S & W Model 52 parts source
- Thread starter Mike Z
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
Mike Z, good luck! I have been looking for years.
Keep an eye on ebay. One sold last week for $50. It’s the same sight as the M41 5-1/2” heavy barrel.
Rick H.
Member
Keep an eye out on E-Bay, Gunbroker and Numrich. Those sights do pop up for sale occasionally, but you have to be watchful and ready to spend some money. What happened to the old one? There are some parts in the slide that are retained by the rear sight as I recall, but maybe not. It's been a while since I had one off. If the sight is missing you may need those parts under the sight as well. Good Luck!
Rick H.
Rick H.
This is just a suggestion if anyone is looking for open sight options for the S&W 52. It's intended for shooters, not collectors.
You can use a Bomar rear sight or a full length Bomar rib. There is also the Bomar rib with extended front sight that adds about an 1" to your sight radius. The rib also adds a few ounces that can help your follow-through. This is a huge benefit that offsets the punishing nature of the M52 trigger release.
Many Bullseye shooters swear by the the solid and repeatable "clicks" on their Bomar sights. The rear sight blade offers a full unobstructed view that is generally an improvement over the typical factory target sights offered by S&W, High Standard, Colt, etc.
Attached picture is from an online sale I saw. You may notice that even without the extended front sight, the rearward extension adds about a half an inch of sight radius.
I think it is a pretty cool look.
You can use a Bomar rear sight or a full length Bomar rib. There is also the Bomar rib with extended front sight that adds about an 1" to your sight radius. The rib also adds a few ounces that can help your follow-through. This is a huge benefit that offsets the punishing nature of the M52 trigger release.
Many Bullseye shooters swear by the the solid and repeatable "clicks" on their Bomar sights. The rear sight blade offers a full unobstructed view that is generally an improvement over the typical factory target sights offered by S&W, High Standard, Colt, etc.
Attached picture is from an online sale I saw. You may notice that even without the extended front sight, the rearward extension adds about a half an inch of sight radius.
I think it is a pretty cool look.
Attachments
Last edited:
Mike,
There is one in the classifieds now. I don't know the seller but it says he has been around since 2019.
eBay Item #305365642886 is up for auction at $75. It is a NOS sight removed from a model 52-1 slide. I bought the slide from this guy. It looks brand new, and while it was marked “stripped” it still has the long extractor, the detent and springs for the barrel nut and safety. The rear sight was taken from the stripped slide that I bought, so I put a bid on it because the guy was good to deal with. I don’t need it, so my bid is my last one.
Might get it for half what some of these knuckleheads are listing their old boogered-up used ones for.
Might get it for half what some of these knuckleheads are listing their old boogered-up used ones for.
Rick H.
Member
Someone got a terrific price on a M52 rear sight that just sold on Ebay. It went for about $78.00! I almost bid on it, but I didn't need it. I hope someone here that needed a rear sight bought it.
Rick H.
Rick H.
Plinkasaurusrex
Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2014
- Messages
- 139
- Reaction score
- 201
I don't understand what you mean by the punishing nature of the M 52 trigger release. I don't find anything punishing at all.
All model 41 , 5.5” HBs have same rear sight???
Rick H.
Member
At one time I was trying to source a rear sight for a M52 and decided to "build" one from parts I had acquired. I discovered that some of the listed part numbers were different for the M52 sight and the M41 sight. The sights looked the same, but something had to be different because they used different part numbers. What that difference was I never found out because I never did find all the parts I needed to complete a sight. There's a lot of parts in those old M52 and M41 sights.
Rick H.
Rick H.
donk52
Member
There is no physical difference between the 52 and 41 rear sight.
Rick H.
Member
That's what I always heard too donk52. However when I was going thru a parts list on each model on the Gun Parts website they did show different part "numbers" for some of the sight components. That was several years ago when I was trying to build a complete sight from parts that I had on hand and obtain parts I didn't have from Gun Parts Inc. and some other sources. When I saw the different part numbers I shied away from the project because I didn't know what the differences were and I didn't want to waste money completing a sight that wouldn't work properly. Looking back on it, there may have been some parts that were superseded by others with slight changes and they received a different part number, but again I didn't want to spend good money on something that wouldn't work.
As it is now I have a bunch of M52 parts including rear sight parts that I probably will never use, but I bought most of these when they were still readily available and affordable. There was a time when you could find almost anything you needed for a M52 on the Gun Parts Inc. website, but those days are gone.
Rick H.
Rick H.
Member
That's what I always heard too donk52. However when I was going thru a parts list on each model on the Gun Parts website they did show different part "numbers" for some of the sight components. That was several years ago when I was trying to build a complete sight from parts that I had on hand and obtain parts I didn't have from Gun Parts Inc. and some other sources. When I saw the different part numbers I shied away from the project because I didn't know what the differences were and I didn't want to waste money completing a sight that wouldn't work properly. Looking back on it, there may have been some parts that were superseded by others with slight changes and they received a different part number, but again I didn't want to spend good money on something that wouldn't work.
As it is now I have a large plastic container box of a bunch of M52 parts that I will likely never use, but if I need them, I have them. I should go thru that box and see what I really have and identify each one, but that's going to be a lot of work and time.
Rick H.
Last edited:
