The Whitney-Scharf was the final rifle manufactured by the Whitney company before it was bought out and closed down by Winchester in 1888. Only about 2,000 of these rifles were made before that time. / forgottenweapons
Interesting to think how rifles may have evolved or progressed differently if Winchester hadn't bought out so many innovative, potential competitors and patents that they simply threw away.
i dont see enough people talk about the raw passion & knowledge that goes into these videos. they’re so creatively simple, but informationally beautiful. i love it
Ian would enjoy the Eli Whitney Museum, a hands on museum that offers a year-round inventing/engineering program for kids on the former grounds of the estate. They encourage building and taking apart.
I have learned a lot of US firearms history through these videos. Great stuff, and really interesting pieces that are totally unknown on my side of the Atlantic!
+Trias TheKILLER Sadly that's happened a lot of times. The car petrol industry bought out the first electric car companies, held their patents and shut them down.
+scout2nut -- Yeah, Bill Gates has total control. Even Linux comes with a Microsoft copyright on it now. It's why Android is the most popular mobile OS and Linux is the most popular server OS, because Microsoft controls them.
+Thomas Mobley linux is the most popular server os because it's low intensity and can be run for long periods much better than, well anything. it's not like anyone's going to go through the effort to make a hackintosh just to run a server and windows just sucks.
Had Winchester done that about seventy years earlier they probably would had shot themselves in the foot, as I would imagine they were using Whitney's milling machine...
Is there any more iconic firearm for a guy brought up on 1940s and 1950s westerns than a lever action rifle? Okay, maybe a Thompson, but the list is short.
Why do you guys keep complaining about the quality of the video? Last I checked I'm only here for some gun education, not a hi-def experience. Great video Ian!
Enjoy all your videos, always well made and informative. Does anyone actually own the design of old lever actions like this now? I would assume the patent has long since ran out. Could a manufacturer like Miroku or anyone else not produce these models today? There are also Browning designs that were never made. This design with the short lever throw might appeal to the cowboy action shooters.
Uberti does make a reproduction of the 1883 Burgess, the thing is, since Winchesters were the most popular rifle of the time the people doing period correct roleplay will also usually go for them over weirder stuff because it fits their image of typical wild west kit. Consequently the other stuff is made in lower numbers, and a fair bit more expensive to make up for the lower sales (Uberti's 1873 Winchesters are like $1,000, their 1883 Burgess is $1,500). It'd be neat to see more less common models in reproductions, but when you're dealing with a niche market as it is, you make it even more niche by going the route of different. They'd have low sales and thus need high prices to make up for it, which in turn means they'll still be out of reach to most, and thus not particularly profitable.
Ian! This video was awesome, I was just learning about Whitney and his weapon making today in History! Also learned about his contribution towards interchangeable parts.. The more you know!
+no name (atomflunder2) -- Point taken, but my comment was still appropriate (and incredibly witty, funny and intelligent) in a forgotten weapons forum so there. lol
+Nukle0n Was about to comment this. Looks like there's a scratch on the handguard that lines right up to it. So someone fudged up bad when they dropped it
I've gotten so used to you opening up guns letting us see the mechanics of them all, that this was a bit of a let down. However I know there must've been a good reason for leaving it intact. Please read on... Nevertheless I love all you're programs, you're one of a kind. I hope to get my partner to watch you so she can see guns are not necessarily the domain of the psycho, and to note that people capable of joined up talking have an interest in them too.
Kinda neat how RU-vid recommended this video to me as it (apart from being one of the few FW ones I've not previously seen) fits in nicely with the Winchester-theme currently running on Forgotten weapons. :)
+GuyKappe Ian said it in the previous video -Burgess was behind the design of all Whitney lever-actions, his name appeared along Whitney's only in the first rifle variant, but he still obtained a cut from profits of later model sales (which were advancements of his own design).
I find it interesting that the predicted prices of the Whitneyville rifles are remarkably cheap when compared to the competitive Winchester rifles of the same manufacture era. Even the Bullard lever and especially the Colt-Burgess you reviewed about a year ago demanded a higher premium. I wonder why that is.
I friend of mine has a Whitney/Shrafe 32 lever action full octagon barrel, model 1886 missing recoil flap small chip on left side of stock, asking $2,200 will provide pictures in a few days nice rifle
Question: I once owned an old Ted William's 30 30 rifle rifle distributed by Sears during the 1960s and I liked the balance on that rifle better than the Winchester. If I remember correctly the barrel was marked Whitney. I really liked that old gun and was very sorry to have it stolen from me. I'd picked it up super cheap at a flea market but it was an extremely well made o.d gun and accurate. Am I correct in remembering this gun as a whitney?
nobody was contesting his patent, the cotton gin was brilliant but simple so people could easily copy it so they quickly made as many as they could, undercut the price from Whitney and kept going until they where shut down by court order. That's the danger of making a high demand product with a low barrier to entry anyone with even a little manufacturing experience could make one and they did.
buying out a competitor that isn't even worthy is just plain wrong. it would be like Samsung buying Apple......... why would you give a lesser company producing lesser products the satisfaction........
looks more like a gouge than a crack, got a question that's off subject. did anyone besides the Germans try the v-3 design, that's one i'd truly like to see fire?
I'm not business savvy at all but couldn't Whitneyville, or any other business for that matter, not accept the buy out? My impression is the business was bought when it wasn't for sale.
What the f*ck. Before the one minute mark I heard a very loud, scratchy, masculine voice say, "What do we have here?!". Please tell me I wasn't the only one. Please
But no. I do not have any zombie games downloaded. And my kindle can't play videos in the background. It's whatever. Just wondering if anyone elsewhere it.
yep! it did have its production stopped in 1937 till the 80's where it was put back into production for cowboy action shooting due to the enthusiasts wanting a legit experience with ammo from the time they were emulating, the old west.
This is why I love this channel. Firearms in and of themselves aren't all that interesting to me. At the end of the day, you load ammunition, you pull the trigger, a series of events takes place, and a projectile goes out the other end. What I'm interested in, and what Ian always gets into, is the historical context, and the other little background stories that tie together, and lead to a gun's creation.
