[OldEagleEars]

Updating for the friends who have advised me so well; the Wolverine is now home! It was quite the rage at my LGS when I picked it up, seems nobody had ever seen one in the flesh..er, plastic! On examination, the thing seems very well made and fits naturally into the hand like a good handshake. Everybody who has handled it comments on how naturally it points, reminds folks of a Buckmaster or Ruger Mark (one codger older than me was reminded of a Colt Woodsman), it just feels good to hold. Of course, shooting will be the test but that will wait until after my Granddaughter gets it for Christmas (now I can hardly wait for Christmas myself!). A female-oriented gun shop has opened here in town and I took it in to show the proprietor who was totally amazed and is now going to order one for herself and to use as a trainer. I also will be letting her train my Granddaughter in a "First-Time Shooter" class next month; she has full NRA accreditation and it will be an all-female class. That will make it easier on me since training a young relative to shoot is almost as hard as training them to drive; a stranger just does a better job of communicating the important stuff.
Again, thanks to all who have sent me advice and I am still intending on custom grips even though the black ones aren't as bad as I had feared.

[HockaLouis]

Great gift for the grandkid -- thoughtful and personal. And I love that someone here knew where to find such grips! LOL GOTTA see a picture!!!

So, I have to ask, does anyone else here remember the toy plastic guns that were a copy of the Whitney Wolverine the FIRST time the real guns were around? You loaded them with colored rubber balls which you pulled off of a branch of them through a sliding gate on top IIRC. And/or maybe they fired little flying discs like 45 record middles you'd use on the 33 spindle of something called a record player. Either way, they shot a few feet -- lol. They were cheap when Made In Japan MEANT cheap, and hung in a blister pack on a hook in every store that sold ANY toys. This around the time when the OP was probably serving in SE Asia...

[OldEagleEars]

Dang, HockaLouis! That is an amazing thing you've found there! I had no idea that such a toy ever existed since yes, I was off at the SE Asian war games from late '68 to mid-71. The picture you posted shows that the "Zebra" was a close copy of the Wolverine down to the doughnut cocking-grips on the end of the slide. I think I may do a little looking on Ebay...

[HockaLouis]

Good luck. It'd probably be easier to get an original nickel Whitney Wolverine than a packaged toy one. Probably a few sitting at gun shows in the junk boxes spread all over the country. This is more how I remember 'em...

[guncollector]

i've owned a original whitney and a remake made by olympic arms as sweet as they felt in my hand they tend to be ammo sensitive . i did have some minor sucess with cci mini mags all other ammo was troublesome . seems to me as i recall they were always a bit of a bother and had some magazine issues . granted i did not keep mine long enough to wring out all the issues and perhaps the newer one would of straightened out after a few hundred rounds but i couldn't wait and sold them both.

[canebrake]

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/410840/vintage-gun-grips-whitney-wolverine-22-rimfire-polymer-black

http://vintagegungrips.net/ao-w33.html

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=918980&filter=918980

http://www.gun-parts.com/grips2/



http://stevespages.com/pdf/olympic_whitney_wolverine.pdf