Any Winchester 52 collectors?

[justinp61]

I'm not a collector but do have two D's, one E and a Browning repop. With the exception of the Browning I shoot them fun matches at my local gun club, aperture sights and scopes. All great rifles IMHO.

 

[twl]

Yep, have a Winchester early model 52e factory original mint condition. it is a tack driver at 50 yards with Mitas + ammo. I shoot Target Iron class and Target Scope Class (with Redfield 3200 25x).

 

[Thomasconnor]

David Yale left hand conversion, 52B...It looks better without the (temporary) scope...Tom

 

[Hal]

Thomas

Do you have anymore picture of the conversion on your 52?
It oops lick it has some great wood.

Hal

 

[ms6852]

Not a collector but I own a 52C and can shoot bug holes...but I can't!

 

[Dryfly24]

I own three, a true Bull barreled B, a heavy barreled B, and a government marked D. They are all shooters. I lent my buddy my bull barreled B to shoot at a 200 yard benchrest silhouette competition this past Sunday during some very windy conditions, and he scored enough to put him into the second tier, just below the top category the club carries. I love these rifles.

 

[Thomasconnor]

Thomas

Do you have anymore picture of the conversion on your 52?
It oops lick it has some great wood.

Hal

Sorry I don't. The conversion was done long before I bought the rifle. Here's showing some butt and the front sight work:

Here's another left hand conversion, not mine...Tom

 

[xring]

Reminds me of a sad story . About 30 years ago I was talking to Jesse ......one of our Draftsmen ( remember those ? ) and got around to the Subject of Rifles . He pulled out a very beautiful detailed Drawing of a 52 Sporter . Said he had just made one up from a 52 Target . I asked him how many Customs he had ever made and he said three ..... and his Stockwork was from a Blank . Told me to come over to his house and have a look-see . I walked into his basement and saw the cleanest and biggest Machine Shop I have ever seen in a Home . He showed me his 52 Sporter and I almost fell over . It was one of the finest Customs I have ever seen .... and I have seen A-1 Parkers , High Grade Foxes , Purdeys , Merkels , etc . He had machined the Front Sight and Ramp , a slick German type Magazine release lever and other Custom touches . Jesse had polished all the metal himself . Told me he had sent all the Metal to some famous German Gunsmith in Pa. ( whose name eludes me now ) with instructions to do nothing to the Metal except degrease it and do an old Country Blue . That Gunsmith called him after receiving the metal , and said he wanted to hire the man who did the Metal work . After seeing his work I somehow got him to agree to build me one . Jesse was very short and all three Stocks he built had very short length of pulls . BTW , he also did some superb Checkering on that 52 and it was only his third try . To make a long story a little shorter ...... I picked up a nice old 52B and waited and waited . Unfortunately Jesse became seriously ill and I never got my Custom 52 Sporter !

 

[Ggmac]

Did you sell the Martini??

Yup , for what I paid for it , to a friend .

 

[Biggunron]

I just picked up a 52C. It sports a "benchrest stock" and the trigger is not OEM Winchester. It is all aluminum and I believe it may be a Canajar.

I am hoping someone can identify it and and tell me how to get the bolt out so I can give her a good cleaning..

 

[justinp61]

Bolt removal.
https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=585741

Here is the place to go for Winchester 52 info.
https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=265

 

[GSL]

Dear sir ,
I have had almost every variation of Winchester 52.
If you are interested - I have 2 different slow lock rifles -( pre speed lock- pre A )
I also have 2 different E versions.
A winchester 52E international - thumbhole with a genuine E trigger. Also a 52E standard version which is marked E but is called a transition E.
GSL

 

[grauhanen]

Dear sir ,
I have had almost every variation of Winchester 52.
If you are interested - I have 2 different slow lock rifles -( pre speed lock- pre A )
I also have 2 different E versions.
A winchester 52E international - thumbhole with a genuine E trigger. Also a 52E standard version which is marked E but is called a transition E.
GSL

This thread began in 2018 and has been inactive for years.

 

[flatlander]

Got started buying 52s when the CMP was selling them 2005-07, and am still looking at nice ones to pick up. From left to right - CMP 52D with Vianni scope base & Weaver T24; 52C std wt w/Unertl 16x - someone cut 1-1/2" off the butt; 52C w/Unertl 16x - someone re-finished the pretty nice stock and checkered the pg - and it shoots as nice as it looks; CMP 52D w/Unertl 16x in a Doan Trevor H&H prone stock; pre-A speedlock with factory heavy SS bbl, w/Unertl 15x Varmint - a previous owner cut about 1/2" off the butt, shortened the forend a bunch, checkered pg & forend. No idea what happened to the original checkered steel butt plate, but someone replaced it with a homemade one with ugly grooves across it - guess they were trying to make it look checkered - I really owe it to this rifle to find an original Winchester checkered plate, because it shoots pretty darned nice for a bbl with a 31 date stamp.

 

[patriot54]

I picked up a nice 52d a few years ago and put a Redfield 3200 on it. Going to have my new 52c in hand on Wednesday. Any 52 collectors out there have the a-e or even preA-postE?

I have a mint C with irons but have only shot it once; one hole at 50 yards off the bench. Could be why Bill Calfee liked Winchesters.