Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires How good are Winchester 52's accuracy wise?

I took the plunge and purchased a 52C and a 52B target. I got tired of trying to find a Anschutz MSR repeater. The 52's just have a look,I liked. I won't have them till after the first of the year. I was wondering how they shoot? These 52's I purchased are in very nice shape.Does anybody shoot both 52's and Anschutz?

At one point the 52s were "it", but Anschutz came along, and I'm not so sure it's "better", just that a lot of shooters, especially in competition seem to follow the leader. So suddenly Anschutz is "in" and 52s are out. Have an older highpower shooter who shoots his 52 all the time, to keep in practice. Are you going to actually participate in small bore competitive shooting, or just want something that's capable of very good accuracy?

The 52's I've owned or shot haven't shot as well as my 54 Anchutz rifles. Of course my Anschutz rifles were purchased new. The 54's are all used and a lot will depend upon how the 54 was taken care of over the years. I do know you won't see very many, if any, 52's in the shooting sports where the Anschutz rifles rule the roost.

I have 2 Winchester 52B rifles and they are excellent shooters. Sweet triggers on them too!

http://www.burntpowder.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=6

I think they're classic looks really make for a handsome rimfire also.

The only ones I've ever seen are the Browning repros, but they look nice; very Retro. Does anyone know if they shoot as well as the originals?

I think it's funny that modern CZs get a lot of flak over the strap-metal trigger guards, but nobody ever mentions the ones on old classic Winchesters and Remingtons.

OP, let us know how they shoot.

I've had two of the older 52s but can't recall the letter... They were light target rifles with the flipup rear sight. Both were very accurate.

Have also had both the Winchester and Browning Sporters. Both were was accurate as any Anschutz I have ever owned or shot. Only reason I sold them is the combs were too low and the scope had to be mounted too high because of the bolt throw. The two friends who I sold the guns to both still own them.

The last two years I have been helping a gunsmith friend sight in and clean .22 rifles from three youth camps in Maine. There are Remington, Anschutz, Savage and Winchester rifles dating back to the 1940s up to recent purchases. My job is to sight the guns in and document accuracy in case one need a new crown or other work. While all are accurate, the older Winchester target rifles are always on top.

Bob

My 52C shoots pretty good, for me. It's first and only original 52 that I've ever had and I've only had it for 2-3 years.

I was able to shoot a 50 yd .273 average for 10 shots in the Yahoo Win. 52 Group postal shoot, with aperture sights.

That's good to hear. I'll have the 52C in a couple of weeks and if there isn't 2 feet of snow...will have to see how it shoots. Beautiful rifles.

have a 52D heavy barrel and so does my best friend. We shoot a lot at 100 yds. benchrest and at golf balls. both rifles will shoot very sub moa groups, 5 shots. My best group is a .89 10 shot group

This is my 52E which is pretty close to your 52D except mine is a 1977 rifle. This group was shot at 25 yds. Good enough for me.

We shot 52's when I was in college in the last century.. We beat a bunch of bigger schools that could afford Anschutz rifles.. Mostly with the cheapest Rem. ammo the school could buy.. But Anschutz rifles are very, very nice.

When Kimber of Oregon was working to win the contract to make the Model 82 Government Small Bore Rifle we shot an incredible amount of .22 LR Match ammo.

The idea was to see what was out there and if we could build Kimber of Oregon rifle that would equal the accuracy of the various Winchester M-52s and the Anschutz.

A local gun collector, a really nice guy by the name of Lou Leonard, loaned Kimber several new-in-the-box M-52s. Our instructions? Shoot the crap out of them, but he wanted the data.

I have no idea where the Anschutzs came from, but we had four or five of them.

And, of course, we had literally unlimited ammo.

We shot for a couple of months on the outdoor range (the one on the left) at Douglas Ridge Rifle Club, near Eagle Creek, Oregon. Somebody cut a deal and we had the fifty yard range all to ourselves for as long as we wanted.

It was a matter of shoot, shoot, shoot, change targets, collate data and shoot some more. Our Lord alone knows how many .22 match rounds I personally shot during that time. I'm here to tell you that if you shoot constantly for eight or nine hours a day you get tired of it ... and you get incredibly good at the trigger.

I'll bet you want to know which of the rifles shot best ... consistently best!!!!

It was the danged old Winchester M-52s. They absolutely shot better than the Anschutz and, of course, way better than the abortion that ended up being the Kimber Model 82 Government.

I was personally amazed that the old Winchester Model 52s shot so incredibly well. Maybe later rifles have more gadgets and whiz-bang stocks, but for sheer danged accuracy, the M-52 is the absolute KING of small bore accuracy.

That's not just opinion talking ... that is the result of many, many, many thousands of rounds of match ammo being fired and every five-shot group from all of the rifles being carefully recorded.

Anyway, those are the facts.

God Bless,

Steve

My Dad has a Browning Sporter, and after I de-lawyerized the trigger (don't ask, but it worked), it shoots stunningly well and is now being used as intended.
I would think real hard about getting a 52 C or D for myself if I ever win the lottery.

Steve -- are you saying it's probably not a good idea to sniff around after a CMP M-82?

I own and shoot 4 model 52's, all out shoot me but the 'E' model just takes my breath away every time I take it out and enjoy it! My E has a factory trigger, the lucky folks in the world tell me if I ever shoot one with a Kenyon trigger I will never go back! very best on what to me is the very best .22 ever made! WinPoor