Model 52-2 Question (added photos)

I have an immaculate 52-2 Serial No. A1058XX and I took her out of the safe to clean and re-oil.

She is still pristine and shows no age. I haven't had her out in a very long time.

I have a question though. The barrel (outside) is a dull silver. I thought I remembered the barrel originally having a polished and shiny exterior.

Has my barrel tarnished or is my memory just poor?

Bore is still bright as new.

Thanks in advance!


,

It is OK. Same dull silver finish on my 1970s 52-2 with bright polished chamber cowl as seen thru. ejection port. Your memory is fine- you remembered the safe combo & located the gun inside. What more could you ask?

Roger that!

The even larger feat was remembering my password for this forum!


On a more serious note, soon as it warms up, taking her to the range to show-up some of my slightly naïve buds.

"A model fifty-what?"

Should be fun...


,

Almost no other pistol in my meager collection gets the attention of other shooters at the range than my Model 52's do. When I really want to "set the hook" I let a few shoot the pistol just for the experience. The Model 52 is interesting enough on its own, but when they realize, or I tell them about the round it fires that really gets them going. We as semi-auto pistol shooters have been indoctrinated into believing semi-auto pistols can't use a flat nosed round, but then comes along the Model 52 that only uses a flat nosed bullet. All great fun to watch shooters faces as I tell them about the marvelous Model 52.

I upped the ante a while back when I installed an SRO optic on one of my 52's which makes the pistol even more intriguing. That pistol is almost too much fun to shoot, but I struggle thru each range session with it. No real pistol shooter should go through life without shooting one of these fine old pistols and seeing what craftsmanship was all about at one time with Smith and Wesson. What a marvelous pistol....

Rick H.

If you really want to see people’s brains melt down, pull a Model 52 out of your case with a factory frame weight attached!

"Can I shoot it? Can I shoot it?" my buds exclaimed.

"Sure! Go for it!" was my answer.

Here are my first groups at 25 yards, off-hand, non-supported. My old eyes don't see the dark sights like they used to.

That and paper targets, with a better aiming point, would render better results. Still, not too bad for a 56 year old pistol. The ammo was old and questionable too.

I was doing a search for some Model 52 magazine followers this morning and zipped thru what was listed on Gunbroker. I must admit I was kind of surprised at the current price structure of used Model 52's. They seem to be gaining in desirability among the the public. Not quite to the level of 952's but they are getting up there. Could be another cult classic in the making.

Rick H.

The popularity of 52 pistols will likely be stunted forever more.

Back in the 70’s and 80’s, .38 Wadcutter ammo was prevalent and popular at every gun store. This is no longer the case. I’m willing to bet that it may even be possible to find a gun store or two where nobody working that day might be absolutely sure what a wadcutter is.

Some folks are ordering ammo to feed 52’s. I suspect that most of us who love this pistol are handloading our own ammo for them.

52 experience

About '73 I picked up a 6" Blued Python and proceeded to shoot it. Couldn't hit an elephant in the butt at 2 paces. I guess I was so used to the Smith target grip that I couldn't get comfortable with the python. I ran across a gunsmith and was telling him my tale of woe and he said his Dad was wanting a Python and would I be interested in a new in the box 52 he had. Well I became the proud owner of a 52. I know that Colt's bring a premium now but back then I Paid $300 for the Python so at the time it was a good deal.
SWCA 892

I have often yearned for a Model 52. I even have 10 boxes of new Remington factory wadcutters and 1,800 Precision Delta bullets with their match lube. But they have become pricy and from what I read, you have to know something about them as a lot of used ones are "well-used."

Ed

AveragEd said:

I have often yearned for a Model 52. I even have 10 boxes of new Remington factory wadcutters and 1,800 Precision Delta bullets with their match lube. But they have become pricy and from what I read, you have to know something about them as a lot of used ones are "well-used."

Ed

Click to expand...

Ed, I have a serious question for you.

Have you ever handled a S&W Model 52? Have you felt the slide to frame fit? Have you dry fired on and experienced the trigger?

I can say that I was a teenager when I first heard that these guns existed. I absolutely did not understand what they were or why they were even offered. "This looks like the size of a 4506. It's chambered for .38 Special, is that a misprint? Wait, the magazine holds F-I-V-E rounds, for real? And it's $800 ?!?!?!"

A number of years later and I realized that it was a specialized target pistol. It made sense that it existed, did not make sense for me. But still later I thought... "maybe these are nice? Holy cow, crazy expensive and magazines are expensive also, this isn't for me."

Years later... "Okay, maybe one of these is for me." I found one built in 1982 and in it's original box, two magazines and extremely high condition, almost NOS. I bought it and fawned over it for hours and the next day was it's first range trip.

I still remember those first five shots. The slide locked back after one magazine and multiple thoughts blew up inside my head.

"This was a fantastic idea!"
"I need more magazines"
"I'm going to roll many hundreds of wadcutters this week"
"...these are out of production now..."
"OH GOD, I NEED AT LEAST ONE MORE OF THESE PISTOLS!"

It's hilarious how many years I fought off the very idea and then later the basic urge to own one of these pistols.

Ed, if you are a handloader, you may very well NEED a Smith & Wesson Model 52 pistol.

Sevens said:

Ed, I have a serious question for you.

Have you ever handled a S&W Model 52? Have you felt the slide to frame fit? Have you dry fired on and experienced the trigger?

I can say that I was a teenager when I first heard that these guns existed. I absolutely did not understand what they were or why they were even offered. "This looks like the size of a 4506. It's chambered for .38 Special, is that a misprint? Wait, the magazine holds F-I-V-E rounds, for real? And it's $800 ?!?!?!"

A number of years later and I realized that it was a specialized target pistol. It made sense that it existed, did not make sense for me. But still later I thought... "maybe these are nice? Holy cow, crazy expensive and magazines are expensive also, this isn't for me."

Years later... "Okay, maybe one of these is for me." I found one built in 1982 and in it's original box, two magazines and extremely high condition, almost NOS. I bought it and fawned over it for hours and the next day was it's first range trip.

I still remember those first five shots. The slide locked back after one magazine and multiple thoughts blew up inside my head.

"This was a fantastic idea!"
"I need more magazines"
"I'm going to roll many hundreds of wadcutters this week"
"...these are out of production now..."
"OH GOD, I NEED AT LEAST ONE MORE OF THESE PISTOLS!"

It's hilarious how many years I fought off the very idea and then later the basic urge to own one of these pistols.

Ed, if you are a handloader, you may very well NEED a Smith & Wesson Model 52 pistol.

Click to expand...

***********
Same here except I’m up to 8 M52’s. Always hand load for it.

Oh, I'm a handloader, all right - my wife will tell you that it is an obsession. I load my handgun ammo on a Dillon 650 so you know I drank ALL the Kool-Aid. Back when I was a lot younger and even dumber, I loaded 80 boxes - that's 4,000 rounds - of .38 Special wadcutter ammo for a local police department's qualifying on an RCBS single-stage loader! Many, many evenings and weekends... Although I have automated my handgun loading, I still assemble my rifle rounds on an RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme. It is time I truly enjoy spending.

The photo below of my loading bench shows only my rifle supplies and the powders are two rows deep on each shelf and the lower area is three rows deep. For some reason, the photo of my rimfire and handgun ammo and component inventory insists upon posting horizontally.

Ed

It's funny how so many "trails" of Model 52 owners seem to cross each
other and are very similar. I had just started shooting on a local bullseye league when I saw someone shooting a M52 and thought what the heck is that? I found out what it was via a couple of other shooters, but I wasn't too impressed. I already had a Gold Cup and a Colt Python so I didn't need a specialized .38 cal wadgun. This was in about the mid 1970's or so. The range that we used for our league was also a firearms store with rental guns and one day they put a used M52 on the board. I had some time to kill so I asked to "rent" the Model 52 and bought a box of new .38 cal Federal wadcutters which they recommended. I do recall the rental M52 was about as dirty as a pistol could be and I thought it is never going to work. 50 rounds later and without a hitch that pistol did work and I was really surprised. I was also surprised at how well it shot for me even though I was no bullseye expert. In those days I was cash strapped and just couldn't afford a M52 without selling off something else so the M52 idea sat dormant in my head.

Years go by and before I knew it I heard from someone that S&W had dropped the M52 from their lineup and I went into panic mode to find a new one quick. Unfortunately, there were none so I started buying really nice used ones. I think I gathered up 4 or 5 of them and one day I looked at them all and decided to sell some off. I didn't shoot BE anymore and they were taking up valuable space in my safes, so I whittled the heard down to two, both of which now have Clark barrels on them and I am happy just having two now. The M52's I have owned have always brought me a lot of pleasure and enjoyment shooting them all.

Interestingly enough owning a M52 was the primary reason for me getting into reloading. New ammunition for a M52 was getting hard to find and was somewhat expensive so reloading seemed cost effective and a good idea. I also got all the once fired .38 Special cases I could want from the range my old department shot at. As most know becoming a reloader just opens up another bottomless money pit, but one that I enjoy a great deal. Only a true reloader will know the joy and comfort that comes from being able to fabricate loads that are hard to get or from custom tailoring loads for a specific firearm. Initially I was only going to reload for my M52's but that soon changed and now I load for about 12 different calibers. Such is life, but I am happy to have had the opportunity of owning several Model 52's that were all great pistols.

Rick H.

Love that story!

I acquired a 52 no dash and a 52-2 recently. Any factory ammo recommendations ? I had an old box of S&B from shooting my K38 one liner, and it wouldn't cycle the action.