I have not seen one with the main springs placed in front of the hammers before, anyone else seen one? Any documentation on them. A tricky little bugger it seems.

Yes, Pre-Type 1 , some say like some Charles Dalys made by Miroku

http://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/CTGY/C-013-04

I have two of these old guns, no engraving at all on the actions.

Sometimes these folks can assist

http://www.wisnersinc.com/additional_info/Mirokusprings.html

Part of this article says
"FINAL COUNT DOWN - After Chas Daly discontinued these Miroku guns in 1976 or thereabouts, Browning stepped in & had Miroku make guns for them. This basically the same O/U was then known as the Browning Citori model. During manufacturing under Browning's name, the types were also changed as things got improved. The type 4 Chas Daly gun appears to be basically is a Browning Citori pre-type I, which had coil mainsprings & top lever spring. However parts for the Citori type I, are now obsolete, but Western Gun Parts in Edmonton Canada purchased the last remaining parts from Browning a few years ago, & does have some parts left in inventory. Bear in mind however they may not be an exact interchange with the all the Charles Daly guns."


http://www.wisnersinc.com/shotguns/chas.html

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=279469710

Mike

Steve, you aren't thinking of the Browning Liege, are you. This was a short term gun , made in Belgium, when Browning was switching over/under production to Japan, I think. I had a couple of these guns from a trade and they were quite nice.

The earliest Citori guns had no engraving, but I am not sure of the inner workings.

According to Schwing's book on the Superposed, both the Miroku-made Citori and the FN-made Liege first appeared in 1973. (The BSS was introduced the previous year.)