The Chief's Special that wasn't

I spotted what I thought was a Colt [1] Model 36 Chief's Special at a very low price while browsing at a coin and gun shop not far from home. But the name stamped in the side- "Liberty Chief"- wasn't the name of any Colt I was familiar with. I flipped the gun over and looked at the other side:

There was something printed there, and it wasn't Colt, but it was a familiar name:

Any collector or Browning enthusiast will recognize that name immediately, as Miroku is a well known Japanese maker of quality firearms. They've been producing Browning's guns since production was shifted from Belgium in the 1970s, and Winchester lever action and falling block rifles since the 1990s. They also sell O/U shotguns of their own design under the Miroku name and a few others, including Charles Daly.

This pistol and a version with a 4" barrel were initially marketed in the post-WWII years to the Japanese Police force, who were limited under the terms of the surrender documents to revolvers only. (This was probably to their benefit, as the WWII-era Nambu automatic pistols were dangerous, prone to accidental discharge, and fired a relatively ineffectual cartridge.) But the police force chose an S&W instead, and Miroku ended up exporting guns to other Asian countries, and to the US, where they were marketed under the Liberty Chief and E.I.G. names (E.I.G. was Saul Eig, a Florida based  importer of mostly cheap guns in the 1950s through 1970s).

The design is kind of a hybrid of Colt and S&W design elements. The cylinder lock is clearly patterned after the Colt, but the lockworks are more like pre-WWII S&Ws, with leaf springs rather than coil springs and an S&W type hammer and firing pin. Cylinder rotation is clockwise.  The guns are well made overall, with good fit and finish. Googling "Miroku Liberty Chief" returned a lot of stories from those who'd owned them, and one story of an over hardened mainspring that broke; the owner of that gun found an S&W that was a close fit that he ground down to fit the Miroku.

You might be asking at this point, what's it worth? Gander Mountain has one listed for $299, which seems on the high side. A mint example with no cylinder markings might go as high as $400-450 to a collector, but that would be a rare one indeed. A more reasonable price for one like this one, with close to 100% finish, would be in the $200-275 range. If the guns were better known, there might be more collector interest, which would drive prices up.

My feeling is that this gun is perhaps 70-80% of the quality of a pre-WWII Colt or S&W at half the price. It's certainly superior to any Charter Arms revolver I've ever seen, and to earlier Taurus and Rossi revolvers (I'm told the newer ones are much better.) The downside is that there just aren't any repair parts available from the usual sources; I checked Numrich (gunpartscorp.com) and the only Miroku parts they stocked were for Miroku-made Charles Daly shotguns. A good gunsmith could probably adapt a Colt or S&W part to fit. That having been said, I don't think this is a gun that is going to suffer many failures if it's well maintained.

Postscript: The safe was getting crowded as yet another toy came home with me the other day, so this one went on the block. The new owner got a better deal that I got buying it, and I was glad to pass it on to someone who will enjoy it.

[1] Of course I should have typed "Smith and Wesson," not "Colt." Thanks to the anonymous commenter (see below) who caught that.