Colt Woodsman Match Target

[au_prospector]

I have an early '50's Woodsman. Got home from the range and noticed the front sight post and pins are missing. I have no idea what happened, but they are gone and were not found when I returned to the range.

I noticed the front post sits in kind of a ramp with a notch in the middle. The pins are designed to go through either side of the notch with the pin/blade in the middle. I never realized it before, but the metal on the ramp appears to be shaved right down to where the the pin holes are. I dont think it could have possibly broke, but I suppose that might have happened.

1) Would a previous owner have shaved the blade mount down to lower the blade height? I cant figure this out.
2) I dont think new pins would hold, is Lok Tight okay?

3) I found a whole new barrel assembly at Numrich for reasonable at about $130. Is replacing the barrel assembly (front sight included I think) a DIY job or does that go to a gunsmith? I have no experience, but see it is threaded. I would need to get the old one off and screw in the new one? Any special tools needed?

The tone of the steel blue is different from the frame to the current barrel, maybe the barrel has been changed before. I never really thought it shot as accurately as it should have anyway. How often to change barrels?

thx!

 

[rcmodel]

Appears to be something funky going on with your ramp.

The pins on mine are a good 1/16" below the top flat of the ramp.

Go here to see what it should look like:
http://www.eskimo.com/~rayburn/woodsman/cwpg.html

You might try here for a sight & pins, but I don't know what you are going to pin it too.
http://www.coltparts.com/pt_woodsmanmatchtarget3.html

Maybe some Lock-Tight Black Max would be your best bet.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=6139/Product/BLACK-MAX-ADHESIVE

I only know of one Match Target that had a bad barrel on it when new.
It was returned to Colt and they replaced the barrel free.
The bluing did match perfectly & it shot perfectly when it came back though.

As far as shooting one enough to need a new barrel?
Naw, ain't gonna happen in one lifetime.

rc

 

[au_prospector]

http://www.eskimo.com/~rayburn/woodsman/cwpg.html

Thanks RC! Above link is what I have, 6" bbl. I agree something happened to the sight ramp. I am assuming that it would never break even if dropped on the ramp/blade. Cant be that brittle, right? Anyway looks like someone shaved it off. I can buy a new blade and pins from NUMRICH for about $30 shipped. From what I gather, the ramp comes pre mounted to the barrel so if I want the ramp, I need to buy the barrel. Cost about $135 shipped for a barrel.

Would you Loc-Tight a new blade to the messed up ramp, or get the barrel to make it correct?

These are kind of collectable, but to me it is just a fun range plinker that eats 200-300 rounds a trip.

Your opinion is helpful. My worry is barrels might not be available later if I decided I wanted it as a collectable later. She is 60 years old after all.

 

[rcmodel]

Gosh, I don't know.

As a shooter, I think it would be fine to put a new blade in it with Black Max and shoot it.

As a collector?
Well, it is hard to say.

A new barrel + shipping would be hard to recover from a collector standpoint, because it wouldn't be the original barrel, & it is doubtful the finish would match the frame.
And collectors look at that sort of thing.

Anyway, Numrich is sold out on barrels it looks like.

rc

 

[Jim K]

If the gun shot OK before the front sight blade went away, just order the blade and soft solder it into the ramp, using heat stop paste on the outside to preserve the finish on the barrel and inside the barrel to keep from damaging the rifling. If the holes bother you, fill them with JB Weld.

Jim