My post-Fink excuse sheet:

[Riley/MN]

Okay, I mentioned that I got my target shot w/o killin ol' Mike, and I guess I eluded to a story that would have to be told another time. I mentioned shooting the target with a Jukar, but that is not quite right. It is actually built from an Ultra-high kit by Miroku of Japan. I had not shot this "kentucky rifle" in well over 10 years, but remembered it was a pretty good shooter with about 65 gr of ffg (should try FFFg in her some day) with a .440 ball and an oiled .010 patch.

Well I got out the alcohol and ran a patch through the bore a few times to clear the bore, but something just didn't "feel" right. Still, I went outside and touched off a cap, and 3-4 japanese beetles came out. Note to self - clean them guns out once in a while!

Now this is the onliest gun that I have built to date. Dad got this kit in the Hardware store back prior to the bicentennial. He sold a couple of 'em but stashed this one away. I think my little brother messed around with it a bit, but by the time I got it about 1987, there were screws missing & stuff. At this time I knew NOTHING about muzzleloaders, but I got the kit put together. I was so proud of myself because I found the right size phillips screws to use on it - HA. I left it that way just as a reminder...

I had a buddy weld the hammer back together a few years ago, because somebody tried to "straighten" it and broke it in half   HA.

Anyway, like I said this thing doesn't shoot bad, so I took it out just to say I shot it. What I forgot was that the thing has about a 27lb trigger pull! Bill can verify my last shot on Mike pulled way to the right...

Anyway, I said I would tell the story sometime, and that's it in a nutshell. Long story short, Mike lived to fight another day....

Mebbe next year Dan (I will use a different gun)!

[greyhunter]

Riley, does that have a two piece stock? I have one, I think  like it. Maybe I will take it out for a Mike Fink practice. Got it from Fletcher but hadn't really done any work with it. Show of hands, how many have a Miroku in the back of the closet?

[sse]

Show of hands, how many have a Miroku in the back of the closet?

(i do, but not a muzzleloader)

[Muley]

Don't worry about next year. I'm going to wear a patch over both eyes instead of just one.  

[Uncle Russ]

Show of hands, how many have a Miroku in the back of the closet?

I do!  
And, I dearly love that old piece of trash...as they are so often referred to.

FWIW; Mine is a flinter smoothie in .69 caliber.

I bought this thing back in the late 1960's, or early 1970's, when Turner Kirkland was selling them for "little of nothing", and I betcha he sold a entire box-car load of 'em sometime before and a few years after the Bicentennial.
Wood to metal fit was horrible, but reworking that made it look a little better.
Bluing was horrible, at best, but a re-blue made that part look a little better.
Frizzen was soft, but after a good "hardening job" by one of my more knowledge friends at the time made that much better.
The lock and trigger along with some of the wood work, and finish, was re-worked by Skip Talbot of Fallon, Nevada, and for years now it has been my go-to gun for upland game....although I have shot two Cow Elk with it.
(I have pictures of it in the "Gallery" but I don't know how to transfer them to this post.)

Having said all that, the old gun may only have a "street value" of $50 or $60, maybe even less, but I wouldn't trade her off for anything.
I have shot literally thousands of rounds of round ball through her, and probably no less than a 100# bag of shot.

The gun came with a round ball mould from DGW, a mould that I could never get to throw "just right", then somewhere around 2000 or 2001, IIRC, Jeff Tanner came on the scene in England and I ordered a "semi-custom" mould from him, sized .652, and since then I have never looked back with this old girl.

Uncle Russ...