Guns International #: 102881590
Seller's Inventory #: 227944

Category - Antique Rifles - 1500-1850 - Single Shot Rifles - German-Austrian

Category
Antique Rifles - 1500-1850
Single Shot Rifles - German-Austrian

JOSEPH KUCHENREITER WHEELLOCK Rifle Engraved Carved Stock Ivory .60 Antique Bavarian German Sliding Patch Box

Description:
JOSEPH KUCHENREITER WHEELLOCK Rifle Engraved Carved Stock Ivory .60 Antique

Bavarian German Sliding Patch Box

Here we present an antique Germanic Joseph Kuchenreiter Wheellock Rifle made circa the early to mid-1700s in the Bavarian Region of Germany. The Kuchenreuter family of Ratisbonne (Regensburg) were among the finest of Germanic gunsmiths in the 18th and 19th centuries. Joseph Kuchenreiter was the patriarch of this well-know gunmaking family from Bavaria and was active between 1712 and 1769.

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.

This piece shows all the hallmarks of German gunmaking of the period with a short overall length, swamped octagonal barrel, Germanic engraving, sliding patchbox, and intricate attention to detail in the lockwork. Carved stock. Wire and ivory inlays. This rifle features a .60 caliber rifled bore with the maker’s mark writ large on the top of the barrel. A beautiful piece.

The overall condition is very good. This rifle has been expertly brought back to firing condition. It includes a spanner, or cocking wrench, in the sliding patchbox. The action is excellent. The bore is in very good condition: clean with strong, deep rifling. The stock shows lots of use and some professional repairs throughout and remains solid. This was in the collection of the famous Joe Wanenmacher until he passed recently. He was the owner for several decades of the Tulsa Arms Show in Oklahoma. He had a vast collection that included many flintlocks and even wheellocks. This is a rare opportunity to own an original Kuchenreiter wheellock rifle trimmed in ivory, as well as one from a highly distinguished collection from one of the giants of firearms collecting in the world.

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

Barrel is 25-3/4 inches.

Caliber: .60

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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ancestryguns

$16,250

#227944
 

Price: $16,250.00                     Buy Now

Antique: Yes