Guns International #: 102903349
Seller's Inventory #: 244144

Category - Antique Rifles - 1500-1850 - Single Shot Rifles - European

Category
Antique Rifles - 1500-1850
Single Shot Rifles - European

EUROPEAN Antique WHEELLOCK Sporting Rifle Pre-dating the FLINTLOCK Rifle Fascinating Carved Stock 17th / 18th Century Weapon

Description:
EUROPEAN Antique WHEELLOCK Sporting Rifle Pre-dating the FLINTLOCK Rifle   

Fascinating Carved Stock 17th / 18th Century Weapon

Here we present an antique Carved European Wheellock Rifle made circa the late 17th to early 18th century, likely in the Holy Roman Empire or modern Germany. The wheellock rifle was developed in Europe in the late 15th or early 16th century, though exactly who developed it is unknown. Leonardo da Vinci produced an early sketch of a wheellock mechanism mounted on a rifle as part of a series of military design commissioned for the Duke of Milan somewhere around 1490. Another early depiction of the wheellock was drawn by Martin Loffelholz of Nuremberg, Germany in 1505, though it shows as being used as a tinder lighter rather than a rifle.

A German gunsmith named Johann Kiefuss is often credited with inventing the wheellock in 1517, although there is little evidence of this and is believed to have originated from legend. In 1517, Emperor Maximillian I issued a decree outlawing the civilian use of such guns within the Holy Roman Empire. Some of the earliest surviving examples of these rifles using the wheellock mechanism were made in Italy, probably around the early 1520s. Due to the expense of wheellock weapons, the matchlock remained the standard type of gun lockwork until the invention of the flintlock.

The overall condition is very good. Gray patina throughout. The breech of the barrel is marked 5/F. The action is functional. The bore is smooth and dim. The stock shows use and remains solid. There is a chip that has formed behind the barrel tang on top that is stable. No spanner included.

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrel is 26-5/8 inches.

Caliber: .43 or about 57 gauge

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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ancestryguns

$3950

#244144
 

Price: $3,950.00                     Buy Now

Antique: Yes