Another 52 Winchester thread

RTH1800

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  • Sep 16, 2009
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    Recently picked up this Win. 52C in the heave barrel configuration. A lot of folks call them a Bull Barrel. It’s not. 52C rifles came with 4 barrel options. Sporting at 24”, Standard weight target, Heavy Barrel and Bull Barrel. The last 3 at 28”.

    This is a complete rifle. Appears nearly unfired. Like so many that were just put away the oils and greases had dried into a varnish infused crud. A couple of hours with oil and a toothbrush got it all sorted out. Barrel is clean. Scope bases re-torqued, bore sighted, trigger adjusted and lubed, action cleaned and lubed. Should be ready to sight and do some ammo testing over weekend.
    BB8F72B6-A04A-4228-9195-D8FBCA2779AE.jpeg
     
    The receiver diameter is a bit under 1.250 so the true bull barrel guns hardly step down at all. I have only seen a couple of bull barrel guns over the years. Very rare. I have bought several guns sight unseen described as bull guns but all turned out to be HB’s. ☹️
     
    If you enlarge the posted photo it will show a couple areas of interest.

    The scope has the USMC sniper mounts.

    The front scope mount block is a two hight, two position base. The rear slot where it is mounted is spaced at 6” and yields .333 MOA per click on the Unertl mount. The front position is spaced at 7.2” and being higher it lowers point of impact and changes adjustment increment to ..250 MOA.
    If you use front position for 50 yard zero rear position will be about correct for 200 yards with little dialing to fine tune.

    There is an art to using these old Unertl set ups but it’s not witchcraft. Amazing what was accomplished 50-100 years ago. In many ways we have not made much progress. We have dumbed things down to match our current educational state of affairs.
     
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    Regarding the 52C rifles. They were the last 52’s to be repeaters. The D and E rifles were single shots.

    3 magazines were available. Standard 5 shot, a couple of types of single shot adapters, and optional 10 shot magazines.

    There are some 22 Short magazines but the 52C is set up so that the bolt will not close on them. Winchester did not want people shooting shorts and leading up those match chambers.

    52C had the MicroMotion trigger. Fully adjustable via two exposed screws placed between the magazine and trigger bow. Pull weight and over travel. There is a third, non exposed sear engagement screw adjustment under the trigger guard assembly. Trigger can normally be adjusted to between 1.5 and 2# at the bottom and up to 4# at top end. The exposed trigger adjustment screws can be seen in the photo above.

    The C model sporting rifles were drilled and tapped for receiver mounted scopes as well as Lyman 48F rear sight. Ramped front sight was normally a Lyman gold bead.

    The target rifles were not drilled for receiver mounted scopes. Barrels were drilled for Unertl type bases. Receivers and barrels were drilled for various sights. Redfield, Lyman etc. Hole size and position was standardized but a lot of sight options were available.

    The Standard weight target was first supplied with a dovetailed front sIght base and later drilled and tapped for removable sight base. The HB and bull guns were were normally or always D&T for a front sight base.

    The target rifles were almost always supplied with a Winchester Marksman target stock. Sporting rifles were supplied with a “deluxe” field stock.
     
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    The D and E single shot rifles also had the Micro Motion trigger but with different leverage due to pin repositioning as done by the late Karl Kenyon.

    The changed pin position allowed safe reduction in trigger pull. Some of these triggers were placed in the C rifles after they left the factory. Not being a competitor in rimfire comps I never saw the need to do so.
     
    very cool background and info on the Win 52. I've got a browning 52 (have seen people refer to them as the Winchester 52r (for reproduction)). Just got it out and cleaned up and temporarily threw a nikon rimfire EFR scope on it just to see how it shoots. recently bought a Bergara B14R and setting that up and figured I could shoot the Browning while the daughter shoots the B14R.

    love the old 22lr bolt guns. Have a 77/22 with the TacSol SBX barrel that's fun to shoot CCI Quiets thru with or without the can. One of them might go away to get another B14R so we can have the same setup. but it's hard to let go of the classics.
     
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    Lovely old rifle. Congrats on a solid acquisition. My local club hosts an outlaw rimfire benchrest match every Thursday night using a variety of targets but mostly the USBR green monster and the ARA unlimited cards and occasional others. We require the repeaters only (no D's or E's) and all must shoot from sandbags only, no mechanical rests. We require mostly factory rifles but light mods are generally accepted like trigger job, bedding, and even replacement bbls. The C and B models of the 52 are the most popular in this match. We average 16+ competitors and fully half of them regularly shoot a Win 52 in this match and they win regularly as well. Other rifles seen are Annie 54/64 repeater models, Sako, Cooper, CZ/Bruno, and occasional others. On the first Thursday of the month we allow any 22 on any rest. This brings out the single shot match rifles and many custom rigs. The old 52's still hold up well in this company. A top grade custom rifle like Turbo, Hall, 2500X built by a competent smith in the hands of an expert marksman can and does outclass all of the elite factory rigs but not every time. The loose nut behind the trigger still impacts the results.

    For this match my go to is an old 52B topped with a vintage Unertl 20x. I call it the Ugly Gurl, cause she was used and abused and you can feed her anything and she will still put out. It is amazingly tolerant of most ammo types and lots and has won her share of those matches. On unlimited night, I often deploy a cutom 52D bull-bbl with a Shilen Ratchet and 36x Weaver optic. It has a better trigger and slightly better accuracy (sometimes) or I use a Anschutz 54 Super Match topped with a vintage 20x Redfield. I have a prestine 52B called the Pretty Girl. She is a prima donna and does not come out to play often and has nearly no miles on her. She wants champagne and caviar to put out but will shoot with any of them when fed a diet of Eley Match or Lapua Mida+. She is topped with an old vintage B&L BalVar 6-24x scope.

    Pic of Pretty Girl and a tgt from one of them. It was 5 shots at 50y but was a Pre-A Spd Loc using this same scope.
     

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    Had a true bull gun for a while. Was my 50 foot smallbore position rifle - originally purchased from one of the guys in my club that got too old to shoot ( he hung it up when he was in his late 80’s) the rifle was a B from just after WWII and in terrific condition. ( indoor position shooting doe beat up a rifle much !) it came in Vintage hard case, with vaver micro sights ( an extra cost option and considered top of the line at the time) plus the unertl 10x. Magazines, extra sight inserts palm rest and so on. Tucked under the various gear in the hard case was the NRA small bore tule book - from 1948! A real time capsule. I found the bull barrel was just too heavy and cumbersome for me, so sold it for about 5 times what was paid for it, but sort of miss it now