Miroku Presidential - 20 August 2003

Miroku need no introduction as one of the best selling and reliable guns in this country.

Miroku have had a prominent presence in this country for many years. Firstly represented by Parker Hale and then by coming under the Browning umbrella.

Both mechanically and by shooting performance the guns have always been competitive at the highest level.

In recent years Miroku have been the manufacturers of the core range of Browning guns. As such it could be said that more attention has been paid to the Browning guns, as without doubt the name is more recognisable to most.

Despite this Miroku have always been there with a sound range of guns that are slightly less expensive than their Browning counterparts, and in my opinion often prettier from an engraving point of view.
At the top end of the range are the sideplate guns and the Presidential.

Mechanically the Presidential is the same as the other guns in the Miroku range. The difference inside though is that every moving par has been polished to a very high gloss finish. To such an extent that you can nearly see your face in it.

Basically the gun hinges about a full width cross pin and is locked up by a full width bolt. Ensuring a long shooting life, as there is plenty of surface area in the bite to hold the gun closed and tight.

Hammers are coil spring powered, with the sears suspended from above. For safeties sake there is a second bent cut into the hammer, so should the gun be dropped with enough force to fire it, then the second bent should catch the hammer and prevent discharge.

The hammers are not rebounding to prevent striker drag on the primer as the gun is opened. Instead, when the top lever is pushed across, a cam formed on the top lever spring retainer, forces the right or under barrel hammer back just enough to release it from the back of the firing pin. This allows the spring loaded firing pin to retract slightly and so allow the gun to open with less resistance.

The top striker is not spring loaded as the barrels move more directly away from the breech face as the gun is opened. So the top striker is far less likely to drag on a soft primer. Because there is no return spring the pin has no step formed for it and so is inherently stronger.

The sears are lifted by an operating rod connected to the trigger. In turn, integral with the operating rod is the inertia block, which is rocked back by recoil, releasing the sear of the first fired barrel, and then drops forwards to pick up the second sear.

Ejection of the fired case is effected by large hammers, powered by coil springs housed on each side of the forend iron.

As the gun is opened ejector trip rods are pushed forwards by the re-cocking of the hammers. These rods pick up the ejector sear as the gun is opened further, until the ejector hammer is released forwards at the point that the gun is fully open.

The gun has 30" barrels with standard invector multi chokes.

Barrels are made in the now standard practice of monoblock construction.

Miroku make the neatest job of the jointing on their monoblock barrels, yet with this gun, for some reason they have decided to engrave around the joint line as do many of the Italian manufacturers. This seems odd to me as it makes the line more apparent whereas is left as normal it is hardly visible.
The bores are finished to a very high gloss and are chrome plated for extra durability.

The extractors have been given the same polishing treatment as the internal parts. The same goes for the forend ejector work.

Blacking is a beautiful deep gloss finish. The top rib is a ventilated 10mm sporting type and the side ribs are solid.

Perhaps the most obvious feature of this gun that draws the eye straight away, is the engraving. The action frame and all its furniture are covered with a foliate scroll engraving pattern. It is very reminiscent of the Germanic styles used on the Browning B25's. In particular the D5G.

The work is, I would say, executed by hand, and is very well done.

The parts that make up the action floor are set with in the pattern so that when the gun is closed these parts appear invisible.

Woodwork is of course, superb, with highly figured honey coloured wood.

The chequer is very fine neat and hand cut. The pattern has many points in a traditional style and is cut in a finer pitch to emphasise the far higher grading of this gun.

The stock shape is pistol grip and the forend is the familiar Schnabel shape. The butt plate is the usual Miroku polymer plate.

To further decorate this gun the pistol grip has been fitted with a wooden grip cap. And also there is a white polymer spacer between the end of the stock and the butt plate to compliment this there is another spacer under the grip cap.

There are also white polymer diamonds set into the wood; one in the centre of the grip cap on the pistol grip. There is another underneath the forend at its forward end.

When comparing against the Browning equivalent, the Miroku is always flatter shooting. In other words where a Browning will be approximately 50mm at the heel, a Miroku will often be around 56 mm.
The miroku also used to be a little shorter in the stock. Though latterly they have caught the Brownings up and now have the same length of pull at 14 7 /8".

Overall this is a very pretty gun. The jury is out on the white spacers. The owner of this gun is not keen on them. I tend to agree, but it probably wouldn't stop me buying one.

The workmanship is very good. All the polishing is done to a far higher gloss than is done inside the higher grade B25's. Though for all that this gun is not hand built in quite the same way as a B25. But the time spent on the gun does come through and is clearly evident.

If you want a pretty gun to simply enjoy owning and shooting then this certainly worth considering. It is also not a very common gun so you have something slightly unusual to gain attention from your shooting friends.

Comparable guns would be Browning B125 or a lower B25. Beretta Jubilee or DT10. possibly a Perazzi.

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