Have you heard of a .25 Sherry?

[Bethany]

The Rabbi sent me, he said you could help. About 15-20 years ago I ran across a handgun at a Louisville gun show that was a .25 calibur and it had "Sherry" engraved on the barrel. I do not know who manufactured the gun (it wasn't a very popular manufacturer). The gun came in pastel colors (pink, blue, lavendar and green). Each one had "Sherry" engraved on the barrel. Unfortunately I didn't purchase the gun and I have always wanted one. Can someone please help me out by providing any information on this unique handgun?

[matthew.g.george]

Look up wilkinson arms...

they had lady names for their guns... Linda, Sherry, etc...

[ATAShooter]

Didn't have a Sherry that was 25, but I did a Lisa at 18, and YAHOO !!!!

[sm]

Yeah, but I got a feeling you are not speaking of a Farmers daughter either.
She carried a Jetfire, a 1911, and used a Model 12 in 20 bore to shoot clays with.

[The Bushmaster]

Dirty ol' man...Both of you...(can I have her phone number?)

[bakert]

matthew.g,george has it right. Wilkinson.

[ZipperZap]

I know a little bit about the Linda's as I have 2) of them. They are the best shooting handgun I have ever shot. Yes they are big & bulky & even kinda ugly. Definitely an "assault" type look. I love shooting either of mine in the company of gunners who don't care for the looks of them. I have Aimpoint 3000's on both & they both shoot the same. Excellent !
You'd have to shoot with me to even believe them.

I have a load with cast bullets (125 conical) that is unreal.
With the Aimpoints, it will shoot the black out of a target @ 25 yds.
Bowling pins,3" steel @ 100 yds and most anything in between with zero hold-over.

I attribute most of it to the 8 5/16" barrel and the fact that the bolt telescopes over the OD of the barrel as it chambers.
I'd love to put a "terry" length barrel in it (shortened to 15")
I plan to have JDJ do that someday with one of his Shilen's.

As to what I know about Wilkinson history:
Ray Wilkinson (deceased) was the main-man.
I talked to him on phone a few times 15 years ago.
Yes on the Daughters deal....Linda,Terry,Sherry (22rf)
He originally was in gun-valley ... Covina,ca.
The first guns were so marked.

Then he moved to Parma,Id.

My original Linda is a Covina with 00xxxx serial#
My other one is ALSO a 00xxxx serial# but is a Parma.
I have a friend who also has a 00xxxx from Parma.
Mine is the only Covina I have actually handled, but there are surely more around.

I have influenced several around here to buy these guns.
However, around '88 or '89 they were fatlady-housed out @ around $349
These guns serial#'s start with 88 or 89.
My friends got some of these...they look the same...but are cheapened-up.
They are NOT equal to the 00xxxx guns in functionality.
Wilkinson elimated a few machine-cuts in the bolt for one.
This made it cheaper to make, but weakened the extractor.
Also the free-bore in chamber is shorter.

My loads (125 conical) stick in the rifling @ ly OAL.
The cheaper bolt won't extract an unfired round...to flimsy.
The older guns,have a stronger extractor that is re-inforced with a T-bar...newer one eliminated the T-bar.

Old ones have Williams rear sites (adj)
88 89 ones have a piece of tin with a hole in it.

I have more fun with my "good" ones than most of my guns.

They'll shoot.
9mm's are my .22's

[doncameron]

googled this for ya

http://armsbid.com/8sat.htm


lot #29

[coach22]

If I remember correctly, the original was called
Wilkinson Arms Diane.

coach22

[bannockburn]

Did Wilkinson have anything to do with the AutoNine .22 design? I had one years ago and it was a decent little .22; seemed like his guns shared a lot of the features of the AutoNine, and maybe some improvements too. I think the AutoNine was marketed by a company called FTL, and I believe they were out of California as well.

[Moonclip]

Auto 9 is just a repackaged Wilkinsons Arms .22lr. Kinda of like a scaled down single action AMT backup which I believe he also designed. A company called Northwest arms did/does make the Linda and the .22lr pistol also.

I had 2 FTL auto 9's, my dad had one. If kept clean and fed the right ammo it likes they will do ok. I still have one. I've never seen any of the .25acp versions for sale locally. They sort of remind me of a .22lr baby Browning.

[bannockburn]

Moonclip

Thanks for the info-my AutoNine was okay, but you're correct about the "(I)f kept clean and fed the right ammo" condition. Mine was very fussy about what ammo it liked, and when you add such tight internal dimensions and rimfire ammo into the mix, well, let's just say that reliability was not one of the upsides of this little gun. Still, it was a clean design (that and the fact that there was and has not been anything like it since in a .22LR), was built with quality materials, and was well constructed.