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Opinions on Miroku (?) Bess

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Ray-Vigo

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I'm looking at buying an older repro Brown Bess. This appears to be a Miroku product - it has a serial number and a small "circle" stamped on the side of the barrel. Lock is marked "Tower" and has the GR Crown stamp on it. Has what seems to be a flattened profile trigger guard. Any opinions on these repros as shooters? My interest in mainly informal target/fun shooting at paper and silhouette knock-down targets with round ball.

My guess is I'd need a ball mold for it too - was thinking .715 but not finding any Lee mold options in that size. I use .690 in my 12 gauge fowler.
 
Hi,
You need to actually handle the gun because the stocks are so straight that some folks, like me, cannot lower our cheeks to the stock. For me, they make terrible shooters but others may have better luck. My Miroku Bess is salvaged for parts.

dave
 
My Miroku Bess is salvaged for parts.

AAAAAH! THE HORROR!

UNLESS...., salvaged to repair other Bess guns..., then that's OK....

Ray-Vigo Wrote
My interest in mainly informal target/fun shooting at paper and silhouette knock-down targets with round ball.

The Miroku Bess shoots as well as the Pedersoli, IF you can shoulder it, as Dave pointed out.

You can, especially if you get a good price for the musket so upgrading wouldn't add too much cost, check with Dunlop Woodcraft and see if they have a replacement stock for it with better "drop". I know they do that for Pedersoli Bess stocks. The parts must be fitted, but from the guys who have done this it does make an improvement if you're trying to shoot the Bess for score or for Deer.

LD
 
While Miroku Bess lock parts are VERY robust, they are also much cruder than the Pedersoli. That means unless someone has already done a Trigger Job on them or the parts have been very well "worn in," the Trigger Pull is normally going to be VERY heavy and have creep and other annoyances in the feel of the trigger pull. That makes it difficult to get the best accuracy out of them. Having noted that, they can be fixed for a pretty good trigger pull by someone who knows how to do the work.

Since all Miroku’s are a bit long of tooth, I would carefully inspect the Internal Lock Parts for any cracks/damage. The ideal situation would be if you could completely disassemble the lock and inspect all the parts for damage that might otherwise be hidden. This is important as lock repair/replacement parts have run dry years ago and repair/replacement parts have to be custom made.

The fit of the bottom of the Frizzen to the Top of the Priming Pan often has too much gap and the priming powder can fall out when re-enacting or hunting. This can be repaired, though it takes some time to correctly fit the parts together so the Priming Powder stays inside the Pan.

The “flattened/squashed in” Trigger Guard Bow has been noted that when the first Bess was sent to Miroku for copying, the Trigger Guard Bow got damaged/flattened in shipment and the Japanese copied it that way, not knowing any better. Not sure if that story is true or not, but every Miroku I’ve seen has the flattened Trigger Guard Bow. That can cause a problem if the bottom of the trigger hits the inside of the Trigger Guard Bow and “mysteriously” cause the Sear to sometimes catch on the Half Cock when the trigger is pulled. Simple solution is to shorten the bottom of the trigger a bit so it doesn’t hit/drag on the inside of the Trigger Guard Bow.

Be prepared to need a Flint that is one or two sizes SHORTER than one would normally think to use in these Big Locks. The geometry of the Cock to Frizzen is a bit different than Pedersoli’s or Original Besses and that caused a lot of people to have problems with misfires in my Re-Enactment Unit, until I identified and corrected the problem for them. Once I found the correct size for each Miroku Musket, I wrote down the size/dimension of the flint that worked best and strongly suggested they keep it secure to use it when they needed more flints. Having said this, once one finds the proper length of flint for the Musket, many of them will take up to even remarkably poorly shaped flints and still be sure fire.

Since you plan on mostly shooting it live fire, you will want to inspect the bore carefully for heavy pitting. Some pitting won’t matter and can be fairly easily polished out. Best to have a tiny Maglite flashlight that will easily slide down the bore and illuminate the bore, so you can inspect the bore condition. If it looks like a Sewer Pipe in the barrel, I would not plan on using it for Live Firing.

When the Miroku’s were first imported, I looked at them as a Crude and poor copy of a Brown Bess. However, I’ve come to see though they are a bit of an “Ugly Duckling,” many of them have given years of good service. There is no doubt in my mind I would normally pick a Miroku Bess over any of the India Made Muskets, especially as the lock parts of the Miroku Bess are made of much better steel and normally hardened/annealed correctly.

Gus
 
I had a couple years ago and wish I still did. I replaced them with a higher quality 1 st model from Narregansett Arms.I found I had to hold my head way back and just point at the target instead of laying my head down on the stock like most long guns,funny looking hold but it worked for me and I often held my own with a few good rifleman.If I had the money and came across an old Miriku Id buy it no problem
 
Thanks for the advice. I was wanting a Bess a for informal plinking and target shooting. The Pedersoli guns seem to have inflated in price considerably in the past few years, and I could not justify the money for a new Pedersoli on just a "messing around" kind of gun.
 
BillinOregon said:
I had one that someone had "carbined" and I miss it. Had some serious fun with that Bess, and never a flash in the pan.
Didnt happen to have some steel furniture added and a wood rammer did it?
 
You asked for opinion. Here is mine. :shocked2:
When I decided to buy a BB I wanted a representation of the/an arm used in the Revolution. I looked at the Japanese models but just couldn't bear to own a gun, of any kind, then or now, with "Made in Japan" stamped on it. I'm OK with a European import because the U.S. has a very long history of guns coming into this country from Europe. BTW, I'm very happy with my Navy Arms (kit) repro from Pedersoli. Not a perzactly, exactly correct piece but very representative of a Rev. BB.
 
I ain’t no expert on besses, but when I hear folks say, a pedi has too many problems I have to chuckle. I’ve seen so many original besses that looked so different. I’ve seen yours, or the one you owned twenty years ago at least, that in a black and white photo could be fit right in with a bunch of originals.
 
Thanks, Tenn, yes same one.
As I said in another thread on this subject, when I was building my BB the NRA annual convention happened to be in a city near me that year. I attended and saw a display by BB collectors. And, again, yes, there are many variations. But few of those variations were major or stood out to the casual observer. I was fortunate to see that display and it convinced me the Ped/Navy Arms version was an excellent representative of the original Rev. period BB. I'm happy to own mine and have used it in talks and presentations many times since then.
 
I have a Miroku BB that I have had for several years. Maybe I got lucky but I have not had any issues what so ever with it. Trigger is good, no lock issues, frizzen and pan have no gap, etc.

It gets several hundred live round fired every year and has not failed once.

Because the wood is not walnut the color on mine was way to light for my liking so I refinished it with dark walnut stain and linseed oil.
 
I had a gunsmith work on the trigger pull, as it almost needed a come-along to fire it when I bought mine. My head and neck must fit it just fine, because she works well with me. EXCEPT, my trigger finger is too short to effectively manipulate the trigger, so I use my middle finger, no problems. I took a silver medal at Friendship last Fall in Fer-Du-Lac, against some very nicely made smoothbores.
To stabilize that huge hunk of lead, I use 90 to 100 grains of Fg or FFg Goex powder and a .715 RB. Lastly, the bayonet lug is much too big to use as a front sight, so I use the left upright edge of the lug as my front sight.
 
I bought a Miroku Bess 4 years ago from a re-enactor who shot it very little but carried it for years. Mechanically it is in good shape, the stock however, is beat to hell. I called Dunlap Woodcrafts to see if their Pedersoli replacement stock would fit the Miroku parts and they said no. I bought a walnut blank and I plan to restock it from scratch. I will add a little more drop to the butt stock. It fits me now, but just barely. Since I'm restocking, I probably will buy a wider buttplate from the Rifle Shop. It shoots beautifully, sparks great and the frizzen exhibits no scoring at all. I'll fine tune the lock when I restock it. The pan-to-frizzen fit on mine is adequate. IMHO if you can find one in good shape, they are great shooters although not accurate reproductions.
 
If it were mine, I think I would be proud to carry a BB that actually looked like it had been used in a couple of hard engagements.

Dings, scratches, dents from a number of hard marches. Even a few deep gouges where I was warding off an attack by my foe not to mention the guy I clouted over the head.

It would have the look of a seasoned gun carried by a seasoned soldier.

But, as I say, that's what I would do. :)
 
Mechanically it is in good shape, the stock however, is beat to hell.

I've "reconditioned" a bunch of Bess, Jap and Italian. The last one I did I just finished, and it had a very badly damaged stock. An intact stock is pretty simple to bring back into rather good looking form. I learned this while working for a company in the 90's that bought imported war-surplus Garands, Springfields, and Enfields, and we'd strip off the finish and the decades of oil, steam out the dents, sanded them a bit, and then refinish the wood. :wink:

LD
 
the stock however, is beat to hell.


I'm with the others on this one.
A used gun is a loved gun.
A loved gun is used.
The visible evidence of use is the story of the life of the gun and it's owner.
But, this is a do yer own thang game. Whatever floats yer stick, go fer it. :grin:
 
My first BB was an original 3rd Model I bought at (then) Abercrombie & Fitch Sporting Goods in downtown Chicago in 1965. Paid $125.00 for it. Took me 6 months in lay-away to pay for it working part-time at 15 years old. LOL

Found a Miroku at a pawn shop in Denver about 1980/81. Paid $150.00 for it. Appeared unfired. I had the same luck with it as Hogfamily did. And, I too was partial to dark stains, and had the same think done to the stock. Looked much better IMO
That was one of the best sparking locks I've ever owned. Somehow, it seems during the manufacture they got the lock geometry and frizzed hardness just right. That lock would still spark great even with a semi- dull flint. LOL

As usual, wish I had them both back. :(

Rick
 
Rick -- now there is a pleasant memory -- Abercrombie and Fitch. I was fortunate to spend a bit of time in the store in downtown San Francisco while in high school. Imagine that -- looking at fine firearms in the heart of Baghdad by the Bay.
 
HI Bill

Yea, Downtown Chicago too !!! And I remember the only issue with the original was that it had an incorrect mainspring and hammer screw. But I was able to replace both with ORIGINAL parts from Dixie back then. You probably remember that too.
LOL

Rick
 
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