Well one of my good friends comes through again

[Fishjager]

I have a couple of S&W 52's. Well I went out on a limb and bought two Clark 38 special barrels for them. I also had new bushings fitted to the barrels while they were at Clark. I got them the other day and my buddy agreed to fit them for me. Well my friend was a Master Gunsmith at Detonics when they were located here in Seattle. So he knows his stuff on 1911's. But when I got to his place he was a little shy about fitting the barrel on this platform. The friendly gunsmith at Clark told me that only really qualified gunsmiths could fit these barrels. He used the term "really smart" about the person doing the work. My friend Eddy is that kind of guy. I have quite a few 1911's that he has made for me and done trigger jobs on. I will put any of his work up against anybody, Les Baer included. So Eddy with files and stones in hand looked at my old barrel measured it with calipers and went to work. A short time later he handed me the finished product. All I can say is WOW. I thought it was great before he got hold of it. Now I am speechless. The lock up is super, and smooth. I can't wait until next week to go out and shoot it. Kudos to my friend Eddy. I really feel blessed to have a friend like him. He is going to work on my 52-1 next and put the other barrel in that for me. Now that he is experienced with the 52 platform.

Side note: Rumor is Clark is going to stop making these barrels. Might want to snag one while you can.

 

[cougar015]

It's nice to have great friends in time of need. Congratulations on a sweet set up. Let us know how it shoots.

 

[Krogen]

Fishjager's gunsmith is a friend of mine and a wizard with a 1911. The cool thing is he's happy to let you watch him work. He explains everything as he goes. Not that I could pick up some tools and achieve what he does, but he shares his knowledge without reservation.

One time we were sitting in a Mexican restaurant and Eddy was going on about sear angles. Probably because of my perplexed and befuddled looks, he grabbed a couple of tortilla chips as props. "See? This is how . . ." Then he proceeded to nibble on the chips to show how he adjusts sear angles, engagement and whatever. I split a gut laughing, but he got his point across. I wish I'd have gotten a video.

 

[Rick H.]

I had Clark fit two of their barrels on two of my Model 52's. I couldn't be more pleased with the results. From a personal perspective I think both pistols shoot better, but I would have a hard time quantifying that without expending some serious range time. What I do know is both new Clark barrels clean up in a flash compared to cleaning the OEM barrels. That alone was worth the price of admission to me. Even empty brass looks much better from the Clark barrels than what was spit out of the S&W barrels.

After talking with the person that installs these barrels at Clark, they clearly will not be making any more M-52 barrels than what they have in stock. This was a marketing option for selling barrels that has simply slowed way down for them, so the end of the road is in sight. Bullseye shooting is not what it once was and Clark as well as many others are going in different directions to accommodate customers. My gut tells me it is much easier to make steel target shooters happier than those shooting bullseye competitions. Bullseye shooters can be a pretty picky bunch when it comes to accuracy from their firearms.

I hope you end up as happy with both of your M-52's as I am with mine Fishjager. All told I threw over a grand into mine on a whim, hope and a prayer as I never saw a Clark barrel installation on a M-52 beforehand, but in my estimation it was money well spent. I was worried with the first one, but once I got it back from Clark and saw the results, I couldn't get the second one to them fast enough.

Rick H.

 

[Fishjager]

Rick you nailed it on the head. That is why I opted to buy two barrels from them. Then I noticed that they sell bushings as well, and since they are hard to get I thought what the heck and got a couple of those as well. Paul at Clark saved me a step by fitting the bushings to each barrel for free prior to shipping. Great guys to work with. With this posting I think that I heard the magic number of four left. It might be less by now. (Barrels)

 

[Fishjager]

Question for those with Clark barrels. When you first put your barrel in did you have problems feeding one round only from the magazine? I noticed that I get kind of a stovepipe with just one round in the magazine? But put two rounds in the magazine and it feeds fine. Is this just because the chamber is tighter on these Clark Barrels? I might have to put a few rounds through it to break it in.

 

[bobsguns]

As much as I admire & love Clark guns, I don't know that I'd shoot it well enough to swap-in a Clark bbl. At 25 yards, I can get a cloverleaf off of a sandbag if I take my time.

I wish the contributions of Jim Clark, Sr were more well-known to the gun buying public.