Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Winchester Model 52 Sporter 22 LR. (prospective purchase, need help)

I have a 52D Sporter that is gorgeous except the previous owner had it refinished. The wood looks great but he glossed the metal.The original Lyman sight and sling swivels as well as extra magazines included. This rifle in great but not refinished would bring near $5K today.

I shoot it regularly and would like to find another trigger but trigger prices are way up there as many are custom built target triggers.

Still a nice old rifle.

I have owned both the Browning and Wichester/USRA 52 Sporters and the only difference between them are the roll stamps on the barreled actions and the design of the stocks. I sold the Browning and have kept the Winchester/USRA 52 Sporter as I like the stock design better. It is a good shooting rifle. The only modification that I have made to it is to buy a spare bolt handle that I reshaped so that the bolt lift isn't so high and I could use lower rings and still cycle the action. Mine has had a variety of scopes on it, but the scope that looks the most "in sync" with the size of the action, at least to my old eyes, is the Leupold Alaskan series in 4x or 6x.

When the 17HM2 first came out, I cursed myself repeatedly for selling the Browning 52 Sporter, as I thought, and still think, that it would have made a great candidate for rebarreling to 17HM2.

I bought my first 52 Sporter in 1978 and have owner several over the years. Original M/52 Sporters have serial numbers ending with a suffix letter A,B,C, early ones have only a numeric serial number with no suffix and are called by collectors pre A's. Pre A Sporters are pretty rare followed by C Spoters which are prized by shooters and collectors because they have the Micro Motion trigger and the receiver is drilled & tapped for scope mounting. The reproduction 52's while marketed as B models are actually C models with the Micro Motion trigger, drilled & tapped receiver and Monte Carlo comb stock. The reproduction rifles have a series of letteres preceding the serial number. If you are buying an original Winchester to collect, do not even consider ones that have been drilled & tapped. They're fine if you're wanting to scope the rifle and shoot it. Original Pre A, A & B models that have been drilled and tapped will be at the low end of prices and probably will be slow to appreciated in value if ever. Unmodified rifles will hold their value and probably appreciate, these can be shot as the collector market is somewaht accepting of use with care. Only the snob collectors are looking for pristine museum pieces. As a last thought be sure any rifle you purchase is as complete as possible with correcct Lyman 48F receiver sight, Super Grade swivels and front sight hood. The bottom of the magazine should have Winchester trademark (there is some variation from one time period to the next) magazines stamped with a large W are reproductions.