doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Miroku/Charles Daly Model 500

Anybody got one?
Anybody shooting one?
Anybody got any thoughts on these?

Got two. One is a Daly 500 12 ga with original 28" barrels and a retrofitted set of 30" Miroku-marked (non-Daly) barrels with their own forend. This one is PG/Splinter/DT/2-3/4" chambers on both sets, looks like the one in your pic but has oil-finished wood now.

Second one is a 20 ga Miroku 500 (not Daly-marked), 28" barrels, F/M, PG/Splinter/DT, don't remember chamber length but probably 2-3/4". The frame is not really a fancy back, but the metal is convex with nicely fitted wood. The 12 has a square back like your pic. The 20 came with what appear to be original white line spacers on the grip cap and butt plate (not pad). I have thought about removing the spacers, but they will come back some day, as will leisure suits.

Both are very nice guns, extremely well made, and handle differently from somewhat comparable BSSs. Lighter barrels and nicer wood than the BSS, and finer checkering as I recall.

I have one, a 20b with 3" chambers and it has very heavy barrels. I bought it for grouse & woodcock, but it is just too heavy for that hunting, IMO.

An interesting gun, though, with chopper lump barrels, and they were advertised as being of a special alloy steel.

I don't know exactly how much difference there is in the Daly 500 and my SKB 200E, except that the SKB has a single trigger and ejectors, and a scalloped rear action shape, but mine has the white line spacers, too. I blacked them out with a Sharpie. If they ever come back in style a quick wipe with acetone or lacquer thinner should bring it right back. Works for me.

Handles great for me, with the 28" barrels. I used it on desert quail, Gambel's, which leave in a flash, and it was plenty fast enough.

SRH

The Miroku 500 is a bit heavier than some models. Basically a cosmetic variation of the frame, of the Browning BSS. High quality boxlocks, sometimes not great wood, the vent rib is a matter of taste.

Is that non-Daly Miroku actually marked 500, Replacement? None of the doubles I can recall looking at, if only marked Miroku, aren't marked 500. I think that was strictly a Daly model designation. Quite a few Miroku models seem to have had a letter designation. For example, I owned a 12ga Miroku Model M. Straight/splinter/DT, case colored receiver. Looked for all the world like a very basic Birmingham BLNE. That's one I put in my "wish I hadn't parted with it" category.

I shoot two 12ga Daly Miroku model 500s. Both have 28" barrels but one is M&F and the other has been retrochoked to IC/M. Two of my favorites; shot the IC/M yesterday morning at a local charity tower pheasant event. It worked better than I shot, but I still brought home a mess of birds.

My Miroku 20ga is a Montgomery-Ward "WesternField" model 328 which appears to be the same gun as the Daly, but with a different forend. All three of my guns are chambered for 2 3/4" shells...Geo

I've owned two...one still with me. One was a splinter forend model which was not a Daly 500. It was a 12 gauge and a decent gun. The one I kept is a 20 gauge 500. I have had a lot of work done on this gun which I have hunted with extensively. To include a new stock (done by me) and briley tubes.

The triggers are so-so and the barrels are quite heavy on these guns. They seem to operate reliably.

There were a pair on this site for under $1000 and that was a good buy.

Pretty sure it's marked 500, but I'd have to pull it out to check, and I'm away from home this week. Can check when I get back, if I remember.

I have a 26" 20 gauge that for me is about perfect for grouse. At 6 1/4lb I don't find it heavy. Well built and utterly reliable for the decade that I've owned it. I like it enough that I'd like to pick up a 28" 20ga. to do a straight grip conversion to.

Bob, did you win the auction for the gun you pictured? I had been following the sale but wasn't bidding. I would have liked to bid but between surgery a few weeks ago and two emergency trips to the vet last week it just wasn't happening.