New to Me Miroku Liberty Chief 38 special

[Tallball]

I'm kind of a sucker for the oddball gun, especially the oddball revolver. A few months back I ran across a Miroku 2" 38 special revolver on Gunbroker for... I don't recall, $150 or $200 or something like that. I had heard they made a copy of the small-framed Colt 38 (Detective Special?) that was pretty good, so I figured what the heck and bought it.

Well, it wasn't what I expected. It was full-sized, as in K-frame sized. And dang that thing has a nice trigger! Not only is it the same size as my 2" Model 10, it also shoots every bit as well. I was very impressed.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I ran across another Miroku revolver on Gunbroker. It was the Liberty Chief Special, the one I thought I was getting originally. It was honestly described: mechanically good, but had apparently been parkerized after rust problems and still had some pitting. I bid on it just for fun and was surprised to win it for $131.

I picked it up at the LGS the other day. The pitting was worse than I expected, and the trigger isn't as good as the larger one, but it locks up tight and the barrel is nice inside. It seems like a well-made and solid little gun. I'm going to take it to the range in the morning and see how it does.

I don't know much about old Colts. Is that what the little J-frame sized 38 was called, "The Detective Special"? I have no idea what kind of holster to get for it or what kind of ammo it might prefer. It will probably just be a range toy, but if it's a great shooter over many hundreds of rounds, it might work its way into my carry rotation.

Any relevant advice or info on old Colts or Mirokus would be much appreciated.

And yeah, if there's no pic, it didn't happen:

View media item 2037

 

[entropy]

I don't know much about old Colts. Is that what the little J-frame sized 38 was called, "The Detective Special"?

The D-Frame Colts were bigger than J-Frame Smiths. Though the cylinder turns clockwise on that one, like a Colt, it looks more like a K-Frame Smith.

 

[Tallball]

It won't fit in a J-frame holster, but is much closer to J-frame size than K-frame size. The grip is quite small.

 

[Buckeye63]

Great find ..... Money well invested !!!

 

[jar]

...
I don't know much about old Colts. Is that what the little J-frame sized 38 was called, "The Detective Special"? I have no idea what kind of holster to get for it or what kind of ammo it might prefer. It will probably just be a range toy, but if it's a great shooter over many hundreds of rounds, it might work its way into my carry rotation.

Any relevant advice or info on old Colts or Mirokus would be much appreciated.

And yeah, if there's no pic, it didn't happen:

View media item 2037

Nice looking kinda Dick Special.

Colt frame sizes can get really confusing as they had several different frames within the same general size category and often pieces parts like grips for one will not fit on the other. This is particularly true in the mid size colts.

The basic small frame was the "D" frame that began with the Police Positives and ran through the Detective Specials.

Then things get confusing. See this excellent post by dfarris for an explanation.

 

[PapaG]

Had a couple of them. Bought both new in the box and one was minty and the other must have incurred some salt damage in shipment. Traded them both for a nice Detective Special.

 

[Speedo66]

Is the smaller gun 5 shot or 6 shot? S&W Chief Spl. were 5, Colt Det. Spl. were 6.

 

[Tallball]

The larger one and the smaller one are both six shooters. The K-frame sized one is a great shooter. I found out yesterday that the smaller one is a so-so shooter. The DA is pretty stiff.

 

[Monac]

Did Miroku really make two different frame sizes in revolvers? I thought all their revolvers were Colt Police Positive Special sized, with maybe an extra-tiny grip frame on the Detective Special-type snubby.

 

[GRIZ22]

I would buy all of those I could find at those prices.

 

[Tallball]

I don't have a side-by-side picture, but...

Here is the Police Special. It is pretty much the exact same size as my K-frame Model 10 snubby:

Miroku 38 special

• Tallball
• Oct 4, 2018

Here is the Liberty Chief Special. It is close to the size of a J-frame, but the cylinder is larger to hold six shots:
View media item 2037
The smaller revolver is more zoomed in in the picture, but If you (correctly) assume that the cylinders are roughly the same size and make that mental adjustment, it's obvious that the Police Special is built on a larger frame. They both seem like well-manufactured revolvers.

I believe that Miroku also makes (or made) shotgun barrels for quality manufacturers such as Browning. I'm assuming that the Japanese police eventually abandoned their revolvers for 9mm pistols like everyone else. Apparently they carried pretty decent revolvers until then.

 

[340PD]

You are testing my memory. I bought a Liberty Chief 38 snubnose in the very late 1960's from Target stores. The cost was $45 new. I kept it only a short time as I had problems with the firing pin and moved on to a S&W Mod 28. Much larger but rock solid.

 

[Monac]

Thanks for the photos, Tallball. As you point out, they really settle the question. Who'da thunk it! Everything turns out to be more complicated than it seems.

I have a Miroku similar to the one in your upper photograph, but it was sold under the EIG name and has plastic grips instead of the nice wooden ones. I found a pair of wooden Miroku grips on Ebay, but they will not fit.

Also, it seems to have a slightly different trigger mechanism than guns sold under the Miroku name directly. In particular, the mainspring is not attached to the hammer - it just bears on it at certain times - and the hammer flops around a little if you hold the trigger all the way to the rear. This is something I have not seen before in a gun that was not broken or missing parts.

Finally, I took the sideplate off, and had a long hard time getting it back on, because Miroku chose to mount a spring loaded part on the sideplate, at least on the EIG version.