52 b reproductions

J

Jefferson

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Just missed out on the 4 that were on the ee, I am sure they went to a good home, just not mine

not trolling to get someone to offer me one ,

how often to they come up on the ee and how often at gun shows

had a Winchester and a browning one over a decade ago and since they were unfired and
new in box I sold them to a couple of what I thought were friends as they won’t sell them v]back to me

I don’t want a new 52b original. too much money and just not for me

have the paperback book on Winchester 52 a perfection in design, great read and were out of print a few years ago

The re-pro’s were blued nicely, well made and well priced

should have bought a dozen or so

were plentiful years ago but now some guys want lots of money and some are beat up

will look for a new in box without rust and then shoot it

Anybody else have dreams like this, yet to be fulfilled

Jeff����������
 
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I’ve currently got 4 of the repros. 2 Winchesters and 2 Brownings. Great guns, very accurate. I am keeping 1 Winchester and 1 Browning as shooters, and the other Winchester and the other Browning as collector pieces.
 
There's been a number of them ina the auctions this year. Keep an eye out for this months and next month's auction, one or two might pop up.
 
Underthegun said:
I’ve currently got 4 of the repros. 2 Winchesters and 2 Brownings. Great guns, very accurate. I am keeping 1 Winchester and 1 Browning as shooters, and the other Winchester and the other Browning as collector pieces.
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Nice collection. I know the Winchester reproduction are 52B and Browning reproduction are 52C. In your case, which reproduction is more accurate - Browning or Winchester? Is there a difference in the quality/workmanship between the two? Thank you.
 
ken1989 said:
Nice collection. I know the Winchester reproduction are 52B and Browning reproduction are 52C. In your case, which reproduction is more accurate - Browning or Winchester? Is there a difference in the quality/workmanship between the two? Thank you.
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As far as accuracy goes, I’ve shot both of my Winchester’s plus a Winchester I had a few years ago, but I’ve only shot one of my Brownings. All 3 of the Winchester’s are more accurate than the Browning. Having said that, the barrels on the Winchester’s have been all free floating with the barrel/forearm tension screw backed off so there is no pressure on the barrel, and the browning barrel is sitting firmly in the barrel channel not free floated. I believe it should be free floated as others have told me that their brownings were free floated. As far as fit and finish go, I guess you could say that based on the non free floating barrel of the Browning that’s a negative against it for fit. Other than that the fitting of all of them is fairly equal. BUT the Winchester’s are definitely all better looking rifles. The wood is better, they have steel butt plates instead of the plastic on the Browning. One advantage the Browning has over the Winchester is production numbers. There are about 12,000 Winchesters made in a few different configurations, but only about 5,000 Brownings made.
 
accuracy may go to the browning but no conclusive tests were ever done

same with workmanship. stock and bolt throw were maybe biased based on the name on the rifle

in the book Winchester a .... in design it was said that the accuracy improved as the model numbers grew

example c is more accurate than b and so on. so these should not be great but a lot were used
in silhouette. gophers. plinking at range. br casual local clubs. they were well received

a lot of guys wanted them to shoot and play with cause the originals were highly prized for collectors and

to be blunt the jap crap retro’s were looked down upon by SOME in the collecting fraternity

accuracy was a function of ammo of course

one thing also appeared clear that the reproductions were more accurate and better finished. a little consensus among affectionados

that book was very very good read

also I knew a Winchester collector that was bidding against me for some valuable 52 paper from the factory nice guy but rich


I owned a dozen c and d’s from the USA grade 10. some will know what I mean, the name escapes me right now


Jim Williams. that story was near and if given more time I might tell it

just cause a bought 20 at a time does not mean I have any money now

Later.
 
It’s been a while since I read it, but I don’t recall that he discussed the reproductions much, if at all in the “Perfection In Design” book. Maybe he did, but only briefly. As far as accuracy improvement as the model designation changed from Pre-A to E, yes I agree that they got more accurate. But that does not apply to the reproductions as the barreled actions are essentially identical. The letter designation on the repros is only really referring to the stock shape. The original C Sporters had a “Monte Carlo” style butt stock as do the Browning C models whereas the Winchester B models do not which mimics the original B sporters.
 
you are right I also think

my reproductions were more from my experience with USA collectors
the book was all about,the Winchester originals, good book

we draw some parallels from the book but the book does not reflect anything on the repros

mixing my experience at USA gun shows with collectors on the Japanese models
I saw the correspondence from the Winchester folks to the miroku folks after the completion of the contract and it was not pretty to say the least
Winchester was pretty blunt they were unhappy about some of the changes made, better blueing better trigger and so on

they did not part best friends no matter what the public message was

neat stuff


Underthegun said:
It’s been a while since I read it, but I don’t recall that he discussed the reproductions much, if at all in the “Perfection In Design” book. Maybe he did, but only briefly. As far as accuracy improvement as the model designation changed from Pre-A to E, yes I agree that they got more accurate. But that does not apply to the reproductions as the barreled actions are essentially identical. The letter designation on the repros is only really referring to the stock shape. The original C Sporters had a “Monte Carlo” style butt stock as do the Browning C models whereas the Winchester B models do not which mimics the original B sporters.
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When they first came out, I bought a Browning 52... because I couldn't find a reasonably priced original sporter.
- Hindsight being 20/20, I really should have an original (or few for that matter) the prices are getting a little silly

Being more of a shooter than a collector, I resisted buying a Winchester repro 52, as I liked the stock of the Browning better.
 
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