I think they look weird and I can't get past it. Might feel different if I handled one but just from looks, I don't want anything to do with one. Needs at least six to eight more inches of barrel.
Oh, I agree, they do look weird. A lever-action repeater Trapper carbine, with a magazine about as long as the barrel, is something to which we have become accustomed, but an 1885 High Wall-type of rifle seems to “need” a long barrel, to look “right.” Somewhere along the way, however, the idea of a rifle that can hang on a strap or sling, under a poncho or raincoat, became appealing. I had became accustomed to the AR16/M4 carbine, with a stock that collapses, resulting in a handy package about 32” long, during my police patrol days. I was only a “carbine unit” officer for a few years, as I worked straight nights, and preferred the shotgun, which could be kept up-front, with me, and deployed at my discretion, whereas the rifle/carbine had to be kept cased, in the trunk, unless specific circumstances existed. I sold my Colt AR15A2 Govt Carbine to a colleague whose younger eyes were better-suited to those sights*.
For that matter, a shotgun tends to look “right” with about 26” of barrel, to my eyes, but my duty shotguns had 18” to 20” barrels, and I kept hoping the chief would OK 14” barrels, for patrol officers. I was willing to pay the NFA tax, as I would be the owner of the weapon, as I owned all of my duty firearms, but needed the chief to do his part, by amending policy, and signing-off on the CLEO paperwork.
I saw paintings and line drawings of historic carbines being toted my dragoons and other cavalry, and I would occasionally see such weapons, at a local dealer that specializes in collectible firearms. None were High Wall types, but some were rolling-block types. I have not ridden a horse, since I was a teen, in the Seventies, but the utility of the shorter carbines makes plenty of sense.
So, eventually, the “weird” aspect of the Miroku-Chester 1885 Trapper normalized itself.
*I later acquired AR15/M4 weapons that could accept optics, but never got around to being re-certified/qual’ed to tote a patrol carbine,