Hi all - first time posting in this section of the site - never had an excuse before today.

Figured that changed when I got the rifle in the title today at an estate sale.  Posted it in GD  and the fine folks pointed me over here.  Any specific pointers or advice for this old rifle?  And also, any idea on the vintage of the scope?  It came with an old box and I'm assuming it's of similar age to the rifle, but you know what they say about assumptions.

Also, another little feature I noticed is that one of the magazines seems to be single-shot only.  It does have the 1919 patent date.  There are two more mags, one dated and one without date.  I'll get some pictures of those a little later when the kids are in bed.

Fantastic looking rifle, clean it oil it, shoot it and repeat. Thanks for sharing.

I've got a 52B.  I've never fired a .22 rifle that shoots better than it does.

Many years ago, when I was friends with one of the best shots I've ever known, he'd get mad at me for bringing the old rifle out to our plinking sessions.  Dandelions, honey bees, flies on the target paper at 25 yds., all were fair game with that rifle.

OP, you've got a nice shooter there.  Could be really collectible as well.

Especially the scope. It is surprising how good the optics were on those old scopes before modern lens coatings.  The idea of adjusting the scope body instead of an internal reticle does take some getting used to.

Sweet old rig. Just won a Springfield M1922 on GB the other day and can't wait to shoot it. I also have a 1950's 40X that Im going to put a Unertl 15X on it, why, because vintage rifles rule.

Thanks guys!  As promised, the magazines.  Looks like one of them is a later vintage without the patent date floorplate.  The single-shot mag is one of the mags with the date.

Not a bad idea to put the adjustments in the base.  Much simpler and robust.  This is a Bausch & Lomb Balvar 5 from the '50s mounted on its original Remington 725.  Crystal clear after all these years.  Its also FFP with a tapered crosshair reticle that does not change with zoom.

Great looking early 52.

The old unertl scopes are great. Similar vintage to the rifle ( 1920’s-30,s is about right)

This was the classic American small bore target rifle from the 1920’s to the early 1970’s.

As smallbore competition was all fired single shot , single shot adapters were about standard with these rifles.

One Achilles heel of the early ones is that a small narrow edge of the receiver near the safety has a habit of cracking ( nicknamed the “crack of doom “by some)
Repeated operation of the safety caused this sharp edge / thin spot to wear and crack. The safety was relocated from the left side of the rifle to the right in later models to eliminate this issue. The crack does not render the rifle unsafe to fire, but may prevent the safety from functioning. ( nobody I know uses the safety on a rifle of this type anyway, so no big deal)

With proper match grade ammo ( eley, lapua,SK,rws ) they will shoot right up there with the best rifles made today

Thanks for sharing; beautiful rifle and scope.  We will need to see how it groups after your first range trip.

I've been looking closely at that spot and I think I'm OK.  Just will make sure not to use the safety!

Very jealous, for the combo you got a smoking deal.

They just don't make rifles like this anymore here in America.  You found a fine rifle.  

Be careful of those magazines!  Replacements for my Remington Model 37 were $300 each.

Mine was made in 1937 and has original iron sights and a SuperTargetSpot.  

These rifles will outlast us by a long way if they are taken care of by future generations.

You may find great satisfaction shooting this new rifle.  I know I do when shooting mine.  It might be my favorite rifle.

The model 37 magazines are something of a unicorn only made for that model and rather rare

52’s on the other hand utilize the same magazine as all the box fed winchesters of the 1920’s to early 1960’s (69,75,52 etc) while some magazines will be stamped with the specific model they came with ( my assumption is that mags supplied with guns had the model number on the base while replacements might not but I could be wrong) they will all work fine in a 52

The pre A had a thinner lip in front of the safety.  That could result in a crack in some rifles. Some folks get positively hysterical about a crack and state it’s unsafe to fire as the bolt no longer has as much support.  That’s ridiculous.

The crack is most likely to form when wear on the sear or a poorly done trigger job causes the firing pin to be farther forward where the safety lever can no longer cam it straight back, but rather starts camming it to the side first. That puts stress on the barrel of the safety which in turns stresses that small lip and tries to bend it backwards.

A secondary cause is potentially related to head space.  It’s suspected that as the bolt handle to receiver contact wears the resulting increase in headspace can cause the bolt to “slam” into that lip.   Conversely, if a gunsmith, seeking maximum accuracy, sets the head space too tight, the bolt can cam against that lip and cause it to crack. A minor change to the safety lever on the unmarked A and A rifles largely eliminated that issue.




Later “unmarked A” and A rifles used a thicker lip..  The easy way to spot a pre-A is the lip is thinner than the lug on the safety.  On the subsequent rifles the lip is the same width as the lug on the safety.





My unmarked A:

I picked up an M1922 M2 a few years ago to go with some of my other trainers.

It’s not quite as accurate as my Model 52, but it’s a very cool gun to shoot.

For me nothing beats the old classics.

I keep coming back to this thread for the pictures.

Good luck with your vintage rifles, enjoy them!

beautiful

I have a 52 from 1925. Lyman target spot, 10x. Great shooter. The magazines are worth $50+. Find what it eats and feed it. Enjoy.

Nice.

The scope is worth more than rifle, 8x Unertl is used for vintage sniper and in high demand. You could sell or trade for a higher power one pretty easy.

I like 52s and have owned a couple and still have a B with Leichert (SP) 12x scope.