The Miroku "Japchester" siblings

[pricedo]

The Miroku siblings:

On the left the Winchester model 94 Trails End takedown in 450 Marlin......20" bbl.....6 1/2 pounds.

On the right the Winchester model 1886 Extra Light in 45-70 GVT which sports one of Jon Kleins excellent leather butt stock covers.........22" bbl........7 pounds.

These two guns are both super slick & accurate and the way mother nature & "The Duke" intended without scopes. The 94 Trails End firing maximum 450 Marlin loads bucked loose 2 different sets of scope bases so I took the hint & gave it its wish to "return to its roots" & be free of junk & gadgets. It shoots one hole ragged clusters at 50 yards off sandbags with the Hornady 350 grain flat nose SPs.

The 1886 which isn't ported shoots groups that are a little bigger due to the heavy recoil of the Buffalo Bore 430 grain hc lead ammo.

Excellent thick brush leverguns.

They both sport the excellent Quake "Claw" slings with no-slip shoulder grip pads.

They don't make an animal in North America that will stand in front of either of these 2 guns and live more than a second or two.

[Ranch Dog]

Nice looking leverguns!

[Archer]

A good buddy of mine purchased one of the Big Horn Armory Model 89 carbines in 50 S&W. After a couple and a half year lag from the time he put his deposit down it was finally delivered.

He's scoped both it and the Smith & Wesson companion revolver.

As I recall the revolver required 3 Luepold rings to keep the scope in place without shifting. Not certain about the carbine.

Not sure friction paste like I use on the mountain bike seatpost is a good idea but it probably makes more sense than rosin powder.

Sweet looking levers.
One of these days I'm going to have to take some pics myself.

[pricedo]

I've lost interest in scoping the Miroku 94 Trails End /450 Marlin but for it to work it'd need to be one of those 4 ring jobbies like RD has on his 92s. Loctite or no after a few shots that scope was wiggling around in those rings like a night crawler on a black asphalt driveway in July.

[akuser47]

Good lookin levers

[Tuco Ramirez]

Darn nice rifles there Pricedo!!. Bet they would look even better in my gun cabinet........

[pricedo]

I'm a student of the historic background of firearms and firearm manufacturing companies.
The Miroku 94 is a lot more like the pre-64 94s than the post 64s.
In the early 1960s production costs were soaring and most Winchester models were losing money.
The Winchester executives had two choices before them in 1963........go cheap & sacrifice quality or maintain quality and greatly increase the MSRPs of their firearms.
We all know what choice they made back then.
They would have been damned whatever way they went.
The Miroku Winchesters represent the implementation of that other choice almost 50 years later......the choice they didn't make in 1963.
Even with the safety stuff it's amazing how these two guns slicked up after the 500 cycle break-in.
The quality of the steel, machining & metal finishing is very high........superb as a matter of fact.
I didn't strip them down because there are so many small parts in the trigger and firing pin linkages and if even 1 of those tiny parts is lost the gun becomes a real expensive baseball bat.

[Ranch Dog]

I didn't strip them down because there are so many small parts in the trigger and firing pin linkages and if even 1 of those tiny parts is lost the gun becomes a real expensive baseball bat.

That statement generates a good question, are spare parts available?

[pricedo]

I didn't strip them down because there are so many small parts in the trigger and firing pin linkages and if even 1 of those tiny parts is lost the gun becomes a real expensive baseball bat.

That statement generates a good question, are spare parts available?

My honest answer is that I don't know.
I presume so.
Don't forsee any malfunctions.......none to date with the two guns.
I've been cycling & shooting the snot out of both of them and anything attached to, in front of, or behind the guns (ouuuuuchhh !) breaks.......but NOT the guns themselves.
I know some of the saftied up lawyer parts for the current Winchester 92s are replacable/interchangable with non-safetied up components made for the now discontinued Browning B92 rifle and there has been no problem in obtaining replacement parts for people I have spoken to.
My understanding is that Steve's Gunz and Turnbull Mfg will convert the guns to legacy configuration but that is an expensive proposition.
But if you own Miroku Japchesters in the first place having the money is obviously not an obstacle.

[Ranch Dog]

I suspect at this purchase price level if something isn't right they will make it right.