better results. What gets it going again is to re-c0ck, then pull back about 3/8" on the action, which seems to re-set something; then they will fire. It's still possible to do Ron"s "vibrating finger" routine for the last part of a mag. I may fiddle with the feed lips to see if things will improve.

These originally retailed for $39.95, and the distributor contracted to pay the maker $16 each for them. I've been watching them on Proxibid for several years, and they seem to realize hammer prices in the $600 range for the basic originals. A nickel plated version only 500 ever made, was also offered originally, and these tend to have auction starting bids of $1k or more. Other versions were completely polished vs. the matte areas on most. One should be able to score a plastic one for near its former retail of ~$300.

Their manufacture is a long, convoluted tale involving sale of the company by the original owner/designer, a slight company name change, a shift from Alcoa to another firm for the cast frames, a change of alloy used, and a move of facilities from New Haven to Hartford. Use of the name Wolverine was contested by Lyman, which had already marketed a series of scopes under the same moniker. "Wolverine" appears only on some early examples, from before that waste hit the rotating blades.

What prompted the first sale of the company was the contract with the distributor, which demanded continued exclusive sales/distribution rights despite the distributor's failure to purchase the contracted 10k units per year. Whitney's second owners tried mail order sales, but although this might have worked, this was halted by the distributor with a lawsuit--which was the beginning of the first end. The maker should have had better lawyers.

Olympic inherited a raft of original parts with their purchase of the mfg. rights. I'm not clear why they went under.

I've also included a schematic to show just how many tiny parts they use--about 50 of 'em, even worse than a Luger!. The barrel key and the firing pin lock are quite small, as well as indispensable for assembly/function--thus easily lost/misplaced during field stripping for cleaning, which is not very different for a complete detail stripping. One reason they give problems is because they become filthy due to an owner's understandable avoidance of thorough cleaning. Cleaning and lubrication generally restores them to function if them become cranky if all else is proper and intact. The pistol is cleverly designed despite this, with adequate fit and finish.

[jl7422]

I have (an original) one and shoot it from time to time. I love the grip angle and fit in my hand--reminiscent of a Luger. Really cool piece that is accurate and fun to shoot.

[sheepherder]

I've never seen one in person, so have no idea how big it is. Can you show it next to, say, a Luger???

I get the impression that these are big...

[rolandtg]

Very cool pistol!
I went through several of these as a kid.
I didn't find out they were actually based on real gun until years later.

[lugerholsterrepair]

David, Great and interesting write up and good sleuthing!

[Edward Tinker]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

I've never seen one in person, so have no idea how big it is. Can you show it next to, say, a Luger???

I get the impression that these are big...

I've seen a couple at the bigger shows - Its a bit bigger than a luger, but not much and made light if it I remember right....

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

I've never seen one in person, so have no idea how big it is. Can you show it next to, say, a Luger???

I get the impression that these are big...

Will do. In the meantime, from tip of the muzzle to end of the beaver tail, they're 9".

Originally Posted by Edward Tinker

Its... made light if it I remember right....

23 oz. Their grip frame is raked back a few more degrees than a Luger, like a Hi-Standard or similar.

Their ergonomics and balance are excellent...very comfortable to hold, and very "natural pointers."

Dana's toy shooter may actually be a larger caliber! I wish I hadn't seen that pic...now I have another quest!

[rolandtg]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

Dana's toy shooter may actually be a larger caliber! I wish I hadn't seen that pic...now I have another quest!

Ha ha! Sorry!
They appear to be fairly common and only pricey in the original package, which to me would be a must-have just for the horrible package art!

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by rolandtg

Ha ha! Sorry!
They appear to be fairly common and only pricey in the original package, which to me would be a must-have just for the horrible package art!

Lol! No problem. The toy version was named after a ruminant instead of a snarling forest predator/scavenger!