Ugly Gun Sunday

Here is X?4725, an experimental heavy barrel Colt Woodsman from the Colt Factory Archives Collection. I bet that barrel will control the powerful 22 muzzle flip.

The Colt Woodsman

The Colt Woodsman was Hartford's premier .22 caliber pistol. Designed by John Moses Browning, the Woodsman was produced from 1915 to 1977. Collectors divide up the 62 year Woodsman production into three different frame types, designating them as series one, two and three. The first series refers to all Woodsmen built before and during World War Two. The second series includes all versions from late 1947 until mid 1955, and third series Woodsmen extend from 1955 to the end of regular production in 1977. Within the three primary groups the Woodsman had many variations from a campground plinker to a match quality pistol.

My two Series One Woodsmen are pictured at left. The upper pistol, a 1940 gun, was a gift from a friend. Although rebarreled and refinished, it is priceless to me. The lower pistol, manufactured in 1942, was purchased at a pawn shop two years ago with it's holster for $250. Today, Colt Woodsmen seem to start around $500 when they are found in the marketplace. The price quickly goes up to a grand and above for examples with pristine finishes. The extended "elephant ear" grips often go for near that price at auction.

Woodsmen manufactured prior to 1933 were intended to use standard velocity ammunition. Those pistols produced after that time are safe to use with high velocity .22 ammo. A quick way to verify which pistol you have is to look at the mainspring housing. A Woodsman requiring standard velocity ammunition will have a checkered area on the mainspring housing. On later high velocity pistols, this area will be serrated.

Recently classified as a curio and relic firearm by the BATF, the Colt Woodsman is an elegant and accurate pistol. It is also a light pistol compared with those of today, and it's grip is shorter and at a more rakish angle than many pistols today. The design allows for an impressive trigger. The grip angle and sight radius makes for a very pointable, accurate pistol.

If you are fortunate enough to encounter a Colt Woodsman for sale at an attainable price, make certain it is complete. Parts are becoming more and more scarce. A missing front sight blade can result in months of searching. Reasonably priced grip slabs and original magazines can also be elusive. Make certain you get the original Colt magazine with the pistol. The aftermarket magazines just do not feed ammunition properly.

Because of it's relatively small grip frame, I have found the Series One Woodsman to be the ideal pistol for teaching children and adults with small hands to shoot. It fits their hands. It is accurate and reliable enough that frustration is eliminated. The novice shooter can simply concentrate on technique. The pistol does not have an empty magazine holdback mechanism. This can be a good thing. It teaches the neophyte to open the chamber and visually check to see if the pistol is loaded. With proper instruction, the Colt Woodsman helps develop a safe and proficient marksman.

Many new shooters at a gun counter are prone to look at a $500 price tag on an old Woodsman and declare "I could get a Glock for that!" That is true. The Woodsman, however, will reliably place an inexpensive hole exactly where it is aimed. A shooter can shoot all day for under ten bucks. Lead downrange coupled with analysis of why it went where it did equals developing marksmanship. The greater the quantity of lead and the more precise the analysis, the faster the development of the novice shooter. The Colt will appreciate in value over the next five years, while the used Glock will resale for roughly half of it's new counter price. More importantly, the Colt Woodsman will allow the new shooter to easily learn the fundementals of pistol craft without any hurdles to conquer. Cheap to shoot, accurate, low recoil, durable, and steadily increasing in value. It's a pistol that appeals to new shooters, is beloved by experienced shooters, and cherished by collectors. What is there not to like?

More information on the Colt Woodsman can be found on Bob Rayburn's Colt Woodsman pages.

Colt Woodsman Box on Ebay

An old Colt Woodsman box and papers for a first series Woodsman is up for grabs on ebay!

Current bid: US $256.88
Time left: 6 days 5 hours

Hell, you could buy the damned pistol for that!

Winning bid: US $449.44

Woodsman Grips on Ebay

Place your trays in the upright locked position. I predict these elephant ear Woodsman grips will go right into the fiscal stratosphere.

Current bid: US $172.26

Time left: 5 days 7 hours

Winning bid: US $575.76

A Woodsman and Water Rattlers

It's not uncommon for a patient or one of their family members to produce a firearm when they learn I have an interest in shooting. Usually I quickly check the chamber, then inspect the weapon and return it to it's owner, who regales me with tales of it's legendary accuracy, or the number of cottonmouth water rattlers it has exterminated.

Duffy was one such family member. He was a craggly faced old man with bright blue eyes peering from underneath his weathered ball cap. I had been working to heal a decubitus on his wife's hip for over a year. Duffy lavished the most gentle care on his wife as he learned to change her dressings. Finally, a year later, I could pronounce the ulcer closed with nothing but skin across the top. Duffy still had his hands full with her Alzhiemer's disease, but at least he no longer had to worry about that wound. As we talked about her continued care, and the strain Duff was under, he turned the conversation to shooting. Then he said "I've got something for you." Duffy went rummaging across a closet shelf, and withdrew a Colt Woodsman. He locked the bolt back with expert skill and handed me the weapon grip first.

The pistol was hardly original. The upper rounds had been blasted, and the pistol had been reblued at least once. The barrel was a Colt replacement barrel. Someone had drilled and tapped a hole behind the trigger to accept a set screw, which served as a trigger stop. The grips were some swirled plastic panels. The pistol had been stored in a floral carved holster.

Duffy went on to tell me how he had literally shot the previous barrel out of this pistol. He had replaced the springs at least twice. He told me it was his wager gun, that he would bet his friends that he could hit something far away, and then bring home gambling money as well as a rabbit or squirrel. The old man had purchased this Woodsman new "right before the war" and had used it to put food on the table and money in the bank. He chuckled and said he would have used it on "them damned Japs" too, if he had the chance.

I asked Duff when the last time he shot the pistol was. He said he did not know, it had been a while. His eyes lit up and twinkled when I told him I had some .22 ammo in the car. We did not have any suitable targets so Duff rounded up a few shell casings and instructed me to line them up on an old Farm-All tractor rusting in the Louisiana sun behind his house. After I walked back to Duff, he loaded five rounds in the magazine. He stated "I don't reckon I'll need no more'n this." Duff fired the little Woodsman five times, sending the shell casings flying. I spent almost a half hour looking for the punctured brass among the weeds.

When I had our improvised targets collected, I went back to where Duff was snoozing in a lawn chair, the pistol in his lap. When he woke, he smiled and handed me the Woodsman. I hesitated and the old man said "Go on boy, it's yours now. My son doesn't want it, and I don't need it anymore. It's not a gift to a nurse. It's a gift to a friend." I could not refuse a gift such as this. To do so would be an insult.

I do not know which I will cherish most, the brass Duff shot that day, or the pistol he gave me. On my way back into town, I stopped by the drug store and paid off the balance Duffy owed on his bill. I hope he never finds out who did that.

Colt Woodsman Magazine Auction

Holy sheep shit! If you buy an early Colt woodsman, make sure you get the proper magazine! Check out this auction on ebay!

"This is an Original and hard-to-find, Two-Tone magazine for a First Series Colt Match Target Woodsman. Magazine is in excellent condition and has the correct three line description on the floorplate."

Current bid: US $133.71 (Reserve not met)

Winning bid: US $288.09
Incredible! I did not pay that much for my Woodsman!

Plinker Shoot Out...Woodsman vs MKII

The Champion

This Ruger MKII has long been my favorite plinking gun. Although ugly, in a plinking contest, it is the one to beat. It is stock with the exception of a Volquartsen trigger, and Clark Custom grips. By the serial number, this pistol was made in 1985. I bought it in a pawn shop for $159 a few years ago. It quickly became a favorite of mine, even over other MKII's. It has a barrel length of 6 & 7/8 inches, and a sight radius of 9 & 1/2 inches.

The Challenger

I purchased this Colt Woodsman 1st Series at a pawn shop for $250 recently. The Colt Woodsman is the stuff of legend when folks talk plinkers. It's the unavailable measuring stick for other rimfire pistols, often having it's name dropped in a debate in a subtle contest of one up-manship. This particular example has a 6 & 1/2 inch barrel with a 9 & 1/4 inch sight radius. To my knowlege, nothing has been done to this pistol other than shooting it. This particular example was put out by Colt in 1942.

The Ammo

For this shoot out I selected Federal 36 grain copper plated hollow point ammo. It's the kind that comes in the 550 round bulk pack at Wal-Mart. I picked it because it was cheap. That's good enough for me. This is a plinking shoot out, nothing else. If the gun can't shoot plinking ammo, it looses!

Head to Head

Holding these two pistols, the light weight of the Colt immediately struck me. Combined with the smaller grip, it felt like a feather compared to the Ruger. On the other hand, the Ruger felt like a gun compared to the Colt.
The grip angle is the same on both pistols, although the Clark grips subtly alter the Ruger's grip angle to approximate a 1911. The Ruger is 43 years younger than the Colt, and technology moved along during that time. It would not be fair to knock the Colt for the lack of these advances, such as a last shot bolt hold open device. The front sight on the Colt is adjustable for elevation. The rear sight is adjustable for windage. On the Ruger, the front sight is fixed, and the rear provides both adjustments.
The trigger on the Ruger is very nice. It is a Volquartsen unit that has been fitted by myself. It is, however, exposed to the gunk that results from shooting. Ruger rimfire pistols often develop a gritty trigger as a result. I need to install a trigger shield device in this pistol. For this shoot out though it was clean. The Colt trigger mechanism, by contrast, is well protected from accumulating grit and grime. The Colt trigger is crisp and very sweet. The internals of the Woodsman are machined steel, and quite large and easy to work with. There is a beautiful economy to the design. It's an elegant design, by John Moses Browning. Go figure. If the 1911 had a rimfire peer, the Woodsman is it. By contrast, the stamped steel Ruger looks and feels cheap.
The Ruger is notorious for it's reassembly difficulty. In actuality, it's kind of like a secret handshake. Following these instructions will have most people doing it themselves in one try. Last night I disassembled the Colt for a good cleaning. It would not have been fair to run a clean and lubed gun against one that had 60 years of gunk inside. I followed directions from this website and had no problems. I could see where problems could occur if the recoil spring did not remain captured. Still, for maintenance ease and simplicity, I have to give the Colt the edge.

The Shoot Out

Due to time constraints, I shot only 500 rounds through each pistol. Neither pistol had any failures. I had no dud rounds either. I tried to make both guns jam. I shot them sideways and upside down. They were boringly reliable. Both guns shot accurately as far as plinking accuracy goes. The Colt magazine was a bit tricky to load, and it took a little bit to figure out how to get a full 10 rounds in it. After that, it was smooth sailing.
I can understand why Colt went to the "elephant ear" grips on their Match Target Woodsmen. I had, after all, installed essentially the same on my Ruger. I can see, why the Woodsman is a legend. It is a reliable, accurate pistol that shoots an inexpensive cartridge for hours of plinking fun. It is a finely machined and fitted handgun designed by a man of sheer genius, John Moses Browning. I can see why many rimfire afficianados revere the Colt Woodsman.
I can see, as well, how Bill Ruger came along and kicked the Woodsman to the curb with a gun that was just as durable, just as accurate, but costing considerably less. The Ruger does everything the Woodsman does.
Still, I remember those hot summers as a kid, hiding out in the woods doing the things boys did back then. I had a Ruger MKI I had traded a bicycle for. It was a good pistol, but one of my friends' father was a gunsmith. Troy had a Colt Woodsman. When I shot Troy's Woodsman I knew the same people that made his gun also made the guns carried by our boys fighting in Southeast Asia. That meant a lot then. I did not know the same man designed them both. A Colt has a history, and a mystique, even to a boy, and even in a rimfire plinker. Contrast that with Bill Ruger's infamous 10 round magazine statements. Still, Bill Ruger's design for the Ruger rimfire pistol was inspired and revolutionary. It put an affordable handgun in many a young shooter's stocking.

For cool points, the Colt wins, hands down. Heck, even the BATF agrees and listed all Woodsmen prior to 1978 as C&R pistols. For getting the job done on a budget though, the Ruger whoops Colt's ass.

Pawn Shop Circuit: A Colt Woodsman

This morning I started at Neil's store. Neil still had his five black tactical pistols for sale, and no shotguns. I chatted a bit, and tried to catch a glimpse of what was hanging on the pegs in his safe. No dice, and he wasn't telling.

So, I moved on to Dave's pawn shop. Dave had added a Charter Arms Undercover to the rack, with a tag reading $125. Nope, not today. Then I spied a goodie. I asked to see it. Dave smiled. He handed me a Colt Woodsman, 1st Series, with a serial number dating it to 1942. It was in about 90% or better finish, with one magazine and a holster made by Brauer Bros. The grips were the walnut checkered sort, and were in fair shape. Dave had it priced at $250.

Now I've never owned a Woodsman, and I don't know much about them, but I do know I like to shoot .22LR, I like Colts, and I had $250 in my pocket. Having seen the prices attached to Woodsman pistols at gun shows, I figured I could get my money back if I had to. Anyway, Dave gives me a 30 day guarantee. If the gun won't shoot, I can decide whether or not I want to return it. I broke out the wallet and paid the man his price.

I started to head on over to Amber's pawn shop, just to look, but I headed home instead. Perhaps tomorrow I will get a chance to do a head to head range test between my favorite Ruger MKII and my new Colt Woodsman!