Gordy, I've kinda avoided this thread for many of the reasons previously stated....bottom line is Japanese made guns have nearly always had a bad rep, and it's always seems to be for all the wrong reasons.
The begin with, the Japanese have the very best steel technology in the world, bar none.
And, they have held that distinction since the end of WW II when the re-building of Japan began....
Their successful use of manufacturing principals leans heavily toward the KISS principal, and many of their less expensive products display this fact, in spades.
FWIW; I have had this very same discussion several times over with Bob Green, who was the Metallurgist instructor, and head of student placement, at Trinidad Junior State College (Gunsmithing) in Trinidad , Colorado.
Bob was and still is a recognized subject matter expert in this field.
(Trinidad Gunsmithing is not to be confused with C.S.T. or Colorado School of Trades in Lakewood, Colorado. The Gunsmithing school I attended and taught for a couple of years....I met Bob while attending several of his classes in Trinidad)
Anyway, here is something of Bob's version, as I can best recall, as to how he felt this all came about............which I can find no fault with. In fact, I favor his interpretation.
Some time in the mid 1960's Turner Kirkland of Dixie Gun Works bought and sold a Box Car load of Ultra Hi, Black Powder rifles and smooth bore guns.
The number was likely in the thousand's. Many of these sold for as little as $70 delivered to your door.....this about the "cheapest" you could buy any muzzleloader for back in those days.
I have one of the early models in .69 caliber and has had thousands, if not ten thousand rounds fired through it and it is as good today as it was when I bought it.
These first guns bought by DGW were manufactured by Miroku of Japan, and many were marked, "Made in Kochi, Japan"....please note the word Kochi.
Then later on, in the early to mid to late 1970's Howa Machinery Co. Ltd came on the scene with a look alike of the very same guns that were being made by Miroku and sold by DGW...in fact, they looked so much alike you had to remove the full length stock to find all the markings and correctly identify the gun.
But the big selling point was.....they cost even less!
Special Order, Big shipment, Overstocked, all the buzz words of the day were put into the marketing and selling of these new guns now made by Howa.
They were new, they were relatively inexpensive, and America was coming full bore into the Muzzleloading age, for the second or third time because of the Bicentennial.
As far as readily identifying one from the other, the one thing that could be fairly easily read on this 'new / less expensive' rifle was alongside the barrel, where the barrel touched the stock, and there was the words Made in Aichi, Japan....Aichi Japan is where Howa Machinery Co. Ltd is located, not Miroku.
Few, if any took time to remove these barrels from their full stocks until later on in life when something broke or wore, and that's when the distinction started to show up.
There is very little difference in the words Made in Kochi Japan and Made in Aichi Japan, especially with the last three letters being "chi"....something easily overlook, yet easily connected with the magic but deadly words of Made in Japan.
It all got started with two guns that look very much alike, both made in Japan, but made by two different companies.
In the late 1970's / early 1980's Howa became a "quality" recognized name in the industry and things changed....all for the better. They replaced hundreds on hundreds of parts for DGW, free of charge, and Dixie Gun Works passed many such offers on the public. (The one thing I personally remember was the fact that the frizzen on their flinters were not hard enough, and something about the front or rear sight being too soft..
Anyway, their free replacement was a very honorable act by both the Manufacture and the Distributor.
Although Howa Machinery has been making firearms, quality centerfire firearms, since before1940, their first few shipments of Muzzleloaders to the US were somewhat less than desirable in quality than that what the new fad of muzzleloaders were demanding. The problems were quickly corrected and Howa now builds some of the finest firearms in the world...Including such names as Weatherby, Mossberg, S&W 1500 Rifles (same thing, identically, as Howa 1500 rifle) etc, etc.
IMO, both Miroku and Howa now build excellent guns. The have both built quality guns for decades. In today's very competitive market, if you don't built a quality gun, muzzleloader or otherwise, you are soon to find yourself without a job.....many foreign countries have tried hard to equal Japans gun build technology, and just as many have failed miserably.
This is the story as I know it. Those of you that own and shoot old Ultra-Hi's, and other Japanese made guns will certainly have your own opinion, and I suspect that is exactly as it should be.
Personally, I really like my old .69 flinter , mostly because it is as dependable as the day is long. It is, by today's standards, ugly enough to be loved only by its mother, but nonetheless, it's still a great old gun, with many years left in it.
Just my thoughts on this very controversial subject.
Uncle Russ..
Topic: Seeking opinions on muzzleloaders "made in Japan"? (Read 1056 times)