I bought my 52-2 for a lot of the same reasons......I know .38s fell out of favor years ago for the centerfire portion but it represents the golden age of bullseye shooting to me and is one of the best autos S&W ever produced. I love the feel and balance of the gun and it's a work of art to me.

Although at 720 FPS the bullet may be moving "slower" than some other rounds and therefore taking longer to exit the barrel, at that speed it's only in the 5" barrel for 0.0005787 seconds......so not very long and not much time for the gun to move under recoil.

I can't tell if yours is a 52 no dash or 52-1 as both had the longer style extractor. If it's the 52-1, it should have the frame cut to accept the weight (pictured below) and that might help address your issue. I've heard other shooters say the weight helped their shooting. Be aware that installing the weight may scratch the frame.