I am buttin again,do not think tooo much,Why is because there are a lot of good springers.Can you test any of the ones you may like?
Get your 48 tuned and be done with it,then get a TX200 or a HW 97....nothing else...AA Bluing is the great,the 97 is easy....oh no here we go again!
OK really important thought,do you like your 48 enough to love it,if yes then you know what you need to do.....
I see it All the time,too many choices causes brain drain and money drain and if wife knows pain drain.
I read a story a couple of years ago about a total rebuilt of a 48 by a will known tuner writer he did a couple of them,we wanted to make it the best springer out there,he did....cost was a whole lot.....
The 48 and its' cousin are big and weighty,but there are other springers that are more heavy or seem to be,my 97 is a heavy sob,but can it shoot,my TX seems lighter and is more gentlemanly.......So you see I have all three plus many others.
You like the 48 side lever?Have you tried the 97 or TX200 under lever?..I prefer a break barrel for hunting,that said and I repeat myself the 48 is a powerful air rifle....
Having said all that... my 52 would go before my 97 or TX200 ...unless it was tuned,LOL..If you live in the SF Bay Area I could let you hold and shoot the rifles we have been talking about if you are NEAR...uh the TX200 is a lefty.... Hemingway,Old Man and the Sea,he had it and lost it to those sharks....about the best role Tracy did.....opinionated son of a gun I am.....
