Rare Antique Whitney Kennedy 40-60 Lever Rifle

Updated August 7, 2026

In good condition. Action is smooth and appears to be all original. The Whitney-Burgess and Whitney-Kennedy lever action rifles are some of the lesser known arms of America’s “Wild West” history. All were based on design work by Andrew Burgess, one of the nations most influential firearms designers. Fast Facts After his creation of the Cotton Gin Eli Whitney Jr. (aka Eli Whitney II) moved on to becoming an arms manufacturer. Whitney purchased the land for his Whitneyville arms factory in 1798 and it took ten years to get it built and fully operational. Whitney had a contract to manufacture muskets for the US Government and this financed his establishment of Whitneyville. Whitney’s son Eli Whitney Jr. (aka. Eli Whitney III) took over the family business when he turned twenty-one years of age in 1841. Gun designer Andrew Burgess approached Eli Whitney Jr in the late 1870’s with a view to making 2,000 lever-action rifles of his design, some of which he wanted to submit to the US Army for trial. These rifles were made but failed their government trial. The improved version became a quite popular sporting rifle and paved the way for the creation of the Whitney-Kennedy rifles which were a modification of the Burgess design done by Samuel V. Kennedy and Frank W. Tiesing. Approximately 23,500 Whitney-Kennedy rifles were made, with production ceasing after the death of Eli Whitney

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