Cannon are they just making 250 of just the 3 different calibers in case colored recirvers 24"? I want to get a 24" octagon grade II/III .357 case colored Miroku. Will that be hard to find?
According to the Winchester website they were only to produce 250 each of two calibers: .357 mag and 44-40 in the 24 inch octagon barrel model. This was announced as a Shot Show special at the 2014 Shot Show. These are special runs
offered only to those dealers who attend the industry show each January. This years show starts next week.
I had heard that the entire run got reserved by the various attending dealers before the 3 day show was up. Miroku must have waited until they had run all of their catalog models before they tooled up for this run since the sporting rifles just started showing up in November.
Once again, since these are not catalog models for 2014, they have a finite supply and when they are gone they are gone. However, if they feel the market is still there Winchester could have Miroku run them again or even add them to the 2015 catalog. There is no guarantee.
Before the holidays, there were at least 8 or 10 for sale almost continuously on Gunbroker.com--mostly .357 mag. and maybe one or two in 44-40. I just looked and there are only 5 listed--all .357 mag. I don't know why the 44-40's seem to be in short supply--maybe a bigger demand by the collector types who want a historical chambering.
The bottom line to your question is yes--there are still .357 mags available, but If they in fact only ran 250 of these for the entire world market as their web site states, they won't last forever.
MSRP for the octagon barrel model is a whopping $1740. Of course street prices are lower. I'm seeing $1550 as a reserve with
$1650 as a buy it now price. The prices were lower before the holidays. I snagged my 44-40 for $1500 even with $30 shipping.
There are plenty of the short rifles listed---both blued and color case---mostly .357mag also. Some of those are priced pretty close to a comparable Uberti. MSRP for the all blued model was $1300 and the color case short rifle was $1580, but nobody is asking that kind of money now.
Lastly, be advised that if you are a purist, the Miroku sporting rifle is a less accurate copy of an original than a Uberti is--with the one exception of the wood. My new 24 inch octagon barreled Miroku is a full 1/2 pound lighter than either a comparable original or a Uberti. They managed this weight reduction two ways. One is with internal changes and thus mostly invisible. By making minor geometric changes to internal components such as rounding off the square corners of the toggle links they were able to cut weight without reducing strength or functionality.
However, they made another change that I spotted the moment I removed the rifle from the box. It's the octagon barrel. it's dimensions are less than either a Uberti or an original. Not in length, but in diameter. Starting at the receiver, the Miroku is 5% narrower between the flats tapering to 10% narrower at the muzzle. Both the Uberti and an original with a 24 inch octagon barrel are almost exactly .75 or 3/4 ths. of an inch between the flats at the muzzle while the Miroku is only .67 or 11/16ths of an inch.
Many would not notice this unless you hold the Miroku up next to the Uberti, but as I said, I spotted it immediately.
In the shot below, you can spot the more tapered barrel on the Miroku by the larger space between the barrel and the magazine tube. 
Obviously the more pronounced taper requires a longer magazine hanger to keep it aligned with the bore---plus a slightly taller front site. In case you are wondering why it's hard to see the front sight on grandpa's rifle--at some point either by choice or necessity, he replaced the original blade with a hand carved piece of hog tusk ivory. It's a bit worn down now, but with the rear sight on the lowest notch of the elevator I can still hit what I aim at with it. I'll probably never change it out because it's another bit of family history.
I have no idea how important this barrel taper thing will be to people. I can appreciate them reducing the overall weight of the gun, but only if they made it less obvious--just keeping it at 5% for the entire length would have been better since there is already a slight taper to an original, but tapering it to 10% at the muzzle makes it obvious.
For that much money, I want a more accurate copy--at least externally. I have finally decided that I was being too OCD about it
and just to let it go. Besides, the only way one could correct it would be to send it off to some place like Turnbull and pay a small fortune to have it re-barreled. Still, I thought it worth mentioning.
Cheers
News & Blogs
Home
Posts
Recent Posts
Help
Business Directory
Calendar
Advertising Rates
Contact Us
Login
Register
