Ted, that is unusually nice wood for a BSS Sidelock. It'd rank at least average, maybe slightly above, if it were on a Parker Repro. Take a look at the Repros listed on gunsinternational, Ted, and--well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but if you're objective about it, you won't have any trouble finding better wood than yours. And the AVERAGE Repro has much nicer wood than the AVERAGE BSS Sidelock.
Bushed strikers not necessary? Ted, weren't you the same guy who knocked the Webley & Scott 700's because they didn't have those? Good German guns are also well thought of for their mechanics and steel. Yet I bought a Sauer with a busted hammer (no bushed strikers, and the seller agreed to have it fixed by Del Whitman). And you don't often hear of hammers on Sauers or Merkels or Simsons breaking either. . . but it does happen. Which was your point, I think, about Webley & Scott 700's . . . of which I've owned a few and have never had a broken hammer. But I do think the Model 400 I owned was a superior gun in that regard . . .because it did have bushed strikers.
Given that there are about a bazillion Spanish guns out there (quite a few of which were made to a price point) compared to 1100 BSS Sidelocks, frequency of repair is going to be tilted in the direction of the Spanish guns. And one does have to wonder . . . if BSS Sidelocks never break, why do we hear quotes praising them from gunsmiths? All that disassembly taking place purely for stripping and cleaning, or just out of curiosity to see what they look like inside?
I do agree--based more on Ithaca SKB's and Parker Repros than any other guns--that Japanese guns tend to be pretty darned reliable. Yet I also owned a Hibiki, which I think was a Miroku under an earlier name (and therefore out of the same factory that made the BSS) that had various mechanical issues. And when I did an article on Japanese guns, I talked to a gunsmith who said that while the Japanese-made Charles Daly OU's were pretty nice guns, he'd replaced broken leaf springs on a number of them.
So on sum, Japanese guns--in terms of reliability--are probably as good as Japanese cars and trucks. And I've owned a number of those, and they're darned good. But not perfect.
Last edited by L. Brown; 02/21/19 11:12 AM.
