[Chaffee]

The Winchester leverguns are a little different because Miroku builds a better levergun than Winchester has in 100yrs. They're also clearly stamped "Made in Japan".

I don't know about that. I've 3 levers made in japan: A Winchester '86 takedown, a Browning '86 and a BLR22. They are beautiful, well made guns. I've also many, many pre-war Winchesters. To say that old Winchesters aren't as good as Mirokus is just false. If you're talking about post 1964's Wins than I would agree, but not to the blanket statement you made. In terms of quality, I'd put Winchesters made prior to 1964 and pre-war in particular up against anything made by anyone. The exceptions would be the gumwood stocks which I don't care for and the era of the flaking receiver blue as seen on some lever actions.