Do Winchester model 52 reproductions shoot very well?

[Dan Hall]

You know the ones made by Browning?? There is one for sale at a local gun store for $800 in pretty good shape. How do they shoot?

 

[Hoot]

You know the ones made by Browning?? There is one for sale at a local gun store for $800 in pretty good shape. How do they shoot?

A member of our ARA League shoots one. It has a heavy barrel on it. Not being familiar with them, I don't know if they normally come with a sporter contour barrel. If that's the only way they come from the factory, then he has rebarreled his. When he's on his game, it shoots very well. I've seen him rack up many 4 card aggs over 800, including a 2250 followed by a 2300.

It holds its own with my 52D that has a Kenyon modded trigger, but I have heard him complain that his trigger is not as light as his 40Xb with Jewell. He's got the pinch method down though.

Hoot

 

[patriot]

I do not own a reproduction so the information is second hand. What is your definition of how something shoots? They are good rifles, the balance and ergonomics are very nice. Some say the triggers are not as good as the 52C's, but what factory triggers are today on rifles that run less than a $1000. Accuracy depends on the rifle, but in general no better than 1 inch at 50 yards. Several folks have invested a good deal of time to get them to perform. If you are using it for plinking, hunting, or 50 yard silhouette it will work fine, but for serious sporter benchrest keep looking. Zanders imported a few with heavy barrels, but the collectors have them squirreled away. The originals were hand built, the best of the best. You can see the craftsman's hand in each; no two exactly alike I suppose. A reproduction will let you experience a rifle that is always on the must own lists without spending $3500-$6000.

Mark

 

[dryhumor]

I have one of the Brownings, it shot well from what I remember. It's been years since I've shot it, maybe 12 or 15 years....

800 seems a bit high for "pretty good shape", try to get a bit off. Magazines are available; somewhere around $30ish. Talley makes good bases for them.

 

[INShooter]

At one time I owned one. It shot well for a medium priced factory sporter. Like all rimfires it was ammo sensitive. Mine loved Winchester sub-sonic hollow points. It would hold between 1/2 and 3/4 inch at 50 yards. I now wish I had not sold it.

 

[Frankr]

I have a win 52B repro sporter It shoots well. I have never went out to see how well I could get it to shoot. I hunt with it and have killed gray squirrels at just over forty yards with it. Shoots well enough. I gunsmith told me the trigger is the same as the original 52's but they are mass produced he worked my trigger over and it is light crisp no creep. very nice trigger for a 22.
You can buy them new in the box for 900 to 1600 bucks. used in new condition around 800 to 900. so if the condition is used but as new 800 is not a bad price. You can shop them on gunbroker or guns international .
I like mine it is a nice rifle.

 

[Frankr]

I bought mine used, As new with the box and all paper work. I just sighted it in and went hunting.
I have never went out to see how well I could get it to shoot. The original owner said it liked Winchester super X HP he said it would shoot 1/2 at 50 yards with that ammo . I bought all he had like 1900 rounds of it. same era ammo as the rifle. I have a remmy 547 classic and I have been playing with it, shoots very good. So maybe one day I might get out and see what this Winchester will do..I do know from experience that I have had a few 22's shoot very well on a clean barrel and I think it is not normal for people to clean a 22 much but my experience has been they always shoot better on a clean barrel.
Do to SW PA and our humid climate and up and down temp's. I do not like to leave my barrel dirty, I have let them sit like that and they corrode and the fouling becomes like cement. I had a cheap 22 that would shoot 1/4" at 50 yards but I left the barrel dirty for a year or two and it was ruined. So I always clean and oil the barrel and I have found them to shoot quite well like that.

 

[V509]

Hmmmmmm. Mine has not been out of the box since I bought it new

 

[SShooterZ]

Excellent shooters IMO. I have 2 of the Winchester branded models and they are real honeys.

 

[Littlecooner]

I am assuming you are referring to the Reproduction that was sold under the Browning name back around 1993 or 94. That was the first year of production and the next year they started selling them as Winchester. I was into benchrest heavy back then and also some BR 50 stuff. Searched high and low that year they came out by Browning and found a used one with great wood that some benchrester bought and shot a few times and wanted money to buy more benchrest toys. Wow, was that ever a great investment. With all the 22rf in the safe, most do not get shot anymore. It is my all time favorite 22lr for hunting and plinking. Like all 22rf's its all about the ammo, I have had everything made, including the $ 25 a box competition stuff. My gun will do consistent 1/4 inch or less from a bench at 50 yards with good ammo. That could be called expensive ammo at today's prices. What do I do with it, I put that ram at 100 yards, the one hanging from a swing that is the size of the 22 silhouette when people are here at my range and load plain standard velocity ammo in the clip, using the 6 power scope and ring the ram offhanded with my browning until I get tired of reloading and repeating. Go buy that gun, it is one of the best 22rf ever produced unless you are looking for a bench rest quality gun, but those are in a different price range. crap, if you do not want it, send me info, will buy it and give it to my son for his birthday. I have put 1000's of rounds thru my gun in the past 23 years. All other 22's would leave here before that one left. The $ 800 is a fair price, go to rimfire central under the Winchester 52 thread, there is a lot of info about these guns and everyone else says they shoot great. You will get more that you pay for, not many times can one do that.

 

[Littlecooner]

You may find this link to Rimfire central very educational on these Brownings.
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=418617

 

[BobbyT]

I had one a while back and it shot OK but nothing special....even with the good ammo.

 

[escopeta]

I have had both original Winchester 52B Sporter and the repro. version. The repro. out shot the original. My favorite though was the Browning 52C due to stock design. Think the overall quality of the repro guns was better. Had to do some trigger work on them, but it worked out well. It would almost shoot with my Annie 1712, which I kept. Wolf Match Extra was the best for me. Had no trouble shooting 1/4"@50yds with them. As only wanted one .22 stayed with the Annie.

 

[flatlander]

I bought a NIB Browning 52 sporter replica a year or so after they were announced, mainly because a friend had shown me his original Win 52B sporter. I lusted for that rifle, but he sold it for around $2500, which was way over my pay grade at the time, so I made do with the Browning. They were very nicely made, though I wasn't all that thrilled with the trigger. Don't really recall how well mine shot - that was before I'd ever invested in any target grade std vel ammo. Kept it for about a year, then sold it to finance the purchase of something else....wish I still had it.

Several years later, I bought a couple of 52Ds through the CMP - one was in pretty decent condition, so I steamed the dents & dings out of its stock, cut a fresh crown on the muzzle, and sent the trigger off to Karl Kenyon to have him work his magic on it. Bought a Ken Vianni scope mount for it, mounted a Weaver T24, and will keep it as long as I live. The 2nd one was beat to crap, bolt s/n didn't match the receiver, bbl was in poor condition - so I sent it off to Mike Ross and had him chamber & fit a Broughton sporter weight bbl. Karl did its trigger, and Doan Trevor stocked it with a nice English walnut blank. So now I've got a M52D sporter that's undoubtedly a much better shooter than that original 52B sporter that I lusted after all those years ago...another keeper, for sure.

 

[patriot]

So now I've got a M52D sporter that's undoubtedly a much better shooter than that original 52B sporter that I lusted after all those years ago...another keeper, for sure.

You know that for certain?

 

[joshb]

There's a 52c made in 1956 for sale at my local gun store. Has a Lyman scope, the old external adj. type. It's on the online store, too. Artemis Outfitters in Greenville, Delaware. It's where Biden buys his shotguns. I found an Annie some where else.

 

[patriot]

There's a 52c made in 1956 for sale at my local gun store. Has a Lyman scope, the old external adj. type. It's on the online store, too. Artemis Outfitters in Greenville, Delaware. It's where Biden buys his shotguns. I found an Annie some where else.

At first I thought it was a 52C sporter and scope for $2000; nearly fell over reaching for my wallet. Classy looking rifle anyway.

Mark

 

[joshb]

I didn't mean to startle you. I know little about old 22s. I bought an Anschutz 'cause I knew that they were "good" and I grabbed a Nylon 66, a couple years ago. My brother and I used to fight over one when we went squirrel hunting 50 years ago. He always won cause he was a foot taller than me. Finally got my own.

 

[TRG]

Well, your not going wrong with the Anschutz but you wouldn't have regretted the 52 Repro. The 52Bs and 52Cs are mechanically the same and have the micro-motion trigger. Other than the forearm screw on the Bs the only difference is the stocks. The Cs have a higher comb.

If you go to RF Central under the Winchester 52 sub forum you will find a bunch of info on the Repros and you will find some remarkable targets. These are exceptional rifles and at very reasonable dollars.

I bought one a few years ago and used it in a challenge thread on another site. The rules were prone or bench, off a bi-pod, any rear bag, six targets of five rounds each shot on the same day. The 52C Repro shot an average of .314" for the six groups at fifty yards. At one hundred it was slightly under a MOA and slightly over an inch. You would laugh hysterically at my "bench" which is a patio table that weighs about six pounds. I shoot down my graveled driveway and at no time are more than three of the four legs on the ground. Center-X was used but with no effort made to find the right ammo.

I shot the same challenge, under the same conditions, with a '67 Anschutz Super Match that is in as new condition. The fifty yard average was .309".

That 52s performance, out of a sub 8.5lb. rifle with a 3lb. trigger, is exceptional.

 

[Fasteel]

I had one of the Brownings and it was a gorgeous piece of walnut on this rifle, very nice trigger, and I tried every freaking type of ammo to get a 1/2 inch group out of it at 50 yards. Every single CZ I had at that time out shot this superb looking rifle. FS