Estimated that less than 2,000 of these arms in all variations (rifle, carbine and shotgun) were manufactured between 1855 and 1870. Offered here is a Whitney-Howard rifle-musket, the rarest of all Thunderbolt variations. In "Flayderman's" it is noted that only two rifle-muskets are known, and according to the consignor this is one of those two known examples. This is certainly a very rare post-Civil War breechloader made even rarer by the included bayonet believed to be the only known example. Provenance: The Milan J. Turk Collection