I find it interesting how many praise the fit and finish of the Miroku Winchesters. I took delivery of a new M92 .357 two days ago. The fit of wood to metal was better on all three of my Rossi rifles from various years production. And my Chiappa is fitted much, much better. The Winchester's wood is proud at least 1/10 to 1/8" in all areas where wood joins receiver, and all along the tang and grip too. I thought I was buying a premium product. Turns out the fit is about the same as my Remington era Marlin.
I saw a video on You Tube where the presenter did have a Miroku Winchester where the wood was proud of the stock by about 1/16", but certainly not as much as you suggest.
In fact, I have never in 50 years of shooting seen a lever gun with as much proud wood as you suggest.
And, I bought a Miroku Winchester 1873 short rifle with a round barrel and plain walnut stocks about 1 year ago, and the wood fit was about perfect. Also, I have viewed close-up photos of individual serial number Miroku 1873 rifles currently for sale on a web-site and the wood fit was again about perfect.
I suppose that even Miroku can have quality control problems on some runs. I can say however that on my rifle the fit and finish is about the best of any lever action rifle that I own.
The only Rossi that I owned about 18 years ago had good wood to metal fit, but the stock seemed like it had soaked in motor oil as a finish. It literally seeped oil. The rifle itself failed to function out of the box, was stiff to operate, and had button rifling that was so shallow that cast bullets keyholed. Accuracy was nonexistant. After much stoning of parts and reassembly, it worked reasonably well, but not 100%.
My recently purchased Remington Marlins have reasonably good wood to metal fit for the most part, but not perfect. They work well but some needed some minor tuning. Springs tend to be too heavy and the front sights on regular models are crap.
