Hi,
I know Brown Besses and their knock offs very well. The Miroku Bess, of which I own several sets of parts, has two key things going for it. The lock design and parts are very good and when treated as a kit can be turned into a very fine musket lock, better than the Pedersoli version. The cast components are high quality but they need finishing and polishing. The other key component is the barrel, which is the best and strongest repro short land Brown Bess barrels made. All of the other components on a Miroku Bess leave a lot to be desired despite the high quality castings. The butt plate is 1/4-3/8" too short, the ramrod pipes are not shaped correctly, and the trigger guard is badly misshapen. The stocks are not very good either and are too straight compared with originals and too straight to be good shooters for most people. With some judicious filing of parts and reshaping the guard, you could make a good Bess inspired COS musket. The stock has to be replaced and ideally, you would want to get rid of the cartoonish and obviously stamped "TOWER" and crown marks and engrave more authentic looking marks. Most COS muskets were crudely made and there actually were not many of them because the need was very quickly filled by imports from France. With regard to making a Miroku Bess more authentic as a short land pattern Bess, it is difficult without dumping the stock, guard, and butt plate. I reworked quite a few Pedersoli Besses but I don't do the same with Miroku's except mainly salvage the barrel, lock, and a few of the brass parts.
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/new-reworking-a-pedersoli-brown-bess.107405/I have a 1.5-2-year backlog of work and after that, I intend to take a sabbatical from doing work for others and getting some personal projects done. However, I am sure some other maker on this site could do a credible job turning the parts into a COS musket.
dave
