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Last month I glommed something that has been on my wish list for a long time...A model 52. It landed at my FFL and I got a chance to look it over before it went into his safe for the mandatory 10 day "cooling-off" period. The Model 52 is a target pistol that fires .38 special wadcutter ammo. It is reputed to be amazingly accurate.

The auctioneer told me that it was in excellent shape and had been owned by a local collector who had passed away. After looking it over, I had to agree...

Nice, that's and oldie. They're relatively rare. Nice catch. How is the trigger pull. I had a S&W Model 39 9mm and the pull was terrible, very long and mushy. It felt like I was shooting a revolver with a poor action.

flintlok wrote:Nice, that's and oldie. They're relatively rare. Nice catch. How is the trigger pull. I had a S&W Model 39 9mm and the pull was terrible, very long and mushy. It felt like I was shooting a revolver with a poor action.

Thanks, Flinty. The reason that it has been on my list for so long is that they are generally crazy expensive. I got a great deal on this one, with one caveat...it came with no magazines. I already had one magazine, and was able to get a great deal on two more at a different auction. Not coming with magazines may seem like a trivial thing, but the magazines are rare, expensive and hard to find. They usually run around $150 apiece on fleabay or gunbroker.

The trigger on this is great. The model 52 is a single action pistol, with a different trigger system than the 39. Long ago I had a 39 and agree with you about the trigger on it.

I had one of those, the trigger was the best on any pistol I have used. Mine loved 148grn wadcutters over 3.2 grn bullseye.

The magazines only hold 5 as standard, but filing the slot in the side a little longer and at a slight curve allows 6 .

I'll keep that load in mind, Born Again. I don't reload for pistols yet.

A semi-auto feeding wadcutters? Shows how much I don’t know about semi-autos

Coldfinger wrote:A semi-auto feeding wadcutters? Shows how much I don’t know about semi-autos

They aren't all that common, but I've also got a Colt 1911 National Match Mid-Rrange that also shoots .38 special wad cutters.