Texas Whitney Navy resto.

[Leadeye]

Picked up this Whitney Navy 36, another example of a company that jumped on the Colt patent expiration to bring out a similar design. It had been slathered with conservation varnish so much that everything was immobile, the seller told me that it had been in a Texas museum before the 1960s. The name of Hans Coker had been carved into the grip.

Eli's people already had a chance to evaluate Colt's strengths and weaknesses as they had made parts for Sam going back to the Walker/Dragoon days. It's a solid frame gun, much like the 1858 Remington, which is no surprise as Fordyce Beals copied much of the Whitney in that design. Spiller and Burr Confederate revolvers were nearly direct copies of the Whitney.

After removing the grips the gun got a soaking in MEK to remove the conservation varnish and then a soaking in diesel fuel to loosen up everything. The gun was missing the hammer spring, cylinder pin latch, and the hand spring was mangled and non functional. The bore was somewhat pitted but still had very good rifling and some shine. Dixie Gun Works provided, the cylinder latch, a main spring that fits the Remington 1858 and a little modification made it work. The hand spring I made up from shim stock.

Hans Coker, whoever you were, your revolver is working again.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Damn, AWESOME!

 

[TxStetson]

Picked up this Whitney Navy 36, another example of a company that jumped on the Colt patent expiration to bring out a similar design. It had been slathered with conservation varnish so much that everything was immobile, the seller told me that it had been in a Texas museum before the 1960s. The name of Hans Coker had been carved into the grip.

Eli's people already had a chance to evaluate Colt's strengths and weaknesses as they had made parts for Sam going back to the Walker/Dragoon days. It's a solid frame gun, much like the 1858 Remington, which is no surprise as Fordyce Beals copied much of the Whitney in that design. Spiller and Burr Confederate revolvers were nearly direct copies of the Whitney.

After removing the grips the gun got a soaking in MEK to remove the conservation varnish and then a soaking in diesel fuel to loosen up everything. The gun was missing the hammer spring, cylinder pin latch, and the hand spring was mangled and non functional. The bore was somewhat pitted but still had very good rifling and some shine. Dixie Gun Works provided, the cylinder latch, a main spring that fits the Remington 1858 and a little modification made it work. The hand spring I made up from shim stock.

Hans Coker, whoever you were, your revolver is working again.

I think you and @Mad John should get together and compare notes.

 

[Moonpie]

 

[Leadeye]

I think you and @Mad John should get together and compare notes.

I really enjoy Mad John's posts, but he's an order of magnitude beyond the work I do. I like to get old guns in poor condition and get them running again as I enjoy the experience of picking up a piece of history as it was a long time ago and shooting it. Some high quality older guns just need to be left alone as shooting them takes away from the value.

Hans Coker may have been from Texas, I'll be curious if the forum produces any info on him.

 

[Vector6]

Nice work, it will be interesting if more history pops up.

 

[ronr68]

Very cool.

 

[jrbfishn]

Very nice fix.

Sent by an idjit coffeeholic from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Leadeye]

Loaded up today with 20 grains of FFFG, wad and a soft lead 36 caliber ball load, went shooting. Grant me the flier to the right, I'm always a little nervous shooting these 150+ year old guns first time out, the target was set at 25 feet. Second shot to the left and the rest a fairly good group. I shoot offhand with gloves and two sets of glasses first time out. I think the revolver will do well as I get acclimated to it.

 

[KJQ6945]

Well done Leadeye. You saved another one, and it looks like it shoots pretty good.

 

[Leadeye]

Been doing some history digging on Hans Coker in Texas, for you folks that have been around I have a question. Does the name Hansford get shortened to "Hans" in Texas? I find a few Hansford Cokers during the correct time period, but no Hans.