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We KNOW David Condon doesn’t operate a bargain basement. Bolt handle has been relieved, but that alone wouldn’t bring price down to $3500. He says “untapped,” but could that be true for a ’37? Not interested in gun myself, but $3500 is a very low price if the bolt alteration is its only “defect.” (Which I consider trivial myself & unavoidable for scope use.)
The rifle has been d/t’d on the receiver for the Redfield Jr scope base. B’s did not come from factory d/t’d. Other than that, the missing sight staff and the bolt handle, it looks very good to me. I cannot tell for sure what the rear sight base is, I assume it’s the original 48F , but along with the correct front sight is purely an assumption on my part. It makes me wonder why he would say it’s “untapped”? It also appears the proofmarks are original and correct. I cannot enlarge them enough to tell for sure.
I think it is a very fair price for the rifle based on what I see in the pictures. He has had that rifle for sale since May this year. Makes you wonder??
Steve
seewin said It makes me wonder why he would say it’s “untapped”?
If he TRULY believed that due to (let’s say) misinformation, would the price be $3500? Not likely.
November 7, 2015
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seewin said
The rifle has been d/t’d on the receiver for the Redfield Jr scope base. B’s did not come from factory d/t’d. Other than that, the missing sight staff and the bolt handle, it looks very good to me. I cannot tell for sure what the rear sight base is, I assume it’s the original 48F , but along with the correct front sight is purely an assumption on my part. It makes me wonder why he would say it’s “untapped”? It also appears the proofmarks are original and correct. I cannot enlarge them enough to tell for sure.I think it is a very fair price for the rifle based on what I see in the pictures. He has had that rifle for sale since May this year. Makes you wonder??
Steve
I suppose he was mistaken about the “no added tap holes” and another detail or two. I’m no 52 expert but I’m with Clarence; what are we missing?
Mike
TXGunNut said
I suppose he was mistaken about the “no added tap holes” and another detail or two. I’m no 52 expert but I’m with Clarence; what are we missing?
Really, nothing. I wasn’t sure exactly when that crucial “third hole” in the rcvr was added, but Seewin clarified that. It’s possible the Jr. mount was attached by means of the two factory holes in the ring & glued down over the bridge, which would secure it for anything short of service with paratroops; in fact, probably the two screws in the ring would suffice. But if that were the case, it’s hard to believe the price would be under 5 Gs. $3500 is a very good price for what it is, & considering how long it’s been listed, I’d be surprised if $3000 didn’t buy it. The Leupold scope is worth something too, but doesn’t offset loss of the 48 slide; scope is high enough to clear it, so why was it removed?
Just to clarify, the B’s had no holes in receiver from factory for scope bases. None in front ring or rear bridge. The subject gun will have 3 non factory holes in its receiver. Here is a picture of how the top of receiver should look on a 52B Sporter, or any 52 Sporter prior to the C models.
Steve
Tedk said
Could never get past the extra holes and ground bolt
Not even for a $2500 discount? Were I in the market for a 52S to SHOOT–not hide away in a safe–one like this, already set up for scope usage, would be the gun I’d choose. A small-game rifle without a scope is a severe limitation on accuracy, & as the old Colonel said, “only accurate rifles are interesting.”
seewin said
Just to clarify, the B’s had no holes in receiver from factory for scope bases. None in front ring or rear bridge. The subject gun will have 3 non factory holes in its receiver. Here is a picture of how the top of receiver should look on a 52B Sporter, or any 52 Sporter prior to the C models.
Thanks for this info, as somewhere I got the idea that the Sporting models had 2 holes in the ring like pre-war 70s.
clarence said
Tedk said
Could never get past the extra holes and ground bolt
Not even for a $2500 discount? Were I in the market for a 52S to SHOOT–not hide away in a safe–one like this, already set up for scope usage, would be the gun I’d choose. A small-game rifle without a scope is a severe limitation on accuracy, & as the old Colonel said, “only accurate rifles are interesting.”
Nope, not even for a $2500 discount, just wouldn’t enjoy owning the gun
Although the number of Sporters I’ve seen pales by comparison to the experience of several members, especially Steve, ever since the advent of online auctions I’ve tried to study and track prices on what B and C Sporters became available, mainly because I wanted one.
Subject to a right of inspection, if I didn’t own my late 52C, I’d be very tempted to get into Higher Authority’s grocery money and knock this B model down for $2.5k to $3k. I don’t think it’s under priced and is likely overpriced by $500 to $1,000.
Except for pristine, unmodified specimens of interest to stone Collectors with a capital “C” who would never take one into the field because it might (realistically) drop serious bucks worth of condition, field-used or modified Sporters have incurred a LOT of competition within the last 30 years.
When I was in high school, there were exactly zero high grade bolt action rimfire sporting rifles being made in America. Kimber of Oregon, its offshoot Cooper, and its successor Kimber Manufacturing, changed all that. Not to mention the Browning and Winchester branded Miroku Sporters.
To me. This B model splits the difference because its alterations are inoffensive and useful and its condition is otherwise apparently excellent.
To my eye, the Redfield Jr mount is the sleekest and most appealing for Sporters. My C model still wears the one that came on it, albeit with a skinny little Weaver J4 I replaced.
B model Sporters beg to be scoped, which is why so many have been. If the receiver sight base was a 48F or its predecessor, I’d find or make a blank for it and never mind. If was something else and the stock wasn’t cut, I’d remove it. If cut, I’d install a blank.
Now. I think the foregoing illustrates the difference between our two types of Winchester collectors:
I have vast respect and affection for my elevated brethren and sistren who can bear to hold in their hands only the virtually untouched, 104% original condition, washed-,in-the-Blood specimens of our collective desire. You are of the highest caste and merit my admiration for your self-discipline, discerning eye, and reluctance to draw wallet.
By comparison, I’m more like the slow-witted Irish setter whose breeding was devoted exclusively to his coat and none to his nose or brain. Given a bedraggled Winchester 52 my first inclination is to see how I could make it better and go shoot it.
Fortunately, of both such is the kingdom of Winchester Heaven.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I just favor honest, unaltered guns with a little more condition than I can afford
Tedk said
I just favor honest, unaltered guns with a little more condition than I can afford
And there is nothing wrong with that philosophy, at all.
In fact, if given the chance and the money to go with it, I’d have an unaltered B Sporter in perfect, complete, and unfired condition, preferably with documents proving it was a special order drilled and tapped for a Redfield Jr scope mount with the bolt handle relieved accordingly at the factory. And with a Lyman 48F (complete with staff) installed in New Haven.
But then, tragically, I would go hunt and shoot it. A lot.
Which is why I’m grateful the higher caste of Collectors exists: to keep me from desecrating the Grail.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Zebulon said In fact, if given the chance and the money to go with it, I’d have an unaltered B Sporter in perfect, complete, and unfired condition, preferably with documents proving it was a special order drilled and tapped for a Redfield Jr scope mount with the bolt handle relieved accordingly at the factory. And with a Lyman 48F (complete with staff) installed in New Haven.
I’d have no use for the gun in its original cond. All my shooting now is with metallic sights, but my targets are paper or steel, not living animals. The prior owner of this Sporting model did the sensible, intelligent, thing to make it an effective small game rifle, which it was not in its factory configuration. Ironic that now, the gun is stigmatized.
Not by me. I just don’t need two of ’em.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
To each his own, but a scoped rifle is not always necessary for small game hunting. I am fortunate that I am the owner of a 52 “C” Sporter equipped with it’s original 48F peep sight arrangement. I bought a box of good target ammo just to see how well this rifle would do and the pictures tell the story. The rest of the arrangement, front rest and bag were not high dollar components. As a matter of fact, home made and these groups were fired last summer with 69 year old eyes. As Seewin once commented in a past post the target models were not the only ones with good barrels. RRM 
To each his own, but a scoped rifle is not always necessary for small game hunting.Rat Rod Mac said
But wouldn’t you agree that shooting from a bench rest at a clearly defined target in good light does not simulate most actual hunting conditions? It’s for a half-hidden target in poor light that a scope exhibits its superiority over metallic sights.
Mac, those are excellent groups and I’ve never doubted the Sporters are intrinsically very accurate. I like fine micrometer sights (receiver and tang) and, for the time being, can still hunt Whitetail deer with a lever gun so sighted, within 50 to 75 yards. But I can no longer headshoot a squirrel without a scope.
Both Clarence and I are octogenarians. While I have excellent distance vision, courtesy of some new artificial accommodating lenses, i can’t resolve detail well enough to give Mr. Squirrel headache # 22 in a reliably humane manner. At 69 I still could.
I regret passing up a nice 48F Gary Fellers offered me decades ago for $250 because I didn’t have the $250 at the time. By the time I had it to spend I had lost my ability to use one.
That’s life.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Zebulon said
Both Clarence and I are octogenarians. While I have excellent distance vision, courtesy of some new artificial accommodating lenses, i can’t resolve detail well enough to give Mr. Squirrel headache # 22 in a reliably humane manner. At 69 I still could.
When I was in my 30s, I’d become such an infallible “dead shot” with one of my heavy scoped (mostly Win A5s) single-shots that squirrel hunting began to seem more like hog-slaughtering–mere execution. So for several yrs I hunted exclusively with a tang-sighted Ballard 3F to “even the odds,” which taught me a great deal about patience & the wisdom of passing up questionable shots due to bad light & half-hidden targets. My point is that age has nothing to do with the conditions that impair the hunting effectiveness (& humaneness) of metallic sights–they’re the same at any age.
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