Winchester 52

[PWNolan]

Just a follow-up, nearly two years later. I bought the single shot adapter from Mr. Nolan. It goes into the category of really satisfactory purchases I have made. Works great with no fiddling. I also bought a couple of the old style which he has discontinued as not being satisfactory. They did require some fiddling and don't work as well as the current version, but I don't hate them either. Anyway, good stuff.
I ran into a problem with the stock trigger; the safety quit working (required for hunter rifle in M-S) and I had to fix that. Apart from that I still love the 52. WH

Will, glad the Winchester V2 SSA is working well for you. I'm sure I probably told you why I quit offering the fixed top version (V1?). For those that aren't familiar, the original version worked great in the 52C and 69A I used when I did the initial prototyping. According to all the people I had test, it also worked great in their rifles. However, it didn't work as great in some others once I started offering them to the public. So I tweaked the design to make it work in the majority Winchester bolt-action repeaters out there (which is a lot). The design is based on the Winchester SSA with spring-loaded top. I'm sure they found that version to more reliable in a variety of rifles than their original fixed version. I probably should've started with that style in the first place

 

[Will Henry]

The fixed top versions work OK in my rifles (a 69 and a 75) but not as reliably as the V2 in the 52. I did just a little creative pocketknife work on one to get it to position the rear of the cartridge a little lower in the 75. The other V1 worked fine in the 69. The 75 is a custom barrel and stock and that might account for the difference. WH

 

[68Hoyt]

Just a follow-up, nearly two years later. I bought the single shot adapter from Mr. Nolan. It goes into the category of really satisfactory purchases I have made. Works great with no fiddling. I also bought a couple of the old style which he has discontinued as not being satisfactory. They did require some fiddling and don't work as well as the current version, but I don't hate them either. Anyway, good stuff.
I ran into a problem with the stock trigger; the safety quit working (required for hunter rifle in M-S) and I had to fix that. Apart from that I still love the 52. WH

what did you do to fix the 52 B safety ?

 

[Will Henry]

I just welded up the engagement surface on the safety, re-cut it, hardened it, and polished it. It's a little sticky, but functions OK other than that. It passes inspection anyway. WH

 

[jpjulian]

Not to hijack the thread, but, what does it take to. rebarrel a Winchester 52? The barrel in my D model looks like the inside of a sewer pipe.

 

[Will Henry]

Like most rimfires, it takes a little more work than your typical centerfire. There are extractor cuts to make and I find rimfires to be a little more critical. I generally charged about 25% more for a 52, in comparison to a Remington 700, for instance. WH

 

[Liven The Dream]

Very reliable, very accurate. I have 4 52D's as well as a 4 40X's. Three of my 52"s have a special scope mount made by Ken Viani, sadly they are no longer being produced. I shoot benchrest matches with mine and do fairly well with them. Mine are not collectors' items, at least not to me. I will agree that parts such as triggers, action screws and such are a little hard to come by, but they are out there. The 52 triggers, as opposed to the aftermarket ones for the 40X's, are heavy pull, but you can use to that. Like any other rifle, it takes good ammo and lots of practice, to get the upmost accuracy out of them. I have had and still have several good target rifles, Anschutz, Kimber, Valmet, BSA Martinis and Remington 40X's. The 52's to me seems more balanced and more forgiving than the others.

The scope Base are being made today. I just put one on my 52C and love it .
Pm for Contact Plus I have a Guy doing Kenton Trigger updates for “C” .

 

[ISS]

I'm with Butch on this one. My wife's first year Model 37 shoots better than I can hold. 12X Junior Target Spot, about the same vintage, has repeatable clicks. And, it just looks "right".
We shot weekly matches at a 25 yard indoor range for a couple years. It was friendly until the first Anschutz showed up. I made a call to Alan Hall and had one of his rifles a couple weeks later. Three straight wins, and a cease fire was arranged. $9.95 a brick for the Wolf target stuff.

That said, I am anxiously awaiting a Newman Precision 22 for my Christmas present this year. They are about the same $$$$ as the centerfire rifles he built for the military.

God Bless, and shoot pinholes,

ISS

 

[dokey]

davidjoe, not all 52's require a cantilever scope mount for modern scopes, the E's receivers are drilled and tapped for scope bases.

I have three D's one E and a 40XB and all are accurate with the best being the E. Parts are out there, it just takes a little looking to find them. Rimfirecentral has a ton of information on them and there is a guy there that can modify the C, D and E triggers to get the pull down to around 4oz IIRC.

This is what I did to my cantilever mount.
View attachment 1336659View attachment 1336661

I do the trigger modifications on the Winchester 52 C's D's and E's

 

[justinp61]

I do the trigger modifications on the Winchester 52 C's D's and E's

Yes sir, I didn't want to be out of line posting someone else's info without their permission.

 

[COLT45SA]

I've had a 52 and a 52D. Nice rifles, but off the bench my mod 37 Remingtons are a little more accurate.

Did you ever try a Rem 513T made in the 40's~?