Japanese Winchesters Any Good?

I really like my 1886 in .45-70. I'd like it a lot more without the rebounding hammer and tang safety though. Not that they cause problems, it's just that I'm a traditional kind of guy. Probably like most folks that like lever guns.

The rifle shoots great, especially after adding a Marbles tang sight.

Chris.
 
Anyone with these guns getting light strikes due to the rebounding hammer or is that internet folklore?

Although I haven't fired mine yet I would say that is folklore. The "rebound" doesn't #### the hammer, it puts it in the old half-#### position. The hammer must still be fully cocked in order to fire the gun. The safety doesn't stop the hammer from falling either, it lets it fall to the rebound position. TC
 
I just ordered one of these in .44 . I was reading good things about the Rossi rifles but the Miroku Wnchesters looked much nicer in finish. The safety and rebounding hammer bother me not, so long as they work. Some up close photos of the mirokus make the finishing work look astonishing and most bad press on the gun stems from purists detesting the new safety features.
Not an inexpensive gun but it's not THAT much more than a Rossi (650 vs 1000, US forums claim double price), the same price as a JM marked 1894 and maybe 50 bucks more than a Henry Big Boy.
 
all the springs are too strong. even the sight elevator is hard to change. i think the rear sight is made of real spring steel. it was hard to get shells in the loading gate so i cut that spring. i brought the trigger weight down to 4.5 pounds from 6 by cutting four coils off the main spring. i compensated by cutting the rebound leg of the hammer pusher giving it a clean swing at the firing pin but i dont know if this was even necessary, the mainspring seems strong. anyway the halfcock still works i suppose it wont engage rebounding from a fired cartridge but what would you want it for then anyway. maybe it still does i never thought to look. anyway its very well made but i get the feeling its not a real utilitarian rifle everything was so hard to operate it seems like its not so much about actually shooting. the loading gate was pretty annoying.
 
forgot to say it feeds and cycles well looks great except i had to put tung oil on the wood,four coats or something and still not shiny but it looks good
 
forgot also to say i chronographed fed 150 gr ammo over 2400 fps out of its 20 inch barrel i thought this was pretty good not sure if it means anything about how the barrel was made. it shoots as straight as i can with the open sights
 
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