Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Any of you have a Japanese made Winchester model 52 sporter?

Thanks Chuck. I appreciate your input in this thread!

My Last 52

Nice rifle BSA and looks like you have a great shooter! I’ll be watching your additional ammo reviews with it!

Penndog

Those Japanese 52 sporters were hard not to like. I'm really enjoying your review of yours. I'll be watching to see how it shoots with RWS ammo.

I've been thinking about RWS as well. I know sheister likes it. The last stuff I had, didn't last long in my new stainless 10/22.


If/when I find more, I'll let you guys know how this rifle likes it. That may be a while though.

Yea BSA they’re nice rifles and just like any quality .22…. are a good addition to any .22 collection.

I’d there anything I can do to nudge you into ordering a vudoo?

Dang, those are nice. I like the looks of those gloss Leupolds on those rifles. What is the rifle on the bottom?

Nice brace of rifles. The Remington 541S on the bottom looks just like the one I have and I found a 541T to go with it. They both shoot about like the 52 Repros do and like the Repros are going up in value quickly... good to see how many guys on this site still appreciate well made rimfires.

Good report on the Repro BSA. Looking forward to see further testing with it. Wondering if you had a chance to season the barrel between ammo to get it to settle down? In some of my rifles it can make a real difference after about 15 -20 shots, in others it is not so noticeable...
Weather here sucks right now so it might be a bit before I get to shoot at any paper for a while, but I may pack up my varmint rifles and head up to Central Oregon for some coyote chasing if I get ambitious...

I seasoned between most ammos. Not as much as you did the day we shot together. I remember your 52 really needed it, especially when switching to the RWS ammo. I only seasoned with about 5 shots for each type of ammo. I then shot a 10 shot group at the orange dot, then I shot for score. The targets I posted. So, they actually had 15 rounds of that ammo, before shooting for score. With that being said, the groups shot at the orange dots, were very similar in size as the ones that I posted pics of. Here's one for example. It seemed like it took a few more shots to season the barrel with this ammo. The lubrication on these older ones is dry and powdery:


Here's the first 10 shot group with the cheaper Federal game shok hollow points:



Using those to show as an example. Rifle is pretty consistent. I didn't really see anything concerning, like weird fliers or anything like that. The last group I shot, I was kind of disappointed that I had that flier on the top of the x-ring. I think if I wouldn't have gotten that one, it would have been another .4" group.. Similar to the first 10 shots for score, that I posted a pic of.

BSA- the bottom rifle, as sheister noted, is a 541S.


Vudoo Gun Works
(435) 359-2890
Ask for Jill, she’s a peach!

Looks like you got a good one. Have fun with it...

Thanks buddy. Do you or any of your brothers have a 513S as well?? You know there aren't any flies on any of those old rifles. I even like the old Mossbergs. You guys have some nice rifles, for sure. I don't shoot much competition with rimfires anymore, so I don't know If I'd need the Vudoo. If I still lived in Oregon, I don't even think I'd need it. Most of the guys at my club up there, have really nice old Model 52's, Kimber 82's, Mossbergs, and Remington's. Some scope their rimfire competition rifles with the old Lyman and Unertl target scopes. Those old boys know how to shoot those rifles too. One of the reasons I have the '49 model 52 target model. Had to do that, so I could keep up with them. I guess the Vudoo would work well in our KYL matches. However, my Kidd barreled 10/22 dominates that game. It's nice to have options though.

Thanks buddy. I'll keep trying different ammo, and make note of which ones it likes best.

Damn you BSA,
Now I’m looking at 52’s I don’t need!

Ha ha.. Took the girlfriend out today, and she shot it. She really liked it, but she liked my new 10/22 better. Shame on her!!! ha ha.. These 52's are pretty nice. When this one wears in, it will be nicer. Right now, it's like a virgin.

I might as well show her target. She dropped one shot, which seems to be a thing with her. She's doing very well though, for not having much time behind a trigger:


We didn't shoot the 52 much yesterday, as it was getting very cold, as the sun went behind the hill. Temps drop fast over here in the high desert, when the sun goes down. I told her I'd have to test on a different day, when I had more time. I still need to test some cheap bulk ammo, like Federal Automatch, (both new lots and old lots), and a few other cheap varieties. I'll keep you guys posted.

Later in the evening, I made some adjustments to the trigger. Got the pull weight down to 2 pounds, and it's cocking every time. The trigger is sweet on this one. Thankfully, as sheister said some were not as good. Had to get back on rimfirecentral and looks at a schematic of the trigger, and read some instructions to get it adjusted properly. The rifle looks like a keeper to me!!!

What does "need" have to do with it??? Hey, look at that target my girlfriend shot lastnight. She does very well, for a new shooter. I don't expect match grade accuracy out of this rifle, but I have to say that it is actually impressing me. You know you want one of these!! ha ha..

Same here.. It's a horrible problem to have!

I was looking yesterday, and I saw some nice originals on gunsinternational for $3,500.00. The reproductions, like the one I have, are much cheaper.

I have shot 2. One about 25 years ago and another this past summer. The first is my uncles that he loaned me to rabbit hunt with. I did well with it. This last one is also owned by someone else, but I was asked to test it with different .22 ammo. It had a tight match grade chamber as I was told. It wouldn't feed some rounds but those it did proved very accurate. As I recall, ragged one hole groups at 25 yards with no wind and not much worse at 50 with rounds it liked.

Interesting. I don't notice that mine feeds any differently than a new rifle. I've shot some rifles that had match chambers, and know what you are saying though.