Whitney / Spiller & Burr

[Coot]

Which company makes the best replica of the Whitney and/or the Spiller & Burr revolvers? I know that Pietta makes a Spiller & Burr. Any others out there?

 

[hawkeye2]

No

 

[Leatherbark]

I believe the Whitney that Dixie sells or used to sell was made by Palmetto. I believe that Pietta is the only manufacturer of the Spiller and Burr at this time. But then I was wrong once and this may be the second time

Bob

 

[B. Miller]

I have a Whitney made by an unknown manufacturer. Their "chop" was a double diamond stamped on the frame. Mine is on the frame inside the grips. According to the Replica Black Powder Revoler Assoc. the name of the Italian manufacturer using this stamp is lost to antiquity. I plan on getting this approved for NSSA competition in the near future.
Bruce

 

[B. Miller]

Oh Coot, the last NSSA fall national one of the ladies at the DGW booth told me that Pietta was going to start reproducing the Whitney. As of yet though I have not heard anything about it coming out.

 

[Coot]

Oh Coot, the last NSSA fall national one of the ladies at the DGW booth told me that Pietta was going to start reproducing the Whitney. As of yet though I have not heard anything about it coming out.

Seems logical - since Pietta made a Spiller & Burr (Confederate Whitney) replica, they should already have the tooling. Since Pietta's quality control seems to have improved in recent years, I think that I would rather have a newly made one. We can hope

 

[Zonie]

The Spiller & Burr was based on the Whitney but its brass frame is dimensionally different.

It's not just a matter of changing the frame material from brass to steel but I agree that with some tooling modifications Pietta should be able to make a Whitney.

 

[hawkeye2]

I have 2 Spiller & Burrs, 2 digit sequential serial #s, from the first production run. I got them from a friend, deceased, who also had serial #1. He had an original which was sent to Italy to study. These have the double diamond stamp on the bottom of the grip frame. I always thought they were Pietas. If you have a Whitney that has that mark I can't understand how it has been lost to antiquity as the Whitney is a rather recent repop. I have been around C&B revolvers for about 40 years and don't remember any other Whitneys prior to the current one. It isn't listed in the 2001 Dixie catalog but it shows up in my 2007 catalog. They do not list a maker but a teammate has one and it is of indifferent quality.
I understand the Whitney shares a problem common to the S&B repros in that the grip is too close to the trigger guard. It is so close that the guard smacks your saluteing finger hard enough to become quite a distraction before the end of a 10 shot match even with 15-18 grain loads.

 

[Zonie]

Both the Whitney and the Spiller & Burr pistols are shown in the Dixie Gunworks 1980 and 1987 catalogs.

Unfortunately Dixie did not say who made them. Only that they were made in Italy.

 

[Poor Private]

I own a Spiller & Burr. Mine only has 2 markings on the entire gun the Serial Number B7074, and the stamped markings on the lower right side of the frame-C.S. The gun was sold to me as a custom gun. The barrel and cylinder, and hammere are browned. This makes a very pleasing to look at pistol with the tarnished brass frame( I do not polish the frame). The box that it came in is a Traditions box. Manufactured by Pietta no idea of the date since the lack of markings. I have no problems with the frame slapping my fingers on the grip since I have medium sized hands and generally always hold the grips with my little finger curled up underneath.

 

[B. Miller]

My Whitney was proofed in 1979 as marked by the AE stamp on the gun. A friend has one distributed by Armsport proofed in 1977 with no markings to indicate a manufacturer so there are pre 1980 Whitneys out there.

 

[bprevolver]

The only company that made the Whitney revolver was Palmetto. They also made a Spiller & Burr. Dixie Gun Works have sold Spiller & Burr replicas made by both Palmetto and Pietta. The Double Diamond marking has been found on Spiller & Burr's imported and marked by Navy Arms and Armsport as well as just the Double Diamond.

I still have no idea who the Double Diamond logo belongs to. This marking has also been found on the Paterson and the 1862 Pocket Navy.

 

Double diamond stamp belongs to Pietta.

CP