The company is a bunch of people from Kimber who broke off and went their own way in the late 80's early 90's. Their goal was to make a firearm that was on the level of the custom one off guns but to manufacture them. There first priority was accuracy. And they have done it. They offer a .5 MOA accuracy guarantee at 100 yards. That guarantee is for every gun they ship. There are a few custom makers out there, Clay Spencer is one, who claim .25 MOA at 100 yards but only on lower caliber ,varmint bullets, like the 22-250 and such but don't offer that on their big calibers, and his cost quite a bit more. Now don't get me wrong the big box store guns can offer the .5 MOA with work and all can come close to 1 MOA out of the box, if you get the right one built on the right day and everything was good in the factory that day. The Cooper guarantees it.
The reason for picking the model 52, it is the only one in Coopers line that comes in a .300 win mag. The 21, 22, 38, and 51 is a varmint shooter rifle with those type rounds. The 52 is a well rounded group of rounds with a few odd balls, not normally discussed when talking guns. The 54 is the weirdo rounds rarely ever discussed but known for accuracy in the old guns. The 57m are the rimfires .17 and .22 and the 58 is the big boys that you only shoot once and hope whatever you shot at dies but don't care because it can't do an more damage than the recoil just did to you. So you have the Model 52.
And like I said you can get real stupid if you go in with a gleam in your eye and a big wad of cash. The classic is a good looking Claro walnut stock, with good checkering, holding a very nice rifle with a match grade wilson barrel, for $2275. Then you step up and up and up. The western classic has an incredibly amazingly beautiful top grade possible Claro walnut stock, with all kinds of fancy checkering holding a very nice rifle with a match grade wilson octagon barrel, for only $3895 then you hit the custom shop. Add the exhibition Claro stock, custom metal work and engraving and all the goodies and you are at $10,000 dollars.
If you want a quality gun you can be sure will shoot exactly where you want it to when you want it to and the only factor is your ability then this is the gun. No need to go stupid on extras the M52 classic will give you everything you want out of a rifle in one box without extra work. It will last a lifetime if cared for and will look damn good doing it.
As for the caliber the .300 win mag ios the best for getting out there and doing the job. Compared to the 7mm, and the 30-06 with the same bullet it carries a lot more energy and shoots much flatter, dropping 10" less than the 30-06 at 500 yards, making it the choice for all around stuff and the long shots that come up.
And contrary to Marn's belief, I am not stuck on Cooper. It is just that you can't get a better rifle for less. Now you can get a better rifle for a lot more. but you can't find an equal rifle elsewhere for that money. So you get a top notch rifle at a very good price point. You can spend 10k on a better rifle but most of us would never be able to perform to the level of that rifle. You can afford the performance of a Cooper.
