Passing on another one that's been rode hard and put up wet from the looks of it. (Wasn't supposed to be pristine, so I'll give them that.) Then today I remembered a .177 48/52 that has been on consignment in a gun shop for what must be going on four or five years. Has around $275 on it. Guess I would say it was in average condition. What would be a fair offer? Being the greedy soul that I am, would $150 sound reasonable? (Do remember, it's been holding down the racks many a moon.) If I get a chance to shoot it first, what's to look/listen for?

What, me worry???

You might point out to them that you can buy it new for $289.95 at Natchez.
http://www.natchezss.com/brand.cfm?contentID=productDetail&brand=RW&category=0&prodID=RW2166200

James

Thanks for pointing that out. A lot of people consign guns way over their marketable price bacause they want to recoup 95-100% of what they paid for it.

Dear Sir, I have done thousands of shots till now with my 48 in .177 and till now absolutely no problems. If you have the chance to fire it via a Chrony it must give you at least 300 m/sec. with a .177 Extra heavy pellet of 0.69 grams / 10.65 grains. The sound of a shot with this heavy but superb straight shooting rifle must ( with a heavy pellet ! ) be absolutely without "twang". have a close look to the left/right wear of the trigger, no rust on the bare metal cylinder but further on no points of attention ! You can buy here on of the most reliable air rifle and a good competitor for the HW's and Anschútz's. Give some testshots on 75 meters, the more you shoot this rifle the more you will like it, best regards from Johannis. ( 48 owner in 4.5- and 5.5 mm., not yet the 6.35 mm. I am still thinking about it ).

May drive down that way tomorrow and see if it's still holding down the rack. Was in a glass case for a long time. Now it's on the floor rack with the rest of the guns collecting its share of nicks and dings. Thinking about it, I CAN get the new gun for about $300. When you break it down over the life of the gun, that extra $150 isn't so much. And I don't have to correct or live with what the previous owner(s) may have done to it. Only muself to thank.

And for another $50 I can get the 52 with the nicer stock. (Did they offer this in a walnut like the 54's?) Would a Diana 75 stock fit? Same basic configuration? (I know the 75 has the Giss system, but wonder if the tube, et cetera, is common to both guns?)

The 48/52 sidelevers are great guns, can't interchange stocks the action is longer on the 48 guns, anything is possible though have seen people do most anything with gun stocks. One thing you might look for is if the gun has the older T01 trigger as the piston is not available from Umarex anymore and so therefore down the road either trigger or piston problems can lead to changing out both items which can cost almost half the price of a gun. Another thing to look at is how the stock screw heads look as alot of times people never used loc tite and if the screws have loosened up many of times you might have problems there also. Most of these guns have no twang, the sidelever design usually never has the spring twang of the underlevers and barrel cocking type guns, other than test firing it just visual inspection is about all you can hope for, I would say a model 48 is worth between 150-200 max used. I also would not let caliber selection worry me either the .177 will take anything down the .22 can, these guns have excellent potential, my 52 usually groups from .50" to 1.0" on average at 50 yards.

I thought the 48/52 was the same as the 48, just some kind of intermediate numbering system they employed for a while. Didn't know about the pistons and such. How would I know it's a TO1 trigger?

I was looking at the closeouts on Umarex and saw a 48 SV with sights and a semi-adjustable target style stock. Are these what they shoot in Europe? They had a 48 SL, as well, same stock but no sights and what may have been a moderator/shroud. That would have been nice. The SV is nice but I'm really leery of Umarex's pricing on these. Their 46E is clearance priced at over $300. MidSouth has them on special at $190. Can't see the difference. Also, their regular 48 is over $450 and the 52 $550. Seems their prices are about $150 over other retailers.

What, me worry???

Hi Redfeather, the 48/52 guns are the same action, and the receiver has never been changed, the only thing I know is they changed the trigger and piston in them at around the year 2000 or 2001 sometime. All of the older 48/52 guns had the T01 trigger. The T01 triggers have two adjustment screws in them rather, alot of the older 48/52 guns also had a cast trigger guard also which is nice because all of the new ones are plastic now. The reason I bring this up is that parts such as the piston are not available from Umarex, there may be some of them floating around still someplace don't know. If you buy a used gun just look it over really good and if you get to shoot it then even better yet. If you have the money to spend for a new gun I would do so as you wil have a warranty on the gun, the pricing varies everywhere you will look on them. I have read some up and downs between the 48 stock and 52, I understand both sides of the coin here also, these guns are fairly heavy with a scope, mine with a target scope weighs 10lbs. The 48 stock is smooth and might be a bit slippery while handling out in the field because of this, other than that though you are basically getting the same guns. The 48 SV whether it is used in Europe or not for something in particular I am unshure of, basically if I remember right has the adjustable stock, might be a nice feature, however the price reflects this also you could buy a 52 for about the same price.

if you call, the prices change to $50 over what the site shows . My experience anyway .

Went to my local shop this morning to check out the 48/52 that's been there for a very long time. Stock had a few blems/dings. Bore looked ok. Some bluing loss in a couple of places on the receiver, as if some chemical lifted it. Thin line of rust under the plastic cocking lever tip. Ok, consider it a field gun.

When opened, I noticed what appeared to be a film of slightly yellowed white lithium grease on the bottom half of the sliding cylinder face. Is that normally used? Haven't heard it recommended at all for air guns. BTW, the build date was 11 90. I turned it over to look at the trigger but could not see much as it was wearing a trigger lock. While looking at the trigger guard (dark gray plastic?) I saw two lines about an inch long going back from the rear of the guard towards the butt. Looked closer and saw it had been glass repaired as if a large splinter had started to lift out. Is this a common complaint on 48's?

Well, they wanted $229 for it, so I asked how much room there was in that price? "That's the price" says the guy behind the counter. "Well," says I, "That's close to a new gun price, $289. And this one's got a busted stock." "We price them accordingly," says he.

I would have talked to the owner but he was tied up and I had places to go and things to do. Was going to offer him $100, maybe $125, tops. For one thing, I've been retired going on four years and I think I remember seeing that 48 in one of their display cases when I used to drop by on my lunch hour. (Saved a lot by retiring and eating at home. )

One other thing that struck later. The gun was cocked. How long can a springer sit cocked before the spring takes a set? Will the piston, et cetera, tend to seize up if left like that for a long time (perhaps a couple of years)?

At any rate, I was going more to see what a 48 was like in my hands. Not as bad as I remembered (having picked it up once before.) I had to pull out one of my other airguns last night and shifter my scoped Slavia 631. The 48 was actually lighter and seemed to balance well. (I think Slavia's are kind of known to be on the heavy side, being built like a tank.)

Red Feather Natchez has a rws m92 .177 for $105.95 if you still want a indoor shooter . Marvin

Thanks, but I've got several break barrels. My Slavia 631 with a light lube tune is a very sedate gun. Why I'm looking for more I don't know. But, then, do any of us? Actually, I'm toying with the idea of dong some 100 yard off the bench and the 48/52 series seems adequate for this.

I have thought about that a little and when it warms up and if i can catch some days of no wind im going to try it with my .177 46 . That is if i can get every thing right at 50 yards which i belive i can . Let our dreams come true . Marvin

RedFeather,
I think thats way to high for a 48 in rough condition.
I bought a 1998 .22 caliber last october on the yellow forum that was tuned by Jim Macarri.It was in 98% condition with a couple of compression marks on the stock,a little steam and some oil fixed it right up,bluing was perfect not a mark on it..It came with muzzle break original front and rear sights,one piece BKL scope mount(no scope) and the paper work from JM's tune. AVG FPS was 820 with a 6fps deviation I forgot the FPE but it was up there.
You can by a refurbished one from for less than that from UMAREX USA,that comes with a guarantee.
Just my opinion but look the other way and save yourself some money and maybe a headache in the long run.You can"t shoot it can you? some rust means it has not been taken care of.If it looks rough outside just think what the inside might look like.For another $25 or $50 if you look hard enough I am sure you will find the right one for you .

Only My Personal Opinion
BBGun Bob
SE MI.
Heres the one I bought with my airsoft disguise so the old lady behind me don't complain about a real rifle.She said her 10 year old grandson has one with orange tip just like it.LOL Then added if it wasn't for that tip you'd think its a real gun .Ha ha ha.
[IMG][/IMG]

I thought for maybe $100 it could be worth it but I would have to shoot it first. One thing I can tell you - you can pretty much judge the inside of a gun from the condition of the outside. Sometimes you will find one that the blue has faded completely out on, the stock has some dings and scratches from hunting, but it's in excellent condition, otherwise. Just like any other tool, you can tell when something's been used by not used up. When I see rust and such, the flags go up. Been looking at various sites for new prices/models. Wish I had seen that 48 SL on closeout at Umarex (only one and it went last summer). Even worse, Natches had .20's on clearance (now out of stock.) One thing's for sure, there are a lot of them out there so I'll just remain patient.

Where on the Umarex site are the refurbs? Didn't see any.

Keep on looken. Marvin

That's "used but not used up". Why can't we edit our responses here?

Uhmm the gun sounds about like the one I bought then, only mine the stock was okay fortunately, the trigger guard probably had to be replaced since the stock was cracked, the original guard was probably ruined as well. The 48/52 guns would be suitable for what you are wanting to do and there are so many that go up for sale am shure you might find a pretty decent one on the classifieds, I like this as I imagined this gun you are telling us about almost perfectly before you told us more about it here.