A wheellock rifle with an additional insert rifled barrel is a rare specimen when regarded from the technical point of view. The rifle was made by Heinrich Wink in Breslau (now the Polish city of Wrocław) in the 1740s. Its distinctive feature is the additional rifled barrel, which is shown in the glass case next to the rifle itself. It can be inserted into the main rifled barrel and thus allows the owner to use bullets of different calibres: larger bullets for big game and smaller bullets — for targets. Creation of such an insert barrel which would fit perfectly into the main one and yet would have grooves along its own bore was a time-consuming task which could be fulfilled only by highly skilled gunsmiths. In various museums all over the world there are no more than 20 rifles of this construction. Four rifles are kept in Russia: two of them — in the Armoury Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin and the other two — in the Gatchina Palace.
On the tang of the breech there are engraved war trophies. The breech end of the barrel is engraved with floral patterns and war trophies as well as with an image of an ancient Roman warrior carrying colours. The upper plane of the barrel is decorated with an engraved ribbon with the inscription ‘Heinrich Winck a Breslau’. By the end of the ribbon there is an oval brass plate fixed to the barrel with screws. It is decorated with an openwork floral pattern along the edge. It is possible that the plate was used as a base for the rear sight which was lost later. On the lower right plane of the barrel there is a mark with the letters ‘SBW’.
The rifle has a wheellock mechanism. The dog is engraved with images of a dolphin, Neptune, Cupid and war trophies. The dog has a special spring-driven switch decorated with an engraved flower. When the switch is closed, a shooter can tension the mainspring of the lock without a spanner wrench after pivoting the dog. When it is open, the lock can only be operated with a spanner. The dog spring and its brace are protected by an iron cover which has an openwork brass plate fixed over it. It depicts the goddess Athena, war trophies and tied prisoners. The wheel bracket which holds the wheel shaft inside the lock has engraved images of a man and a bird. The front part of the lock is protected by a cover. The cover is decorated with an engraved rosette, while the priming pan cover spring is decorated with an openwork dragon.
