I found a Unicorn

It's pretty cool, that's for sure.

Whitloe "Lee" model revolver. The "Grant" model had a steel frame instead of Bronze.

I bought this one from Jim Davis's collection. October country still has some, but the price is a bit high IMO.

Very nice. Are you going to shoot it?

white smoke said:

This too is from Dr Davis's collection and it was offered on gun broker by October Country. It is not marked Lee. It has a very small logo WPI for Witloe Precision Inc.I'm guessing it's a 1st generation.?

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From what i've read, most of the 2nd gen models were target versions with adjustable rear sight and a ramped front sight... There are some discrepancies on the barrel stamps between models. Some are marked "Grant 44" and "Lee 44" and some were not. On this one, its marked "Witloe 44 CAL" where the others ive seen have the Lee or Grant stamp.

Also, apparently the 1st gen barrel address stamps said "WITLOE PRECISION INC COLLINGDALE PENNA USA" and the 2nd gen was the same but omitted the 'Precison Inc' portion of the aforementioned info. My example had an individuals address on it, possibly a one-off for someone that worked at the factory or a friend of the man in charge? Ive attached pics.

Just from looks I would say yours is 1st generation, but they did have non target model 2nd gens from what I understand.

nice! i have nothing to add other than it is a pretty firearm and it sounds like you got it for a very good price.

d

SlowFuse said:

The "Grant" model had a steel frame instead of Bronze.

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Definitely steel and a beautiful piece of art.

Beautiful, both of them.

A beaut for sure

white smoke said:

Update. I made an interesting discovery. I was set to take this revolver to the range last Friday and just happened to check and see what size caps would fit. Answer: Not CCI 10 or 11 and not RWS 1075. None would even start to fit, as they were all too small. There is no apparent damage from dry firing. They all looked fine. Then I got to thinking, Witloe is said to have copied the Remington exactly to specs (except he ran the frame screws in from the right side to prevent fakes). So I was wondering if Civil War era caps and nipples were bigger. I ordered a set of nipples from Track of the Wolf that were threaded to original size and length. They fit fine and take the CCI #11 caps. So, I will go to the range Sunday and see if this dog will hunt. I'll post a report after I try it out.

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That is very interesting!!! Please let us know if you find out anymore regarding the nipple sizes.thank you

white smoke said:

Update. I made an interesting discovery. I was set to take this revolver to the range last Friday and just happened to check and see what size caps would fit. Answer: Not CCI 10 or 11 and not RWS 1075. None would even start to fit, as they were all too small. There is no apparent damage from dry firing. They all looked fine. Then I got to thinking, Witloe is said to have copied the Remington exactly to specs (except he ran the frame screws in from the right side to prevent fakes). So I was wondering if Civil War era caps and nipples were bigger. I ordered a set of nipples from Track of the Wolf that were threaded to original size and length. They fit fine and take the CCI #11 caps. So, I will go to the range Sunday and see if this dog will hunt. I'll post a report after I try it out.

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I'm on a few black powder forums with guys that own and shoot original guns. I do believe they use #11 caps on originals. Cap sizes went from #9 to #12 back in the day. Walkers used a #12 cap.

The Whitney I referenced earlier had very large stock nipples. I had to order replacements.

CCI #11's, Remington #10's/11's and RWS 1075s were nowhere close to fitting.

hawg said:

I'm on a few black powder forums with guys that own and shoot original guns.

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which other Black Powder forums?

Colt Country is the main one now since the 58 Remington forum went down. https://coltcountryforum.com/index.php?action=unread TFL has a decent bp section but they're very strict. https://thefiringline.com/forums/index.php?

Thanks, I'll check out those two other forums

hawg said:

Colt Country is the main one now since the 58 Remington forum went down.

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It's down? I haven't been able to log in for a long time, but I thought it was my crummy computer. What would it take to bring it back? Is the domain for sale or anything? That site was the source of a lot of great info about the prettiest revolver ever made.

tinhorn said:

It's down? I haven't been able to log in for a long time, but I thought it was my crummy computer. What would it take to bring it back? Is the domain for sale or anything? That site was the source of a lot of great info about the prettiest revolver ever made.

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The security clearances expired and the owner has seemingly vanished. The domain AFAIK isn't for sale. Captain Kirk can tell you more about it.