Gordon
June 24, 2004, 12:06 AM
I BOUGHT this weirdy yesterday; I saw a very clean .410 single shot that caught my eye with it's fiddle back walnut(?) stock and foreend. It sure looked like a 40s or 50s overbuilt H&R or some other US brand BUT it has a machined scroll steel trigger gaurd, and contoured side plates on the box lock action which is beautifully cased. The blue heavy barrel is 3" and choked and I could only find the marking "The Mallard" on barrel(also on buttplate) and "Seaway Importers" in small script when you break action. When I pulled off the forend and took off the barrel it said "made in Japan" a couple Japanese characters and 1959 on locking lug!!!!! I think this was a magnificently crafted post war copy of an American .410 turned out by Miroku (had the Kinja translated by a Japanese friend) when Japanese products were not well recieved in US!! Paid $95 gladly! :cool:
