There is good news and bad news.

First, those guys are not totally out in left field-- true Bullseye shooters these days will argue (likely successfully) that a Bullseye shooter is easily handicapped with a 52 for a myriad of reasons.

If you want to COMPETE in Bullseye, a 52 is not your best choice.

However, if you love S&W and you love fine craftsmanship and you have the means AND if you have access to ammo that it likes (hint: be a handloader) and you can appreciate a serious piece of history, if you want to own true S&W "Performance Center" before the PC was even conceived...

If you want to enjoy all that makes the 52 legend AND you want to do it for roughly HALF the price tag of say, a S&W 952...

Then quit watching yourself grow older without a Model 52! I wrote up a tale of my biggest regret in handgunning-- short version was being 43 years old before buying my first 52.