Colt Officer Target price check .22 & .38

Driftwood Johnson said:
As has been said, shooting that accurately does not come easy. It takes much more than one box of ammo to get that good. Bullseye (it's called precision shooting today) is a discipline that takes a great deal of time, and many, many, many hours of concentration and practice. The standard distance for precision shooting in the league my club is a member of is 50 feet. That is the length of our indoor range.

I am absolutely not any good at it, I do not have the patience or discipline for the long hours of practice.

But some guys at my club are very good.

By the way, most of them are shooting semi-autos with red dot sights.

One of these days I am going to go to our indoor range and see how well I can do with my old revolvers and their open iron sights.
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I’m just competing again myself. In 2-3 more years, I can get back into shooting regularly. but I know what you mean about practice, it took me 1 year of shooting shotgun until I could break 25 birds at the trap. 3-4 session a week, I’m not a natural shooter, and I’m 100% ok with that.
 
Jim Watson said:
Right, Coltwood is brown plastic. There was an earlier Coltrock synthetic. I have not seen either earlier than WWII government contract 1911A1 and Commando.
In 1939 Colts had checkered walnut grips except SAA and Pocket Positive with black hard rubber.
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My Army Special, circa 1926 had Coltwood so they were using it at least that far back.
 
Mark_Mark said:
They are staying together…
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A pretty good price, IMO. In 2017 I bought a similar set, $760 for the 22 (1930 & mint) and $637 for the 38 (1937 & used but not abused).

Last year I gave the 22 to my niece. Next year I will give the 38 to her sister.
 
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Ru4real said:
A pretty good price, IMO. In 2017 I bought a similar set, $760 for the 22 (1930 & mint) and $637 for the 38 (1937 & used but not abused).

Last year I gave the 22 to my niece. Next year I will give the 38 to her sister.
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keep them in the family! love it.

So, I didn’t realize that these Colt’s were their premium guns before the Python. But tell you what, they are smooth!
 
Real wood on mine. IIRC the Coltwood plastic grips came out right after WWII. I don't think you will find them on a Colt letter prior to that time.
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These are awesome revolvers. No idea why a 22 rimfire commands more money.
 
The officers models were built for accuracy for bullseye and other target competitions. They were competing against Smith&Wesson Target Masterpiece models for customers. The replacement rear and front sight is very common on guns that were shot in competition as the Colt sights on the .38 models were known for loosening up which destroys accuracy (loose rear blades like the new pythons). I have a .22lr model from 1937 which has the checkering, and a 1951 Officers model special .38 with a heavy barrel. The .38 had the front and rear sights replaced.

Here is a picture of my 1949 S&W .38 Target Masterpiece and my 1951 Officers Model Special.
The OMS came with the original plastic Coltwood grips. Most owners replaced them with custom target grips, mine is wearing Hogue wood grips:

index.php
 
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Master Blaster said:
The officers models were built for accuracy for bullseye and other target competitions. They werecompeting against Smith&Wesson Target masterpiece models for customers. The replacement rear and front sight is very common on guns that were shot in competition as the Colt sights on the .38 models were known for loosening up which destroys accuracy. I have a .22lr model from 1937 which has the checkering, and a 1951 Officers model special .38 with a heavy barrel. The .38 had the front and rear sights replaced.

Here is a picture of my 1949 S&W .38 Target Masterpiece and my 1951 Officers Model Special.
The OMS came with the original plastic Coltwood grips. Most owners replaced them with custom target grips, mine is wearing Hogue wood grips:

index.php
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the cylinder gap is tiny! can bearly see light through it. the action feels good!

will be my 1st DA/SA revolvers (my .460 mag don’t count)
 
PzGren said:
The grips look like the old Coltwood, that if they did not shrink are worth a good amount of money to collectors.
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My Colt Officers Model Special (circa 1951), chambered in .38 Special, came with "Coltwood" stocks. I removed them and replaced them with checkered Python walnut stocks. I never knew they were worth much money so I guess I'm glad I kept them.
 
Mark_Mark said:
why do they shoot one handed?
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Those were/are the "rules". I regard Bullseye (Precision Shooting) matches as being one of the most difficult handgun competitions to do well in. It takes a steady hand, a good eye and absolute adherence to the basics of pistol marksmanship (to include sight alignment, trigger squeeze, breath control, grip, stance and follow-through) to find the x-ring with regularity while shooting offhand (with one hand) @ fifty yards at venues like Camp Perry, especially while the winds whipping off Lake Erie play hob with your scores.
 
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SwampWolf said:
My Colt Officers Model Special (circa 1951), chambered in .38 Special, came with "Coltwood" stocks. I removed them and replaced them with checkered Python walnut stocks. I never knew they were worth much money so I guess I'm glad I kept them.
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I could not find a price on the Coltwood grips, How much they running?
 
[QUOTE="reddog81, post: 12538070, member: 218220"
It looks like there is crud around the cylinder release on the .38. Is that rust or just holster lint? What's up with the grips? I can't tell for certain if those are Colt plastic grips or really good condition wood grips. I'm assuming plastic, which isn't deal breaker, but I believe the original grips should be wood.
[/QUOTE]
Just from memory, I recall "Coltwood" -- plastic -- was original on many OMTs. Mine, in .22 had Coltwood.
 
Why one handed shooting you ask?

Two-handed pistol shooting only ever started in 1956 after Jack Weaver wiped the floor with the competition using the more stable two-handed technique that he pioneered. Jeff Cooper and many other competitors started teaching it and the rest is history.

Up until that point it was believed that one-handed shooting was the only way to properly shoot a pistol.

Two-handed pistol shooting only ever started in 1956 after Jack Weaver wiped the floor with the competition using the more stable two-handed technique that he pioneered. Jeff Cooper and many other competitors started teaching it and the rest is history.

Up until that point it was believed that one-handed shooting was the only way to properly shoot a pistol.

In other words, real men shoot one handed. Did ya ever see John Wayne use two hands?...I rest my case.
 
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airfoil said:
Up until that point it was believed that one-handed shooting was the only way to properly shoot a pistol.
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Nobody ever argued that one-handed shooting was better than two-handed shooting in terms of getting accurate scores. Bullseye (Precision Shooting) is a game with its own unique rules. I think Bullseye shooting is the best training discipline for developing the basic skills needed for shooting a handgun accurately. If you can shoot a pistol well using only one hand, it's not hard to appreciate how much better you can do using two hands.
 
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