This beautiful Wheelock Petronel (carbine) has a .48 cal. rifled and swamped 18" barrel. The engravings and carvings are of the best artisan work you'll find. The violin finish on the stock is just superb. I've had this great piece in my collection for over 30 years. I bought it from the adult sons of a Kentucky Rifle collector who were selling their deceased dad's collection. They told me that out of all their dad's Kentucky rifles that this was his favorite as it represented the ancestry of the American Kentucky (Pennsylvania) rifle.  On pages 23-24 of Howard L. Blackmore's "Guns and Rifles of the World" there's a very good description of these guns. To paraphase" The short thick butt is generally classified as the German butt.  A round iron knob screwed into the heel of the butt protects the decorated surface from contact with the ground. The German butt in the middle of the 16th century was made in an almost straight line with the barrel and forend, and there is only a gentle slope from the breech tang to the butt-plate.  On the left hand side the butt was fashioned with a flat, angled surface as a cheekpiece. On the other side the space between the lock and butt-plate is occupied by a patch box or tool box with a sliding lid. The best quality one's were inlayed with engraved stag-horn and bone.  The German Wheelocks were known for there fine engraving on their locks."
  The spanner that you see in some of the pictures didn't come with the gun but is a perfect match and will go with it.   A rare opportunety to own such an historic rifle.  It really is a work of Art !

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