Whats with Miroku Winchester

[mickbr]

The consensus here on our little isle and on various forums is they are probably one of the most intermittent suppliers in the business the last 6-8 years. One year's particular catalogue will have a great range of configurations and calibres in 92, 73 etc but then you go to order and find half the models arent being made and are referred to the 'new catalogue' where its a bunch of new options again. I missed several I would have liked such as a long round barrel 357 1892 and various takedown models in different barrel lengths. You would think the general interest in quality lever actions, the size and status of both Miroku and Winchester , that they could put out a standard catalogue of production models they actually adhere to for a few years. Anyway, with the world going as it is, I notice our information is that another bunch of models have just been slashed. The 32-20 1892 which I was told last year " only a few were ever done and we are not sure if they are still in production" is not even listed now. Whats it like for you guys right now, do you have the full catalogue available all the time there?

[marlin39a]

Back in 2002, they made a run of 500, 1892, in 32-20, with 20” octagon barrels, for Davidson’s in Prescott, Arizona. I bought one, and cherish it. I have never seen another one. The fit, finish, and function, is superb. I’ve never seen a catalog from them.

[mickbr]

Thats them, I'm envious! We had them here as recently as a few years ago. I saw them on winchester australias website as recently as last year, but as mentioned they hadnt sold one for a while.

Anyone care to take a guess at the business model they are engaging in? It seems to be "pass hat around at the company christmas party and send this cash to Japan with instructions to build whatever the heck they feel like for the next year". Or "this seems to be selling well so lets cancel it , then sneak it into some countries, but not others, in 5 years time"

[square butte]

They've always been kind of a limited run outfit for production of most models

[missionary5155]

Earthquakes maybe have unsettled their profit minds and big waves washed away their desires.

[Chill Wills]

They produce a well made rifle. ....Except for the lawyer designed inertia firing pins. I wish the USA would take a chance and restart making American rifles again.
I am working on a 1886 Winchester Rifle (Made In Japan) pistol grip. Really nice rifle I got new in 1999. It always had light firing pin strikes.
Just last month it stopped going bang at all.
Parts are very expensive. Numrich Arms (Gun Parts Corp.) wants $117 + Shipping for a new firing pin.
Ouch!

I may try to modify the one I have.

I think if you see one you like try to buy it on the spot! I have no answer for catalog items that never show up for sale. That is a hard one. It must be a very small market for reproduction American firearms.
Good luck

[indian joe]

They produce a well made rifle. ....Except for the lawyer designed inertia firing pins. I wish the USA would take a chance and restart making American rifles again.
I am working on a 1886 Winchester Rifle (Made In Japan) pistol grip. Really nice rifle I got new in 1999. It always had light firing pin strikes.
Just last month it stopped going bang at all.
Parts are very expensive. Numrich Arms (Gun Parts Corp.) wants $117 + Shipping for a new firing pin.
Ouch!

I may try to modify the one I have.

I think if you see one you like try to buy it on the spot! I have no answer for catalog items that never show up for sale. That is a hard one. It must be a very small market for reproduction American firearms.
Good luck

I had a japchester 71 did this to me - I modified mine several years ago and it works fine
Winchester Bob is advertising 1886 solid firing pins for $30 (werent available then and we not allowed to import gun parts anyway)
Phone call would soon tell ya if these fit (I bet they do)

heres the offending bits I took out and stashed

264757

you make a replacement for this part
264758

so the entire pin becomes a solid pin - I think I used a piece of grade 8 bolt - and turn a full size extension at the back the same length as the floating piece used to extend out when retracted - so yr insert ends up longer than the floating bit - I used red loctite to fix it (the stuff you need a torch to undo!)

You might get this gun firing with a good clean (soak the bolt in kerosene for a bit) I think they get gunked up inside the bolt -
its pretty stupid they made a gun thats used for shooting grizzly bears and just as he charges you get a fail to fire because of lawyer designed "safety" BS that serves no useful purpose .
The originals couldnt fire out of battery because of Brownings design of the lever and firing pin retraction, and the half cock safety notch was foolproof. I really dont get it!

[Chill Wills]

heres the offending bits I took out and stashed

264757

you make a replacement for this part
264758

so the entire pin becomes a solid pin - I think I used a piece of grade 8 bolt - and turn a full size extension at the back the same length as the floating piece used to extend out when retracted - so yr insert ends up longer than the floating bit - I used red loctite to fix it (the stuff you need a torch to undo!)

BINGO - that is exactly right. Those are the pieces (plus small spring under the dogleg part) I spent much time digging out and cleaning, stoning and returning only to have the problem not solved. Everything moves free now. So the problem must be the little dogleg not retracting under the hammer blow for other reasons than fit, finish, and cleanliness/oil. It works fine when I push on it with a punch from the rear. I get plenty of pin protrusion out in front of the bolt face.

All the time yesterday I was working on it, I was redesigning a work around for it in my head and came up with basically the same fix as you present here. Also, one other fix may be to just remove the dogleg and leave it as is. Then there would be no emergence brake as the lawyers wanted in case of a loaded, cocked and dropped on it's hammer rifle, and the half-cock notch, such as it is, would be the safety on the loaded chamber.
When I get a chance in the coming week I will tear it down again and install the new solid link (3/16 diameter), loctite plus cut a notch for the rear retaining pin. A bit of belt and suspenders to keep it in.

Great minds think alike. :mrgreen::razz:

[Chill Wills]

Mickbr,
Sorry I drove your thread into the weeds.
I hope you get some answers to the Winchester questions.

[mickbr]

Mickbr,
Sorry I drove your thread into the weeds.
I hope you get some answers to the Winchester questions.

My post was just a having a vent. If the thread has veered onto a technically useful subject, thats all to the good.

[indian joe]

BINGO - that is exactly right. Those are the pieces (plus small spring under the dogleg part) I spent much time digging out and cleaning, stoning and returning only to have the problem not solved. Everything moves free now. So the problem must be the little dogleg not retracting under the hammer blow for other reasons than fit, finish, and cleanliness/oil. It works fine when I push on it with a punch from the rear. I get plenty of pin protrusion out in front of the bolt face.

All the time yesterday I was working on it, I was redesigning a work around for it in my head and came up with basically the same fix as you present here. Also, one other fix may be to just remove the dogleg and leave it as is. Then there would be no emergence brake as the lawyers wanted in case of a loaded, cocked and dropped on it's hammer rifle, and the half-cock notch, such as it is, would be the safety on the loaded chamber.
When I get a chance in the coming week I will tear it down again and install the new solid link (3/16 diameter), loctite plus cut a notch for the rear retaining pin. A bit of belt and suspenders to keep it in.

Great minds think alike. :mrgreen::razz:

Blimey! it never occurred to me to just throw that dog leg bit away!! That proly woulda worked :-o ..............I forgot that little spring - I used it to convert an army colt to coil hand spring - my 71 also has a rebound spring up front of the firing pin - I left it in place. ----------you've got this under control --good stuff.

[indian joe]

My post was just a having a vent. If the thread has veered onto a technically useful subject, thats all to the good.

Mickbr I reckon some winchester execs must have took root in the miroku factory - winchester been trying to commit commercial hari-kari since about 1960 - they sure went to a lot of trouble to drive that company into the ditch - I usedta refer to the 1964 --1974 winnies as "winchester's diecast and plastic period" - that old sayin "there nothin on this earth cant be done a little cheaper and a little worse if ya put yr mind to it" .....so they got the jap factory makin good guns then stuffed up the sales end of it ........

[FergusonTO35]

One big problem I see, is that the Miroku rifles will always be competing against the original New Haven rifles which are still mostly common and reasonably priced. In fact, it may be easier and cheaper to buy an original than to wait on Winoku to make the one you want.

[pietro]

.

I would keep in mind that most manufacturer don't continuously produce every model in their catalogue all the time.

Guns are typically made in production "runs", where the machinery has been reset to produce whatever model - and the frequency of any particular model's production run depends upon the demand (i.e., wholesale orders) for that model.

Larger manufacturers usually have several different production lines, smaller manufacturers not so much.

Ergo, some gun models are made much more often than other models, with "dealer specials (Davidson's, Lipsky's, etc, etc) produced only when a limited order of whatever is contracted (and paid in advance) for.

.

[Prairie Cowboy]

Earthquakes maybe have unsettled their profit minds and big waves washed away their desires.

According to an Anime movie I saw, Japan was destroyed by earthquakes and sank into the ocean after Mount Fuji erupted.
That is known to disrupt production.
Quite a bit worse than the Godzilla infestations of the 1960s.

[MrHarmless]

According to an Anime movie I saw, Japan was destroyed by earthquakes and sank into the ocean after Mount Fuji erupted.
That is known to disrupt production.
Quite a bit worse than the Godzilla infestations of the 1960s.

I don't wanna derail anything, I just want to point out that I never expected to see an anime referenced on this forum. Hat's off to you.

[Randy Bohannon]

You have to grab the rifle you want when you see it, Winchester/Miroku does quite a few limited runs of rifles you would not expect that are non Lipsey’s or Davidson’s. The 24” tapered octagon barrel and P/G plain wood and blued is an example of non cataloged run of rifles with only a handful made.

[HogRider666]

Hey Mickbr, I have 3 of them Japanese made rifles, 45 Colt, 357 mag and 45/70.
They are certainly better made than my other original Winchester’s.
I’d love a new 92 in 25/20.
I’m ok with peep sights but unfortunately I really need a scope these days.
Check them out, they are great value and quality.

Regards

[Chill Wills]

If ever you have the problem I did with the firing pin - This repair did fix the problem.

[Chill Wills]

I chose to turn up a close fitting solid replacement for all the lawyer parts. The last picture shows the grade 8 bolt used. It was then cut off long. Red Loctite and cross pined to retain it. Then it was just a mater of contouring the back end for fit and function.

Today I tested it with 25 or so loaded rounds with no failure to fire. (and good full sized dents in the fired primers) Yea!

[Old-Win]

That is great news Michael. Now if we could find somebody to manufacture them for those of us that don't have the machining skills. I have both a 71 Browning and an 1886 Winchester that give me light firing pin hits. The only solution I found so far as to use Federal primers that seem to be a little softer but the indentation is very light.

[Chill Wills]

Hey Bob,
That was how mine was for 20 years. Light hits and the rare FTF. Then after the Cowboy Lever Rifle silhouette nationals last year something changed and it completely stopped firing. Not even a little dent.
I had already performed the amputation on the rebounding hammer strut years ago with zero improvement. I must admit, that was not the result I had expected after all the chatter about it. So something else was going on. The rifle mostly worked, light hits and all, so I delayed getting into it until it stopped working completely.

After getting into it and seeing how many moving parts were needed to move correctly just to get a simple energy transfer from hammer to primer, I was not surprised the overly complex system gives us riflemen trouble.
John Browning got it right 135 years ago and I returned the rifle to something closer to what he and Winchester had.

The dread of disassembly had me slow to get into it. After doing it a few times it goes faster now. There are a few tricks. There is a good chance that if you pulled yours apart and just filed down the little dogleg tab that sticks up (see my red arrow) that would fix the problem. Too bad we aren't neighbors.

[indian joe]

I chose to turn up a close fitting solid replacement for all the lawyer parts. The last picture shows the grade 8 bolt used. It was then cut off long. Red Loctite and cross pined to retain it. Then it was just a mater of contouring the back end for fit and function.

Today I tested it with 25 or so loaded rounds with no failure to fire. (and good full sized dents in the fired primers) Yea!

Good job! specially the pictures .....wish I had taken good pics of mine when I did it ...............

[Old-Win]

Hello Michael, yes, if we were neighbors I would be over there pestering you on how to make that part. 8-) I never got that far in disassembling the firing pin from my rifle because when I saw those little parts like in the trigger, "I thought what did they do here"? If what I'm understanding from your picture is that you made just the rear part and it goes into the rear of the Browning firing pin? Then you used Loctite and pinned it so it can't move. If I have it right, then I think I can make that on my little Atlas lathe? I don't know if I can cut that hard of a bolt or not? I'm going to have to take the plunge and pull my rifle apart again and get an understanding of how everything works. Thanks for all the help.

[Sc0]

Have 2 1892's and 1 1886 of the Japchesters with the rebounding crap, been eyeballing the Browning hammer, firing pin, and safety parts but they are pretty rare and pricey. Also have two Rossi 92's but the quality of machining and barrel twist are obviously a different league but don't feel bad for knocking the Rossi's around. I am looking at adding more Japchesters to the safe but they still need the reliability modification...

[indian joe]

Hello Michael, yes, if we were neighbors I would be over there pestering you on how to make that part. 8-) I never got that far in disassembling the firing pin from my rifle because when I saw those little parts like in the trigger, "I thought what did they do here"? If what I'm understanding from your picture is that you made just the rear part and it goes into the rear of the Browning firing pin? Then you used Loctite and pinned it so it can't move. If I have it right, then I think I can make that on my little Atlas lathe? I don't know if I can cut that hard of a bolt or not? I'm going to have to take the plunge and pull my rifle apart again and get an understanding of how everything works. Thanks for all the help.

I did this same conversion several years ago on a Browning 71
Plan A - yes you have it right just the rear part (I only used locktite - didnt pin it - proly should have - but have a lot of faith in that good red stuff)
Plan B - give Winchester bob a call - a replacement pin for $30 plus shipping - not expensive in my books (was not an option for me due our stoopid import laws)
Plan C - I reckon it would work if you just filed that little end of the dog leg bit (I like to keep original parts intact when I do these kind of jobs and I never thought to just do a quick modification)

You will cut a grade 8 bolt ok with normal tool steel - keep it sharp and go slow - they are alloy steel, more tough rather than more hard - difficult to heat treat - grade 5 is carbon steel - easy to heat treat - good for making reamers etc.

[indian joe]

Have 2 1892's and 1 1886 of the Japchesters with the rebounding crap, been eyeballing the Browning hammer, firing pin, and safety parts but they are pretty rare and pricey. Also have two Rossi 92's but the quality of machining and barrel twist are obviously a different league but don't feel bad for knocking the Rossi's around. I am looking at adding more Japchesters to the safe but they still need the reliability modification...

????? This was a Browning firing pin gave me the grief - mine did not have the rebound hammer setup and DID /DOES have a proper half cock notch - did I miss something here in the translation (have not seen the innards of the latest japchesters)

FWIW ......I replaced a busted firing pin in an early Rossi with an original from a Winchester 92 - it fit straight in (Rossi was sometime pre 1985)

[Sc0]

Japchesters have the rebounding hammer, no half cock, tang safety, and the inertial firing pin. I just pulled apart my 1892 short rifle and am contemplating on how to modify the firing pin to be more reliable. Just trying to make these go bang no matter what when the trigger is pulled, I knew about the rebounding hammer issues but the firing pin I just learned about today... I don't mind the Inertial firing pin design but I dislike it involving more that two parts. Thinking of replacing the internal spring with a piece of steel drill rod...

[indian joe]

Japchesters have the rebounding hammer, no half cock, tang safety, and the inertial firing pin. I just pulled apart my 1892 short rifle and am contemplating on how to modify the firing pin to be more reliable. Just trying to make these go bang no matter what when the trigger is pulled, I knew about the rebounding hammer issues but the firing pin I just learned about today... I don't mind the Inertial firing pin design but I dislike it involving more that two parts. Thinking of replacing the internal spring with a piece of steel drill rod...

My mistake - I thought when you wrote eyeballing the Browning parts (and prices) you were contemplating replacing japchester with Browning - couldnt see that going anywhere real useful. (with the firing pin - hadnt thought about replacing hammers)

I think if I lived where I could get a winchester bob pin in the mail for 30 bucks I proly do that - didnt have that option at the time I did mine - plus I get kinda impatient when I have a gun that wont fire and its pulled to pieces on the bench. :bigsmyl2:

Thankfully I have enough lever guns on my rack without the crappy hammer and tang slide safety - the stupid part of all this is they didnt make the thing any safer with all their modifications.

[Old-Win]

If ever you have the problem I did with the firing pin - This repair did fix the problem.

Michael's fix has me working on this but before I jump in, I want to get all my ducks in a row before I end up with something I can't fix,. First, I want to know if there is a simpler way by just buying one for an original. I contacted Winchester Bob (there's two of them by the way) on the east coast. He lists 3 different styles and he didn't know whether any would fit but asked me to send the parts. Hhmm! I looked at the MGW website and they show no replacement parts for the Winchester breechblock but do for the Browning. Does anybody know if they are interchangeable in case I need to replace one that I may mess up?

[indian joe]

Michael's fix has me working on this but before I jump in, I want to get all my ducks in a row before I end up with something I can't fix,. First, I want to know if there is a simpler way by just buying one for an original. I contacted Winchester Bob (there's two of them by the way) on the east coast. He lists 3 different styles and he didn't know whether any would fit but asked me to send the parts. Hhmm! I looked at the MGW website and they show no replacement parts for the Winchester breechblock but do for the Browning. Does anybody know if they are interchangeable in case I need to replace one that I may mess up?

hmmm dunno about sending my firing pin away for comparison - might never see it again!
Winchester Bob in Maine was where I looked
Homestead parts also advertises but out of stock at the moment
Heres the homestead parts picture they list it as "fits all 1886 models"
265102

I checked bolt dimensions of my Browning 71 against my chiappa 86 (sposed to be a carbon copy of the original) same length - same positioning of everything except locking lug slots in the bolt (I bet you could fit 71 bolt and locking lugs into an 1886 frame though) I can see no reason at all why the older style firing pin wont fit unless they made it a different diameter - they look the same but cant get an accurate measure without pulling the gun down. So - I would measure the diameter of your firing pin body and call him again - 30 bucks is cheap for the work involved in one offing these and its not a big risk - either that or just modify what you have (throw that little dog leg thing away and the other bit it mates with, make it into a solid pin) - compared to putting the gun back together - doing the mod is easy.

forgot----Neither of my rifles has the little cross pin retainer at the rear underneath - but my 86 winchester catalog shows it - identical to the picture above.

[prs]

Winchester Bob lists two firing pin styles for the '92. One is a "black powder" thick tip and the other is a "smokeless" thin tip. Not being a machinist, would one of these be a fittable part for the Miroku action?

prs

[Chill Wills]

Winchester Bob lists two firing pin styles for the '92. One is a "black powder" thick tip and the other is a "smokeless" thin tip. Not being a machinist, would one of these be a fittable part for the Miroku action?

prs
Maybe I need to understand more to give a good answer but with regard to the FP size, it needs to be a good fit in the bolt face, so only one size will be a good fit.
Perhaps these two are different in some other way than fit.

[indian joe]

Winchester Bob lists two firing pin styles for the '92. One is a "black powder" thick tip and the other is a "smokeless" thin tip. Not being a machinist, would one of these be a fittable part for the Miroku action?

prs

You would just about bet that the miroku would want the smokeless tip ?
One of the tricks used in hotting up 92's used to be bushing the firing pin hole in the bolt face (like they do in the martini cadet for high pressure rounds) punctured primers are never fun!!!

[samari46]

The anime was called "Japan sinks 2020". Been watching too many anime series lately. Frank

[Sc0]

What is the purpose of the dog leg piece on top of the firing pin? Does it retain the pin in the bolt or does it serve a different function?

[Chill Wills]

What is the purpose of the dog leg piece on top of the firing pin? Does it retain the pin in the bolt or does it serve a different function?

I see you are not getting any replies so I will try. I was hoping an expert would answer. That I am not.
Describing motion in text can be challenging to both write and understand. I'll do my best.

In the first of the two pictures below the red arrow points to the "dog leg: part.
Below that in the pic and to the right are all the parts that fit in the slot in picture two and or go in the hole in the back of the FP left side in pic two. You can see the cross pin holes clearly but not the 0.200" hole in the back side that intersects with the slot.

Inventory of parts are:
two cross pins
one dogleg
one tiny spring
one thing-a-ma-jig;-) black cylinder with cutouts - now know as the cylinder.
With the rifle cocked and ready, ...to fire the hammer strikes the back of the cylinder which sticks out from the main body of the firing pin. The cylinder moves forward compressing the tiny spring and pivots the back of dogleg down into the slot. So at this point the energy goes two directions. With the tiny spring compressed, forward energy propels the main firing pin body forward hitting the primer.
IF the dogleg does not retract, the main body of the firing pin is held from going forward and striking the primer.
I am guessing that is the mess the lawyers wanted to prevent accidental discharges.

Okay! here is the problem. The firing pin main body only moves forward IF the little ketch (the top bump on the dogleg) moves down in time to allow the main body of the firing pin to go forward. If not the FP is locked up. If for any reason like dirt, burs, poor fitting parts, gummed up oil, you name it, the ketch does not retract enough or maybe in time, the rifle does not fire (FTF). When that happens, the main firing pin body receives reduced energy transfer or like happened to my rifle , light hits over time turned into no hits and complete failure to fire.

There is a very good chance that if you simply filed off the little ketch (red arrow) and made the top line smooth, and all the original parts remained, the problem would go away.

However, having had mine apart a few times trying to fix the light hit issue I just chose to make the firing pin into a solid unit that can be undone and returned.

Hopefully this is the end of the FTF issues with this rifle for all time.

I hope that helps.

[indian joe]

I see you are not getting any replies so I will try. I was hoping an expert would answer. That I am not.
Describing motion in text can be challenging to both write and understand. I'll do my best.

In the first of the two pictures below the red arrow points to the "dog leg: part.
Below that in the pic and to the right are all the parts that fit in the slot in picture two and or go in the hole in the back of the FP left side in pic two. You can see the cross pin holes clearly but not the 0.200" hole in the back side that intersects with the slot.

Inventory of parts are:
two cross pins
one dogleg
one tiny spring
one thing-a-ma-jig;-) black cylinder with cutouts - now know as the cylinder.
With the rifle cocked and ready, ...to fire the hammer strikes the back of the cylinder which sticks out from the main body of the firing pin. The cylinder moves forward compressing the tiny spring and pivots the back of dogleg down into the slot. So at this point the energy goes two directions. With the tiny spring compressed, forward energy propels the main firing pin body forward hitting the primer.
IF the dogleg does not retract, the main body of the firing pin is held from going forward and striking the primer.
I am guessing that is the mess the lawyers wanted to prevent accidental discharges.

Okay! here is the problem. The firing pin main body only moves forward IF the little ketch (the top bump on the dogleg) moves down in time to allow the main body of the firing pin to go forward. If not the FP is locked up. If for any reason like dirt, burs, poor fitting parts, gummed up oil, you name it, the ketch does not retract enough or maybe in time, the rifle does not fire (FTF). When that happens, the main firing pin body receives reduced energy transfer or like happened to my rifle , light hits over time turned into no hits and complete failure to fire.

There is a very good chance that if you simply filed off the little ketch (red arrow) and made the top line smooth, and all the original parts remained, the problem would go away.

However, having had mine apart a few times trying to fix the light hit issue I just chose to make the firing pin into a solid unit that can be undone and returned.

Hopefully this is the end of the FTF issues with this rifle for all time.

I hope that helps.

I have been watching this also - wondering whether I have got this figured out right or not
When I modified mine I just looked at those little pieces and compared to an original 71 pin (picture) and decided pretty quick that those bits belonged in my spares bin. Making the solid pin was easy

So ? At first I thought to agree with filing off that little ketch bit would make it work - but now I changed my mind (maybe) I think that little dogleg bit engages with a notch in the cylinder piece to transfer forward impetus to the firing pin body - so if we file it off we got no engagement and no strike, FTF becomes permanent. ?

Getting curiouser about this but not yet at the point where I want to dismantle my perfectly functional 71 to prove for sure why it didnt work - I know it didnt fire - I fixed it - now it does fire --------------------

If we filed off the bit that sticks outside the line of the firing pin I reckon that would fix it but I reckon would need to leave the other end that is the internal dogleg -----solid pin conversion is easy, it works 100%,

CW has done a great job posting the pics that show what to do to fix this and the fact that winchester bob is making spare firing pins for thirty bucks points to a common problem - its not just a couple of these guns doing it -----and I go back to one of my earlier thoughts - what if ? the first time this happened was with a sour tempered grizzly head on at fifteen yards ? .....unintended consequences of politically inspired actions huh!

[EDG]

I shoot some of the Browning/Win BPCRs and I have had a few of the lever guns on my wish list too.
The 1885 Highwall in .32-40 apparently is a vapor ware rifle in their catalog.
So I would advise searching an outlet like Gun Broker for guns for sale that really do exist.
The rifles in the Browning/Winchester Catalogs do not necessarily exist. They may only be marketing photos.

[JFE]

The discussion and pics of the firing pin fix deserve their own thread and then made into a sticky for future reference. It would be sweet if someone would try the $30 firing pin fix that Indian Joe suggested.



mickbr - you need to understand that in Oz when it comes to Winchester imports, we only ever get the left overs of what doesn’t sell in the US. That applies to bolt actions as well as leverguns. When they were first released the Browning 71’s were a sales flop in the US. That’s when we got some. When the Win BB94’s in 375 weren’t selling well in the US they were imported in large numbers into Oz. When the the gaudy limited edition TR 1895’s weren’t selling in the US we saw some of those in Oz. etc etc.

If there is something you really want you need to look at a personal import. That’s become really expensive lately and air freight with COVID has gone nuts. However, with the recent US export rule changes, the costs should reduce eventually, but it might take some time.

[john.k]

If you are in Oz ,you soon learn not to buy stuff you can make in a half hour.......firing pin costs $30US.......by the time it gets to my mailbox (more in a minute) ,its cost in Oz pesos is close to $100......now this might be OK ,except that somewhere along the line ,an X Ray machine linked to a computer recognition system has identified it from a zillion item "gun parts library" ,pack is dumped into a destruction bin ,and gone....

[indian joe]

If you are in Oz ,you soon learn not to buy stuff you can make in a half hour.......firing pin costs $30US.......by the time it gets to my mailbox (more in a minute) ,its cost in Oz pesos is close to $100......now this might be OK ,except that somewhere along the line ,an X Ray machine linked to a computer recognition system has identified it from a zillion item "gun parts library" ,pack is dumped into a destruction bin ,and gone....

yeah john - I didnt even dream about bringing one in (at the time it was over a hunded u$ anyway) this is an easy fix when you get down to it .

I have yet to find someone can explain why it is that Australia (along with only one other country on earth) is banned from exporting firearms directly to the US - this goes back to the howard bush deal - we can take em over to compete but big jail time if we sell to a dealer in the us - can sell to canada - they can sell that gun across the border ...................????????