Winchester Model 52 Sporting

Sold For $2856
March 30, 2024

Manufacturer: Winchester
Caliber: .22 LR
Barrel: 24
Bore Condition: Excellent
This is a no reserve penny auction for a Winchester Model 52 Sporting in .22 LR. Serial number- 33976. This Model 52 was manufactured in 1936, and includes two factory Winchester magazines, manual, sling, a vintage 4×32 LM Dickson riflescope, and a peep sight with original manual. The bore is in excellent condition. The Winchester Model 52 was a bolt-action .22-caliber target rifle introduced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1920. For many years it was the premier smallbore match rifle in the United States, if not the world. It was known as the "King of the .22s."
<br />
<br />Around 1931 Major John W. Hessian, a friend of new Winchester president John M. Olin, had a private gunsmith remount his Model 52 in a custom lightweight "sporting" stock. Olin was so impressed that he ordered the development of a 52 Sporter as a production model, which made its debut in 1934.
<br />
<br />The Sporting Model had a lightweight 24-inch barrel and an elegant gloss-finished stock of figured walnut with a slender, tapering capped forearm, pronounced pistol grip, high comb and cheekpiece, and fancy checkering. The action was identical with contemporary target models, except that the receiver top was left round rather than milled flat.
<br />
<br />The Sporter was in all respects a deluxe rifle. While Winchester already had a reputation as the Cadillac of American arms manufacturers, the 52 Sporter was produced with a degree of fit and finish appropriate to a custom gunsmith&apos;s shop. Esquire magazine called it "the piece de resistance of all sporting rifles. It&apos;s a diamond in a field of chipped glass– the rifle for the connoisseur." Field & Stream named the 52 Sporter one of the "50 Best Guns Ever Made," calling it "unrivalled in beauty and accuracy. Understandably the Sporter represented only a small percentage of Model 52s produced between 1934 and its discontinuation in 1959: it is today the most collectible of all 52 variants.
<br />
<br />Please refer to the photos as two very minor hairline cracks are seen around the forend cap, and minor rust is seen on the barrel and butt-plate.