Production History
The Model 52 went through many alterations over its sixty years. These changes were not systematic: improvements to the action, stock and so on were made on an ad hoc basis, and it is clearer to treat these alterations so separated rather than as "models."
- Note on serial numbers and sub-model or "Style" letter designators: It was Winchester's practice to stamp each receiver with its serial number after milling and preliminary polishing, often weeks or months before the rifle was actually assembled. Accordingly, the alphabetic SN suffixes A, B, C and D were applied specifically to changes to the receiver forging itself, originally as an aid to factory workers: not to new designs of stock, furniture or even trigger mechanism if no change to the receiver was required. Other design changes might coincide in time with a receiver 'submodel,' or first appear in the same catalog: many commentators have been confused by this, talking about such things as the "Model 52B stock" which, strictly speaking, did not exist. Winchester catalogs and advertising literature did not mention letter designators until the 1950s.
- Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Model 52D represented a comprehensive upgrade of the entire rifle.
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