Miroku .38 Liberty Chief Worth Fixing?

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WestKentucky said:
There is nothing at all to getting them apart and back together. Have at it!
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WestKentucky, your expertise and mechanical ability is to be envied but it's been my experience that most people who are mechanically inclined don't understand nor appreciate how it is that some of us aren't so blessed. So, op, be advised that if you're anywhere near to being as inept as I can be, "having at it" might get you into a world of trouble. As an example, though I'm no "Mr. Goodwrench", I've always changed the oil on all of my vehicles; have done tuneups; have changed water pumps, alternators and starters and have adjusted the solid lifters on an old Ford 390 engine among other things car-related but when it comes to reassembling a Ruger MKI through MKIII pistol, I'm all thumbs. Once I spent at least a couple of hours trying to put an automatic fly reel back together, the spring must have been ten feet long!

Know your limitations before you start turning screws. Just saying.
 
SwampWolf said:
WestKentucky, your expertise and mechanical ability is to be envied but it's been my experience that most people who are mechanically inclined don't understand nor appreciate how it is that some of us aren't so blessed. So, op, be advised that if you're anywhere near to being as inept as I can be, "having at it" might get you into a world of trouble. As an example, though I'm no "Mr. Goodwrench", I've always changed the oil on all of my vehicles; have done tuneups; have changed water pumps, alternators and starters and have adjusted the solid lifters on an old Ford 390 engine among other things car-related but when it comes to reassembling a Ruger MKI through MKIII pistol, I'm all thumbs. Once I spent at least a couple of hours trying to put an automatic fly reel back together, the spring must have been ten feet long!

Know your limitations before you start turning screws. Just saying.
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Totally agree in my case. I too have done other things that are in my wheelhouse, but never took apart a gun before or even had a revolver. I am not opposed to looking to see if there is any apparent cosmetic damage, loose trigger etc, but that is as far as I am comfortable doing. Once I get it checkout by a gunsmith and working, I'll do more reading here, and looking at videos, perhaps I will feel more confident in the future. I really do like the advice I am getting here. You guys are so helpful.
 
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gary711 said:
Totally agree in my case. I too have done other things that are in my wheelhouse, but never took apart a gun before or even had a revolver. I am not opposed to looking to see if there is any apparent cosmetic damage, loose trigger etc, but that is as far as I am comfortable doing. Once I get it checkout by a gunsmith and working, I'll do more reading here, and looking at videos, perhaps I will feel more confident in the future. I really do like the advice I am getting here. You guys are so helpful.
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You will not find much on the Liberty Chief. OP, I have some free time Wednesday (vacation day) and can pull mine apart and take some pictures. I could possibly make a video but I don’t know how to share it. It’s silly easy though, so please don’t go to a gunsmith just yet. They won’t know much about them anyway, and that generally means they either flat out refuse the job or charge triple. The main thing for your description so far is the mainspring and it is accessed for viewing purposes by removing 1 screw which pulls the grips off. They are likely stuck by crud so if you pull that screw and they are still stuck, barely start the screw and give it a couple gentle taps with the screwdriver handle. Only 1 side has to come off, but you can push the other side off once you get that side off. After that the best thing to do is put it in a pan, pour transmission fluid over it (grips removed) and let it sit for a day or ten to soften any hard dried oils.
 
Tallball said:
If it's like mine, it's well worth fixing. Mine is an excellent shooter: nice trigger and more accurate than I am. It's every bit the equal of my 2" Model 10 in quality.

It's a police trade-in with some holster wear, but that never bothers me. It's a joy to shoot and I've had zero problems with it.

Miroku 38 special

Miroku 38 special

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Your Miroku is just like mine except A) Yours has a 2 inch barrel instead of a 4 inch and B) mine is a slightly cheaper version with plastic grips, made for sale by an importer/gun retailer named EIG. It is a bit different from the OP's Miroku Liberty Chief. The Liberty Chief had a strain screw to tension the mainspring, for instance.

Thanks for putting up a picture!

I don't know what happened with the Miroku revolver line. At some point, they seemed to have simply dropped these products and focussed on long guns.
 
WestKentucky said:
You will not find much on the Liberty Chief. OP, I have some free time Wednesday (vacation day) and can pull mine apart and take some pictures. I could possibly make a video but I don’t know how to share it. It’s silly easy though, so please don’t go to a gunsmith just yet. They won’t know much about them anyway, and that generally means they either flat out refuse the job or charge triple. The main thing for your description so far is the mainspring and it is accessed for viewing purposes by removing 1 screw which pulls the grips off. They are likely stuck by crud so if you pull that screw and they are still stuck, barely start the screw and give it a couple gentle taps with the screwdriver handle. Only 1 side has to come off, but you can push the other side off once you get that side off. After that the best thing to do is put it in a pan, pour transmission fluid over it (grips removed) and let it sit for a day or ten to soften any hard dried oils.
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Photos would be great, just so I could get an idea of what I have in there. Not sure if the mainspring is a coil or adjustable leaf spring. Thank You
 
Monac said:
Your Miroku is just like mine except A) Yours has a 2 inch barrel instead of a 4 inch and B) mine is a slightly cheaper version with plastic grips, made for sale by an importer/gun retailer named EIG. It is a bit different from the OP's Miroku Liberty Chief. The Liberty Chief had a strain screw to tension the mainspring, for instance.

Thanks for putting up a picture!

I don't know what happened with the Miroku revolver line. At some point, they seemed to have simply dropped these products and focussed on long guns.
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Monac, the first photo in post is just a stock photo I had, I mistakenly up loaded it instead of the original. I am going to try and change it there. I did show the right photo further down the thread. There is no strain screw on the outside. Could not change the photo in my beginning post.
 
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This picture is a year and a half old (give or take) so it doesn’t necessarily show exactly what OP needs to see but it does show the action opened up. The mainspring is a coil with guide rod. The biggest issue with getting this back together was getting the cylinder release mechanism lined back up with the side plate and external arm. There was something there that I had to hold with grease but I don’t recall what it was. This is exactly how the gun was when I gave it a serious bath in WD40, carburetor cleaner, and ATF each for a day with a water hose bath in between each step. Mine was unfired and still held 1950s grease that was so dry and so hunky that the action would not work at all. If the mainspring is light then somebody probably cut a few coils off trying to get it lighter and it got to being unreliable. A serious cleaning and then lube job would let the hammer move freely and may be just the ticket to get the gun back in proper order. If not, the main spring is super simple, and could be made by simply adding a half inch or so to what is currently there and then trimming it back until it will fully function.

4ADE111D-C3D0-48BD-B2FD-6274202C1240.jpeg
 
WestKentucky said:
This picture is a year and a half old (give or take) so it doesn’t necessarily show exactly what OP needs to see but it does show the action opened up. The mainspring is a coil with guide rod. The biggest issue with getting this back together was getting the cylinder release mechanism lined back up with the side plate and external arm. There was something there that I had to hold with grease but I don’t recall what it was. This is exactly how the gun was when I gave it a serious bath in WD40, carburetor cleaner, and ATF each for a day with a water hose bath in between each step. Mine was unfired and still held 1950s grease that was so dry and so hunky that the action would not work at all. If the mainspring is light then somebody probably cut a few coils off trying to get it lighter and it got to being unreliable. A serious cleaning and then lube job would let the hammer move freely and may be just the ticket to get the gun back in proper order. If not, the main spring is super simple, and could be made by simply adding a half inch or so to what is currently there and then trimming it back until it will fully function.

View attachment 1020209
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Thank you for the photo. Great help.
 
WestKentucky said:
No problem! If possible, cock yours and take a picture of the firing pin nose and post it. I don’t expect there to be anything worth looking at there, but those old fixed firing pins can be problematic.
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I did read that the pin should be able to float up and down a little, as this does, but it also has play sideways too.
 

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gary711 said:
I did read that the pin should be able to float up and down a little, as this does, but it also has play sideways too.
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It looks like your hammer is dragging based on the scratches. It also looks like the firing pin nose may be damaged, but I can’t tell for sure. A dragging hammer would absolutely slow it down and make it less reliable, but that may not be the current issue.
 
WestKentucky said:
This picture is a year and a half old (give or take) so it doesn’t necessarily show exactly what OP needs to see but it does show the action opened up. The mainspring is a coil with guide rod. The biggest issue with getting this back together was getting the cylinder release mechanism lined back up with the side plate and external arm. There was something there that I had to hold with grease but I don’t recall what it was. This is exactly how the gun was when I gave it a serious bath in WD40, carburetor cleaner, and ATF each for a day with a water hose bath in between each step. Mine was unfired and still held 1950s grease that was so dry and so hunky that the action would not work at all. If the mainspring is light then somebody probably cut a few coils off trying to get it lighter and it got to being unreliable. A serious cleaning and then lube job would let the hammer move freely and may be just the ticket to get the gun back in proper order. If not, the main spring is super simple, and could be made by simply adding a half inch or so to what is currently there and then trimming it back until it will fully function.

View attachment 1020209
Click to expand...


Part SW part Colt. What little reviews/info out there, they were pretty well made. Japanese Police used them
 
WestKentucky said:
It looks like your hammer is dragging based on the scratches. It also looks like the firing pin nose may be damaged, but I can’t tell for sure. A dragging hammer would absolutely slow it down and make it less reliable, but that may not be the current issue.
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Thanks for all the help.
 
I am confused by WestKentucky's photo, because it shows a coil mainspring. The OP's gun has a strain screw, which I thought was for adjusting tension on a flat mainspring. What am I missing?

The difficulty with getting the sideplate back on that he describes sounds like the problem I had with my Miroku, which is not of the Liberty Chief design.
 
Monac said:
I am confused by WestKentucky's photo, because it shows a coil mainspring. The OP's gun has a strain screw, which I thought was for adjusting tension on a flat mainspring. What am I missing?

The difficulty with getting the sideplate back on that he describes sounds like the problem I had with my Miroku, which is not of the Liberty Chief design.
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Monac, I am the OP. I posted the wrong photo, here is mine. In my OP I used a stock photo.
 

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SwampWolf said:
WestKentucky, your expertise and mechanical ability is to be envied but it's been my experience that most people who are mechanically inclined don't understand nor appreciate how it is that some of us aren't so blessed. So, op, be advised that if you're anywhere near to being as inept as I can be, "having at it" might get you into a world of trouble. As an example, though I'm no "Mr. Goodwrench", I've always changed the oil on all of my vehicles; have done tuneups; have changed water pumps, alternators and starters and have adjusted the solid lifters on an old Ford 390 engine among other things car-related but when it comes to reassembling a Ruger MKI through MKIII pistol, I'm all thumbs. Once I spent at least a couple of hours trying to put an automatic fly reel back together, the spring must have been ten feet long!

Know your limitations before you start turning screws. Just saying.
Click to expand...
WestKentucky said:
You will not find much on the Liberty Chief. OP, I have some free time Wednesday (vacation day) and can pull mine apart and take some pictures. I could possibly make a video but I don’t know how to share it. It’s silly easy though, so please don’t go to a gunsmith just yet. They won’t know much about them anyway, and that generally means they either flat out refuse the job or charge triple. The main thing for your description so far is the mainspring and it is accessed for viewing purposes by removing 1 screw which pulls the grips off. They are likely stuck by crud so if you pull that screw and they are still stuck, barely start the screw and give it a couple gentle taps with the screwdriver handle. Only 1 side has to come off, but you can push the other side off once you get that side off. After that the best thing to do is put it in a pan, pour transmission fluid over it (grips removed) and let it sit for a day or ten to soften any hard dried oils.
Click to expand...

I had mine refurbished and new parts made by Eric with Helix gunsmith services in Missouri, shoots like new
 
hannstv said:
All the Miroku firearms I have been around were good quality firearms. It is well worth the cost of a gunsmith to check it out...
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I would use just cases with primer. Yeah, you will have little bang, but if you do that in garage or basement with earmuffs, shouldn't be the issue if wife is shopping. Also, I would use the bucket and fill it with cloth soaked in cooking oil to absorb primer particles and fumes.
 
Gunnerbly said:
I had mine refurbished and new parts made by Eric with Helix gunsmith services in Missouri, shoots like new
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NIGHTLORD40K said:
Resurrected zombie thread......
Sadly, we haven't heard from Gary711 in eight months. Hope he is well and got his Miroku sorted out!
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Hi Guy, I am still here. Have been having a lot of health problems with myself & now my wife. Things have settled down for now, have found a gunsmith that said he would look at it, just haven't gotten a chance to get get there yet & he said he was way behind, actually, here in Michigan all the repair shops are way behind I will be back soon to give an update. Thank you very much for all your concern.
 
@gary711 Grip removal is a `User Serviceable' function. I'm sure the owners manual lists a step for cleaning/lubricating by the user by removing the grips. The suggestion to remove them and clean the spring is a good one. Once the grips are removed, soaking the gun in solvent will loosen any dried oil/grease that has built up. Or you could just clean what you can see.

That gun hasn't been made in decades and yours appears to be used very little. Prime circumstances for old oil/grease to gum up an action, slow the hammer, and cause intermittent misfires.

I understand your caution about removing the sideplate. Although I'm not shy about going into my guns, I don't take the sideplate off of my Smith Wesson revolver often. It is a precision piece and must be taken off/put on correctly. But the grips are a single screw that is intended to be user serviceable.
 
gary711 said:
I inherited a .38 Liberty Chief 6 shot revolver. I have not shot yet, I was told by the the person who gave it to me that it would misfire, every now and then, with new & reloads. He said it is probably the firing pin or hammer spring. He did say the mark on the primer when this happens in dead on center.

I looks to be in good condition overall. I do not know a lot about hand guns, but had been looking for something just to have in my home for protection that I feel comfortable with. This gun fits the bill for me.

View attachment 1019759 View attachment 1019760 My question is how much should I invest in this gun.
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James Earl Ray was carrying one when he was captured in London.
 
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