doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Miroku/Daly M500 Date

I need some assistance determining the year of manufacture for a Miroku built Charles Daly M500 12Ga., serial no. 4563xx. Our local club is having a "vintage" SxS shoot and are defining "vintage" as 40 years or older (down from 50). While I can participate using my 1967 Browning MI VAL, I am more comfortable with the Miroku if it qualifies. Any help would be appreciated.

I don't believe any Serial number records exist for the Charles Daly Mirokus. You are within the spirit of the rules if not within the actual date. I believe the last Charles Daly Mirokus were imported in about 1976 or so; and these were availble in 1968.

B.C. Miroku (Miroku Taiyo Zuki---180 Inari-Cho, Kochi-city Japan) : "Model 550 Side-By-Side is a box-lock Anson & Deeley type gun with treble bolting, double triggers, sliding safety, automatic ejectors, scroll engraved case hardened frame, straight French Walnut stock, finely checkered. Weight 6.6lbs." This info is ca. 1963.
Your Mod 500 is ***APPROVED FOR USE***
DB
NP: you have "less advanced" Mod. 500 EXTRACTOR gun.

Just tell them you "swept" the gun for radiation. No traces of any, so it must be pre-WWII.

Would there be any difference in import markings pre and post GCA 68 ?

If your club is having a vintage shoot they should consider that that model was made longer than 40 years ago. Not just THAT specific gun. That is what our club does. For instance: The Winchester Model 12 was first made in 1912, so ANY Model 12 should be eligible and be said to be 96 years old, even if the specific gun was made in 1964. You see what I mean? Or a Model 21 was first made in 1930, so one made in 1970 should be considered as being made 78 years ago and should be eligible in a vintage shoot. Your club should consider that sometimes people can't get the exact date that their gun was manufactured. Good luck.

Yeti, I believe an importer's name would have been required post-68 GCA, but I'm not certain. But most of them were either marked Charles Daly or Westernfield (if sold by Ward's) in any case, although some are simply marked Miroku. Agree with Jimmy W that the important point is that it's certainly a pre-68 model, whether or not it was actually made before or after.

My buddy just bought one of these in 20 gauge off of the internet. It is BRAND NEW. Boy, is it ever a pretty little gun. I think he only paid about $450.00 for it. It has screw in chokes. He does very well at skeet with it.

If you have the coinage now you can get pretty thefty deals out there. That lil' Ithaca I picked up recently would have never made it to the floor, but the boys behind the counter just didn't have coinage to spare. Good for me, bad for them.
Goin' to Fredericksburg Va show now. One never knows what might show up between camo und beef jerky stands.

Nope, that would not be a Miroku-made Daly, unless someone had screw-ins installed. The one your buddy bought, since you say it's new, is probably one of the current Charles Daly sxs, which are made in Spain (or at least the lower priced models are).

You gotta look hard at anything that says "Daly". They've been made for about a century and a quarter now--in at least 5 different countries.