According to Fjestad's Blue Book, these are officially called the "lightweight" frame and a few over 800 of them were made by B.C. Miroku (same mfg. as Browning Citori) in 28 gauge only.

Well, I lucked into one yesterday and bought it without even knowing what I had until I got it home. It's got a couple of patches on the barrel and the receiver where it got damp at one time, and the stock was cut to 12 inches for a lady/kid then restored fairly professionally with a wood insert and pad to 14". The cut stock and slight surface patches are what attracted me to it in that I thought I might get it pretty cheap and recut it for my grandson in a couple of years.

Now I'm in a quandry. It's condition is very good outside of the issues described (I fired four rounds through it and the inertial trigger works fine). So now I'm wondering if I should look for a new buttstock and put a little money into retouching the bluing (or sell it to someone who wants to restore it for himself) instead of making a kid gun out of it?

I found one in "99%" condition in the box here: http://www.bishopsfineguns.com/1339.htm
If that one is worth just short of $4,000, what should the one I've described be worth?

A modified, non-original Daly name-plated Miroku is not generally considered a collectible.

Agreed. Essentially, no modern firearm is regarded as a "collectible" unless it is in pristine condition.

The "baby frame" is definately a shooter, sought after by those who appreciate light weight and delicate lines. My question is whether there is someone who would want it for a shooter who would pay enough that I'd be foolish to turn it back into a kid's gun.

The baby frame is a sleeper.

Very few people collect the CD/ Miroko shotguns, and they are a sweet gun

One thing is that NO parts from the standard 20 ga frame will interchange.

The firing pins are prone to getting battered as they are a two piece design. The hammer springs are a odd vee spring and also prone to breakage. The good thing these parts are currently availiable from a gentleman in AZ.

The safety tension spring is very fragile and I am currently making some of those.

The factory basicaly scaled down the frame as much as they could, and this caused some long term problems due the size of the parts.

It is a bitch to dissassemble, reassemble the action, so keep that in mind when looking for an gunsmith to do the work.

I would restore it and keep it, there are other 28 gauges out there for a kid.

If you consider selling it please keep me in mind, as we make lots of other C/D parts and would like to have a small frame as a sample gun.

I picked up a used NEF single shot in 28 ga for my boy, could not refuse the cost of $75.00
Now I have an single shot for him as well as the late coil spring C/D over under I am building up for him in 20 ga, with a spare 28 ga barrel, for when he is older.

Jim Wisner
Custom Metalsmith
www.wisnersinc.com