mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-Live long enough and stuff like this can happen to you too. I've been obsessed with finding a decent example of an early Winchester 52, pre-Speedlock. Just liked the finger-groove stock and old-school looks of it. But after looking at thousands of examples I had feet of clay, just couldn't pull the trigger on one. At this rate I was going to my grave before making it happen. So I just decided to bear down and get it done, no looking for the perfect balance of price, condition, etc. that dictates all my past epic hunts.
-Found a sight-less example with a SN that dated production to 1928. Early enough. Condition was OK and I couldn't see the "crack of death" on the receiver adjacent to the safety lever (huge shout-out to somd_mustangs for his schooling me on this subject years ago). The receiver looked to have been possibly re-blued, hard to tell from auction photos. Stock had an early, correct varnish finish. Worn but that was fine with me, loved the character. As to the sights I had two options in the spares bin: a Lyman aperture sight set or a recently purchased Lyman Field scope with Litschert magnifier that turned the 4x scope into a 8x version. The scope was mechanically excellent but cosmetically challenged. Perfect for the character of the 52. So went with the scope.
-In the end I got the 52 for a satisfying sub $500 price. With the scope I have roughly $700 in the combo. Works for me! Now to find the proper sling for it.
-Found a sight-less example with a SN that dated production to 1928. Early enough. Condition was OK and I couldn't see the "crack of death" on the receiver adjacent to the safety lever (huge shout-out to somd_mustangs for his schooling me on this subject years ago). The receiver looked to have been possibly re-blued, hard to tell from auction photos. Stock had an early, correct varnish finish. Worn but that was fine with me, loved the character. As to the sights I had two options in the spares bin: a Lyman aperture sight set or a recently purchased Lyman Field scope with Litschert magnifier that turned the 4x scope into a 8x version. The scope was mechanically excellent but cosmetically challenged. Perfect for the character of the 52. So went with the scope.
-In the end I got the 52 for a satisfying sub $500 price. With the scope I have roughly $700 in the combo. Works for me! Now to find the proper sling for it.
