A few years ago I had a Uberti 1873 SRC in 32-20 that was beautiful. It functioned great too but I needed the money and ended up parting with it. These new Miroku 1873s look really nice and I hope to buy one sooner or later. There is something intriguing about seeing the word "WINCHESTER" stamped on a rifle, even if it is made in Japan. (I'm a huge fan of Miroku Browning and Winchester 1886s and 1892s and they are every bit as good as the original US made Winchesters IMO). But back to the Model 1873: To be honest, when you think about how many thousands of Italian made 1873s have been made in the past 40 yrs or so and how many multiple hundreds of thousands of rounds these firearms are sending downrange--especially at cowboy action events where they really get a wringing out--that must tell us something about their quality! My guess is that during the era of the old West when money was probably in short supply by the average individual, most guns were probably only used in self defense situations or more likely for hunting. I can't imagine a situation where people would take out their Winchester and "shoot the hell out of it" every month for target practice. That would get pretty expensive pretty quick. But, not having lived then, I could be wrong.

Have you received it yet?

Its been delivered to my FFL but I have not yet picked it up.

Damn you, now I absolutely have to have a Deluxe Sporting in .45 Colt.

That's definitely happening in a few weeks.