I've had a few Saitek sticks including the X52. The 2 Evos both gave me a considerable amount of nose bounce/drifting to where I had to calibrate them constantly...I mean like every 15 minutes. While the X52 was a lot smoother, the "throw" of the stick was much greater than the Evos. Aside from what I posted above, you have to imput smooth, easy control surface adjustments.
It's possible you just have a bad X52. This issue comes up now and again relative to X52. Have you experienced issues in other games? Open up the joystick control panel in AH and highlight the X52 joystick in the upper right window. Do you see the numbers next to the X and Y axis jumping around? If so, that would indicate spiking and a stick problem...assuming it's calibrated. Saitek doesn't use "pots" in the X52 and claim it's self calibrating. I've always wondered about that claim. After 5 Saiteks I bought a CH Fighterstick 2 years ago and have been problem free ever since.