doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com need information on the Charles Daly Venture

I am looking at a Charles Daly Venture for $875.00. Does anyone know anything about this model and is it worth the price?

I have owned one for a few years, it is sort of a proto-Citori, although generally better finished, and with a thinner barrels, and slightly smaller frame size. The price you have listed is probably 150-200 bucks high, for me anyways. The Venture was the lowest grade, and only made for a few years.

For the best Information go here, and do a search on Mirokus
http://www.wisnersinc.com./

Back in the 60's and 70's, the Miroku manufactured Daly shotguns were presented in five grades: Diamond Regent (with gold inlays), Diamond (coin silver receiver), Superior (Deep engraving with a "U" shaped pattern opening back toward the rear of the receiver), Field (Nicely engraved), Venture (light scroll engraving). Generally, the wood got better as you moved up the ladder. They are all nice, well-made O/U's with changes in wood and engraving changes by grade. As postoak stated, they are the forerunner to the Citori.
The Venture that you mentioned is overpriced by a couple hundred dollars, as postoak states. You should be able to buy a decent Field grade for that money.
A word of warning; beware gun sellers who call Field grades - Superior grades to bump up the price. The Field grade is very nicely engraved, but doesn't have the open horseshoe around the perimeter of the receiver.
Good luck.

What gauge? I'd say it is more than a couple of hundred overpriced, if a 12. The Venture grade guns were extractor guns, w/a one piece extractor and while that may be desireable in some ways, it does not command any price premium. Quality wise, the metal and the wood to metal fit is pretty much the same throughout the whole run of Miroku Dalys irrespective of grade. The Superior grades are most easily identified by a stippled 'ram's horn' pattern on the top of the back of the frame. Both Field & Superior grades were ejector guns. Either of those two models are fine servicable guns, IMHO. I have shot a 20ga. Field grade enough to require it being rebuilt three times since the 1960's tho. It is my favorite dove shooter, choked tight & tighter with short 26"bbls & has yet to ever have a recoil pad affixed to it's buttsock, a bit over 6 pounds and it might kiss you if you premounted it. With 25 grams of shot it is a delight and with 28grams [1oz] it is self abuse, and no fun at all in a hot corner. What wears out is the firing pins & their holes in the bushings that go through the breech face, so that ultimately the gun needs to be fitted with oversized pins and have the holes reamed accordingly, the symptom being that the gun becomes hard to open and visual inspection will reveal the pins dragging across the fired primers, particularly the lower one. In fact, the pins are 'cocking' in their eliptically worn holes as they do not make direct in line hits to the primer. It is also possible after many tens of thousands of rounds to break a main spring or an ejector as well. Parts are avialble and the guns are well worth repairing if you choose to do so. They utilize a leaf main spring.

OK, now that I have ridden that tangent to ground, I think a Venture grade 12 is worth a max of $500~$550, a 20 perhaps 6 and a 28 or .410 ?? I've never seen one of either of the smaller gauges in a Venture grade. FWIW, Field grade guns were roughly $160 in the Viet Nam era. Superiors were a bit less than a HUN above that.

Thanks for the information. There are several CD Ventures on Gunsamerica for the price at around $875.00. Is there a better site to look for used guns?

TW - my Venture has ejectors FWIW.

Kenl I saw two nice Superiour Grade 12 Ga. at the Ft Worth Gun Show last weekend for around 800, and a clean early Win 101 12 for 675. Cabela's has a few in from time to time also.

I suspose you could spend an extra $25 and buy a used RRL.

Is $875 too much?? Yes for a used gun. Are you going to find Daly/Miroku in near new condition for $500??? Don't think so. But a gun in 99% condition will command a higher price when priced against a gun thats in good condition (85%). $750 would be a good buy. If anyone out there has a boxed, unused, 12ga Daly/Miroku Hunter grade with 26in barrels with IC/Mod chokes that you want to unload for $500, drop me a line.

sebrown, that was my opinion only & what I would be willng to pay for an extracter 12 ga. Miroku .. I see them infrequently, but they are often priced in that range when I do. The last one I saw at a show was in excellent condition & the seller would have been pleased to get the $475 he was asking.

A very quick cursery look about shows there is currently a B.C. Miroku-Daly for sale at Jaqua's, a 12ga. 28" M/F for $600 advertised as a Field grade. Their item # is 107063 & you owe Dave $10, if you buy it ;-) It looks to be a Venture grade to my old eyes, at least engraving wise it does, tho it has a later type stock and they may have changed the nominclature in there somewhere along the way. I have seen Field grades spoken of as Superiors and Venture grades spoken of as Field's. There is some confusion and no doubt some of it is honest enough. My knowledge is 60's vintage on them, sorta. The grading on those guns from the bottom up went Venture[lowest/extractors only], Field [nicely scroll engraved], Superior [even nicer engraving and often wood too]. Their choke markings did NOT follow Browning's either, not at that time, and that too leads to some confusion. A choke gauge removes the need to know the marks were the same but had different meanings.

Short bbl'd open choked guns are not currently in vogue or commanding any premiums here. Probably because of the Sporting Clay trend to longer bbls. .. but who really knows?