The Whitney Wolverine was an advanced, "space -aged", light-weight aluminum, self feeding, .22LR caliber pistol created in 1956. It had a 10 round magazine,
and weighed only 1.3 lbs.
and weighed only 1.3 lbs.
The Wolverine was engineered by Mr. Robert Hillbery, who learned about aluminum casting during World War Two while working with aircraft guns and later became a research engineer for High Standard Manufacturing Company
Only 13,371 of these .22LR self feeding pistols were manufactured in its short period of production between 1956 and 1958
Show above is the modern day Beretta U22 Neos that show a strong resemblance to the Whitney Wolverine of 55 years ago. Makes one wonder was Beretta influenced by the Wolverine design
Miami, Florida 30th April 2013: The Wolverine was engineered by Robert Hillberg, who learned about aluminum casting during WWII while working with aircraft guns and later became research engineer for High Standard Manufacturing Company. Only 13,371 of these .22 self feeding 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. The frame being investment cast by Alcoa was a new idea for the gun industry at the time, now it is widely used by almost every major gun manufacturer today.
ts name "Wolverine" was named after Mr. Hillberg's favorite football team, the University of Michigan Wolverines. 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.
