The Best Wheellocks Ever Built

Tschinke (pronounced chinker) Wheellock Rifles are some of the most unusual and heavily decorated guns you’re ever likely to see. Originating in the Polish (at the time Austrian) city of Cieszyn, in Silesia, south west Poland, Tschinke exhibit the very best of gunmaking skill, as well as the tastes and styles of the period.

We have an exceptional collection of Tschinke Wheellock Rifles, and you can take a look at them here.

The Tschinke style developed in the early 17th century, as small calibre birding rifles. These guns would have been very expensive items made by the most skilled craftsmen, and this is reflected in the richness of their embellishment.

Earlier styles are plainer and larger, with straighter Jager style stocks and plainer decoration. The style evolved through the first half of the 1600s into the unique, slender and ornate rifles of the apex of the style. Often highly decorated with figured and scrimshawed bonework of beasts, forest and hunting scenes and inlayed with pearl, the Tschinke’s most recognisable feature is it’s unusually shaped stock.

Invariably fully stocked in slender embellished wood along the entirety of the long barrel, the stock to a Tschinke is of an unusual ‘hind leg’ form, designed for rapid shouldering and firing. Usually fitted with a patchbox and large trigger guard typical to the region, Tschinke can be shouldered surprisingly quickly and comfortably, and the small bore and low recoil would have made recoil negligible and a full shoulder stock unnecessary.

Frequently of unusually small bore, around .30 calibre, these rifles were designed for sporting small birds in the rich forests of central Europe by the nobility. As with guns made for a similar clientele, they are frequently in exceptional condition and show little signs of use, making them a perfect microcosm of shooting sports in the period.

Fitted commonly with a Wheelock action, though flintlock examples do exist, Tschinke represent the best of technology and materials that were available in the day. The barrels are long, octagonal and often swamped, and may be fitted with open or tunnel sights. Usually rifled, the bores are expertly cut with multiple deep grooves and must have been among the most precise shooters of their day.

Tschinke represent fascinating diversion from regular gunmaking of the period, and show such a unique niche in terms of both style and use as perhaps never seen in other areas of firearms development.

We have an exceptional collection of Tschinke Wheellock Rifles, and you can take a look at them here.

To view our full range of Wheellock Rifles & Pistols, click here.

We understand buying online or over the telephone isn’t quite the same as having the item in your hands, therefore, as with all our antiques, we offer a no quibble returns policy if for whatever reason you’re unhappy with your purchase. Simply return the item for a full refund.

We are also always on the look-out for quality antiques, so if you have anything you wish to sell, from a single item to a large collection, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.