M1861 Whitney Revolver---More information

[usmchomesteader]

The top of the barrel is inscribed "1861 E. Whitney .36 caliber" and the left side of the barrel "Made in Italy by Palmetto". It has a sighting groove in the top of the pistol frame and a pointed brass front sight. The sighting groove in the top of the frame makes me think Remington, with the little knowledge I currently have. The only brass is the trigger guard & a pointed front brass sight. It is a six-shot revolver. Maybe this is just a bastardized replica and no such real revolver ever existed, but if so, I was just interested in a little of the history behind it...who actually made it, what were the production numbers, and how much use did it see, etc.

Thanks for the timely responses so far...Bob P.

 

[chuck faison]

the whitneys were a good design combining features of colt and remington beals design,,the government bought over 11,000 of them in36 cal. the u.s. navey ones are marked with a anchor,some states marked NJ for new jersey.Hope this helps,,chuck

 

[Zonie]

See your other post about the Whitney.

The reproduction of the steel framed Whitney doesn't show up in my 1980 Dixie catalog but it may have been imported prior to then by other importers. The gun does show up in my next oldest Dixie catalog which was from 1987.

The 1980 Dixie catalog does show the brass framed Spiller & Burr Confederate copy of the Whitney (which cost $76.50 back then).

To find out when your pistol was made look for the proof marks.
Adjacent to them will be a small square or rectangular box with either a roman numberal or a pair of letters (like [BD])

If you let us know what the letters are we can tell you when your gun was proofed.
zonie