Quick question.. Colt Woodsman...

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J23

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...at my local pawnshop... mid-80ish%, good shape, nice bore.. just a little bit of scattered light surface rust dots on the barrel only... would clean up I think... original Colt Magazine.

..$350.00..

The pistol feels good, but I dont know a whole lot about them.. I know its a 3rd model from the Colt Woodsman site on the net. I can see it to be a dandy gun for the pot squirrel or grouse while I am out wood cutting, riding my quad or fly fishing.

Good buy?
 
I've got an older Colt Huntsman (simply a later model) that used to be my great grandpa's. that thing is dead-nuts accurate and reliable. I have 10's of thousands of rounds through it. the one's I was at the local gun show were about 90% and going for over $500...
 
If it hasn't been otherwise monkeyed with (and most people couldn't/didn't take them apart--a good thing) that's a good price for a shooter Woodsman.

Nice classic old guns and a blast to shoot.
 
I'd get a Woodsman for something or other. I just signed up for a .22 pistol league shoot, for example. With the right restoration and tweaking, that could make a nice range gun.

However, for carrying around the woods, I'd just get a Ruger 22/45, brand new with 2 mags, for $250, instead. I wouldn't take something flyfishing that I couldn't replace -- and once restored to its former glory, that Woodsman couldn't really be replaced. Maybe I'm unique, but it seems that most of what I take fishing ends up in the water eventually.:)
 
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The price is a tad low from what I've seen and I'm always on the lookout for Woodsmen. They are classics.
 
Anybody know if USFA is shipping theirs yet?

Or is the USFA Woodsman going to be like the Ruger Gold Label? Last I heard, the Woodsman was scheduled for early '08.
 
I think it is still vapor-ware.

They are off on a tangent now with a new 80 shot .22 Single-Action or something! :rolleyes:

rcmodel
 
One wonders if a 12 round SAA isn't going to run afoul of some "high capacity" laws?

That'd be a hoot: S. Feinstein parading around a 800.00 hawgleg proclaiming it the "choice of gang bangers and thugs".

And it would appear it's safe to carry with all 12 rather than "load 1, skip 1, load 10", though I'm far from certain on this.
 
Or is the USFA Woodsman going to be like the Ruger Gold Label?
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I shot a Gold Label once. Liked it.

It was a demo gun. I asked the Ruger rep about when/where/how I could buy one, and all I got was a good-natured wince, followed by mumbling about how I could talk to my dealer and maybe in a few months...
 
That's a pretty good price for a Colt Woodsman.

I see them all the time for $600 at gun shows. That's a lot of dough for a .22hand shooter however.

The Woodsman feels a bit funny in the hand. The stock design, I think was created to mimic a Luger.

They shoot nicely however.

As a simple shooting .22 auto, I like the Ruger MK II/III better. But the Ruger isn't nearly as neat.

If I was you, and I walked into the store and saw a Colt Woodsman for $350, and it was a good one; I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
 
The stock design, I think was created to mimic a Luger.
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I doubt the Luger had anything at all to do with it.

Prior to WWII, Colt had a pretty good lock on the .22 pistol market. That 1st. Series Woodsman had a straighter grip, more in keeping with John Brownings other designs.
In my opinion, it was perfect!

But about then, High-Standard started coming on strong with a swept-back grip, and in 1949, Bill Ruger introduced the .22 Standard pistol with a swept-back grip.
(Now, that one copied the Luger from the side view! Luger - Ruger, right?)

Anyway, by the time Colt brought back the 2nd. Series Woodsman in 1947, it was competing directly for sales with the High-Standard HD and later, Olympic, Sport King & Supermatic.
All of which had the swept-back grip design.

So if they copied anything, I would have to guess they copied the High-Standard.

(And I think the swept-back grip was done by H-S more for reliability reasons with the .22RF then anything else. Too straight a grip, and you can get the rim of one round hooked behind the rim below it. A rim-lock malfunction will result.)

By the late 60's, High-Standard, S&W, and later Ruger were back to making the more 1911'ish straight grips again!

rcmodel
 
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