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Colt Woodsman

revho

revho

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So, I haven't stopped in to my local shop since January because every time I walk in I am greeted with "I have something for you.". I stopped in actually to have a new wedge put in a Norlund Tomahawk hatchet I picked up.

What they had was a Colt Woodsman that is dated to 1930 per the serial number. It was brought in by an elderly lady whose husband passed and she did not want to keep it in the house. Wish I could have known the owner so there was background to the story of the guns life.the finish is really pretty decent compared to some I looked at in gunbroker. The grips do have some wear to them.

What can you tell me about the Colt Woodsman? Where do they fall as far as shooting and accuracy? Stick with stand velocity rounds? My Ruger Standard is the only other semi auto I have and that is easy to shoot.

Thanks!

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The Colt Woodsman is one of the (if not the) finest 22 pistols ever made.

Pinpoint accurate.

Far superior to anything made today.

Once you shoot it, every contemporary 22 pistol will no longer interest you.

I use sv ammo in my Woodsmans.

I have one the same vintage as yours that was used for years by a predator control specialist here in Colorado in the late '40's - early '60's. He used sv ammo and killed coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and black bears with it. Never used anything else. Still going strong: never a problem.
 
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I have carried a pre war Woodsman for over 35 years. It accounted for over 50 deer and elk coup de gras while guiding big game hunters. A beautifully built gun like no others. Hand machined by craftsmen, made of milled steel. No cast or MIM parts, no stampings, welds, or plastic parts. Another John Browning design. Amore natural pointing handgun I have never found. I have taken several flying birds because of its natural pointing. To answer the question I believe it was 1933 when Colt changed the main spring housing for high speed ammo use. It is easy to tell. Where the web of the hand rests when mounting the gun, there is a machined oval. If this oval is checkered then it is a standard velocity model. If there are simply horizontal lines then it is a high speed model. There are some things and game I have shot with mine that I will not recount here so as to not be called a liar.
 
The Colt Woodsman is an interesting pistol. While it would seem to the armchair engineer that a pistol with its front and rear sights both mounted on the barrel would be more accurate than a gun with one sight on the barrel and the other on the slide, that may not actually always be true, witness the well-made Colts. AFAIK, they were the demise of revolvers in rimfire bullseye competition, and ultimately of slowfire USRA shooting altogether.

There's a lesson there somewhere, for someone capable of learning it.
 
I have a 1946, lettered Woodsman. You can try to pry it from my cold, dead hands when I'm gone, but I wouldn't put any money on it. I looked a long time for that one, my birth year gun...
 
All very nice guys. Pains me to think of the Colt Woodsman Target I handled when I was a kid. It had what was called an Elephant Grip that was elongated and a bullseye stamped on it. Man what is must be worth today!!
 
I have owned two Colt Match Target Woodsmans (Woodsmen?). The first one was an early post-WWII model from the late 1940s which I bought used in the early 1960s for a pittance, and it was the one I started competitive shooting with. I have no recollection as to when, how, and why I sold it. But I am sorry I did. It was a sweet pistol. The second was a new in-the-box modern version, ca. mid-1970s. I bought it from a Fort Worth dealer going out of business. One of his customers had ordered it and left a deposit, but never came back to pick it up, so it had taken up residence in the dealer's safe for several years. I bought it around 1979-80 for, as I remember, about $200. By that time, I had largely quit competitive bullseye shooting, and fired it in competition only a few times. I sold it at a gun show in the early 1990s for $550. Again, I am now regretful that I did. I'd love to pick up a reasonably-priced Woodsman in good shooting condition at a reasonable price, but haven't yet found one at a price I was willing to bite on.
 
Unless it has been abused it should be as good or better than anything being built today. Their downfall was the fact that they were such well built machines and were expensive to make.
 
The Ruger Standard Model and Mark series is what killed both the Woodsman and Hi-Standard .22 semiautomatic pistols. Well-made, dependable, and less expensive. I know that Iver Johnson was at one time making a knockoff of the field-grade Colt Woodsman, but I am not sure I ever saw one.
 
DWalt said:
The Ruger Standard Model and Mark series is what killed both the Woodsman and Hi-Standard .22 semiautomatic pistols. Well-made, dependable, and less expensive. I know that Iver Johnson was at one time making a knockoff of the field-grade Colt Woodsman, but I am not sure I ever saw one.
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Yeah I recall reading a review many years back. Guess the quality was not the same naturally. Wonder if they were ever a real seller?
 
1st Series Colt Woodsman Match Target "Elephant Ear" stocks

Here is a couple of pic's of my 1st Series Woodsman Match Target. The stocks are known as "Elephant Ear" stocks. These pistols were shipped from Colt with a wooden block between the "ears" to prevent damage during transport.
 

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824tsv said:
Here is a couple of pic's of my 1st Series Woodsman Match Target. The stocks are known as "Elephant Ear" stocks. These pistols were shipped from Colt with a wooden block between the "ears" to prevent damage during transport.
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Yep that's the one I handled back in the late 60's. Never forget those grips either. A super treasure to own now and worth mega bucks. Saw one 3 years back at a show in lousy condition for $2500. Ya got the best there. Thanks for sharing.
 
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