Whittier Revolving Rifle

Statistics
1837–1841, USA, cap and ball, revolving cylinder. Caliber .59, Range 50, Capacity 6, Rate of Fire 1, Damage 1D10, Malfunction 95.

Description
An oddly graceful piece, the Whittier revolving rifle sports a 32” long barrel that tapers from octagonal to round, and its darkly varnished stock is decorated with inlays of German silver. The topstrap and frame are engraved with floral patterns, and a patchbox of German silver harkens back to the days of Kentucky rifles. A silver plaque behind the cylinder is engraved with a personal dedication: “To Captain Mt. Sinai Butterfield, with Admiration, from Your Friend N. Kendall.” The rifle includes a handsome supply case made from the same varnished wood as the stock. The case contains room for twenty-four .59 caliber balls, percussion caps, cleaning equipment, and a bullet mold and casting ladle.

Notes
In 1835 Otis W. Whittier of Enfield, New Hampshire, developed a revolving rifle featuring a manually-rotated cylinder. Two years later, he received a patent for a new “zig-zag” cylinder, in which external grooving on the cylinder allowed for mechanized rotation. When the shooter pulls the rear trigger, the internal firing pin is cocked and the cylinder rotates into position. The front trigger fires the rifle. Whittier’s patent produced a host of variations, from revolving shotguns to 8-, 9-, and 10-shot rifles of differing calibers.

Samuel Colt is reputed to have owned a Whittier, and while he “borrowed” the Whittier’s zig-zag pattern for the Root Pocket Revolver of 1855, its most famous descendent is the Webley–Fosbery Self-Cocking Automatic Revolver of 1895. Working with Nicanor Kendall at his factory in Windsor, Vermont, Whittier produced about a hundred of these beautiful rifles before vanishing into the fog of history.

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Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 30 July 2023
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
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