Firearms Q - '52 Colt Woodsman Match Target, worth having?

I know we have some gun aficionados here and I'm hoping someone might have some experience with this particular model.

I'm trying to get better at "things that I'm E36 M3 at" that don't have anything to do with my day job, and one item on the list is being able to hit a barn door at 25ft with a handgun. I'm actually a half decent shot with a rifle, but handguns, fuggedaboutit.

Anyway, been trawling the local armslist for some sort of target-ish handgun in .22 and while there are more modern (and considerably cheaper) choices, I find myself drawn to this old gem. I'm not looking for a full-on match gun, just something that's more on the target gun end of the spectrum, and preferably with reasonably cheap ammo.

So I guess the questions are:

• Are these actually any good, and worth anywhere near that kind of money?
• Would I be better off with a cheaper, more modern gun? Part of the concern is resale value. I suspect that an older, potentially collectible gun should hold its value better in case it becomes a "safe ornament", but I suspect that a 45 or 9mm might be an easier resale out here.

I tend to find myself more interested in older guns anyway and wouldn't mind finding something like an old Luger in the safe, but from my understanding those aren't particularly cheap guns to shoot.

The Colt is a good gun, but I have no idea if that's a good price. If you are just looking for something to target shoot with, I'd recommend finding a used Ruger Mark II, it'd be a lot cheaper. Or a new Mark III, but they seem a little less reliable, although mine has been good once I did a little work on the magazines.

Some more trawling on AL shows a couple of Ruger Mk IIIs and a Mk IV, all by the same dealer, and a '54 High Standard Sport King, all in the $400-$500 range. Purchasing a gun from a dealer might make things a bit easier, at least that way I don't have to worry about if I do or don't need to have a background check done on a private sale (supposedly yes, but our state AG says "unenforceable").

The Browning Buck Mark .22 is also worthy of consideration. But the Woodsman is a classic, so if it tickles your fancy, by all means, buy.

Best way to improve your shooting with a handgun is to stop flinching.. The best way to fix that. Buy a cheap 22 revolver... the 9 shot ones work great. Have a friend load it for you with unknown to you a number of spent casings in whatever order. Sometimes maybe just one, or none at all..

In less than a few minutes of this you will get really tired of your friend laughing as the barrel moves around as you flinch for no good reasons at the anticipated massive kick of the 22 when you pull the trigger on a spent casing. You will focus in and train yourself to have a nice smooth trigger pull very quickly...

Honestly... this really works.

Then learn to shoot with both eyes open...

ronholm wrote: Best way to improve your shooting with a handgun is to stop flinching.. The best way to fix that. Buy a cheap 22 revolver... the 9 shot ones work great. Have a friend load it for you with unknown to you a number of spent casings in whatever order. Sometimes maybe just one, or none at all.. In less than a few minutes of this you will get really tired of your friend laughing as the barrel moves around as you flinch for no good reasons at the anticipated massive kick of the 22 when you pull the trigger on a spent casing. You will focus in and train yourself to have a nice smooth trigger pull very quickly... Honestly... this really works.

Actually, I can see why that works. Oddly enough, the last time I shot a handgun (a wonderfully worn out P38/P1 courtesy of the German Air Force, yes, it's been about 30 years), flinching wasn't the problem. Getting my brain to line up the sights correctly was. No problem like that on a rifle, funnily enough.

ronholm wrote: Then learn to shoot with both eyes open...

That's not going to help, thanks to my eye sight I'm so left eye dominant that it pretty much makes no difference if both eyes are open or not. Despite being very much right handed, I have to shoot as if I was left handed.

As an afficianado of 22 target guns the woodsman is a nice choice despite not being my favorite only due to the very fast grip angle.

Cool toys of this variety on a scale of increasing cost

• Browning buck mark

• Ruger mk1-2 not a fan of the plastic sleeved barrel modern stuff

• Woodsman as there are a variety of trims

• High standard supermatic lots of choices and trims

• Favorite in my safe is a supermatic trophy with the 7.25 fluted barrel

• Browning medalist

• Smith model 41

A nice 45 or 40 is probably much easier to sell but I get a lot of smiles per mile out of more unusual toys like the target 22's.

Any good? It's supposed to be one of the greatest. Though for your purposes that money will buy like 5-6 used Rugers that will meet your requirements. Don't listen to the people bitching and moaning about how hard the Rugers are to take apart, if you start out with accepting the fact that they don't come apart like a typical tilting barrel short recoil pistol you can field strip one very fast with nothing but a paperclip with very little practice. Just make sure you don't end up with the particular Mk3 22/45 I had a while, that thing inexplicably sucked hard, it was reliable as a hammer (I had zero malfunctions not attributable to ammo), but about as accurate as one too. Bull barrel 22 pistols shouldn't group 1"+ at less than 7 yards clamped in a vise.

Have you checked out gunbroker.com to shop around? Not my favorite place to buy but gives you a much better grasp on the market. There is no way a ruger should be priced like a woodsman.

High standard supermatic

Ruger mkii with 10" bull

Woodsman match

Colt no longer makes civilian arms. Anything with "Colt" stamped on it is worth it.

BoxheadTim wrote: That's not going to help, thanks to my eye sight I'm so left eye dominant that it pretty much makes no difference if both eyes are open or not. Despite being very much right handed, I have to shoot as if I was left handed.

You're cross eye dominate. So am I. With pistols at least, you can shoot normally. After you present the pistol, tilt your head to the right slightly, as if your right cheek is resting on your right bicep. Bam, left eye is lined up with the sights. It improved my shooting enough to help me win a few local pistol matches.

That Colt is more of a collectors item than a fun plinking gun. Depending on condition they will probably get close to that money for it from the right person.

As others have suggested there are many other good guns out there for less money that would suit your purposes.

That High Standard Trophy is a real good shooter. Dr.Linda has one that she used for competition when we did NRA Hunter Pistol small bore. I've shot it. No problem hitting turkeys every time at 75 yards on the bench. After that, it's up to you.

I have a Ruger Mk II w/8" bull barrel in nickel plating. Nice shooting pistol. Also have a High Standard Sentinel Mk IV revolver built on a .38 frame. I only have the .22 Magnum cylinder for it but there is a .22 LR cylinder available. Even with oversize grips, it's too small for my hands to be comfortable and isn't as easy to open the cylinders as I would like. But it does shoot pretty well and holds 9 rounds. These 2 are the only regular pistols I own, do have a reproduction .45 flintlock black powder and a black powder revolver. Would like to have a .45, preferably in a M1911 type frame.

Do agree that a Ruger or something for less $$ would be more cost effective for what you're looking for.

In reply to Dr. Hess: my personal favorite...

Yeah, we went to a gun show to find her a gun to shoot in competition with. She picked up that Trophy and said, "Oh, yeah, that's the one." Of course, it was about the most expensive one in the show. We walked the rest of the 2000 tables (Houston) and she picked up one of every kind of 22 target pistol. "Gee, honey, this Ruger is a nice one..." We went back and bought the Trophy. Fluted 7" barrel, gold trigger, the works.

Solution: Buy the Colt. Try to get it for a few hundred less than what he's asking. Take that money and buy a brand new Browning Buck Mark. Put the Colt in the safe--it will never be worth less than what you paid. Shoot the Buck Mark. Problem solved!

Appleseed wrote: Colt no longer makes civilian arms. Anything with "Colt" stamped on it is worth it.

They don't make 1911's anymore? So it ain't so.

spitfirebill wrote:

Appleseed wrote: Colt no longer makes civilian arms. Anything with "Colt" stamped on it is worth it.

They don't make 1911's anymore? So it ain't so.

I recall videos from SHOT 2017 about the Colt Cobra, 1911s, and a reproduction M16A1.

Back to the original topic, I would find something cheaper to use as a regular shooter myself.

I cant comment as to prices as I havent purchased one myself, I inherited.

I have a series 1 woodsman, a series 3 woodsman, and a ruger mk1.

I like both Woodsman better than I like the Ruger. That said, all of them are a bit of a pain to clean, especially the woodsman. (I have cut myself on the frame of the gun and bled cleaning them)

The series 1 requires standard velocity .22lr instead of the regular (but I could get an uprated spring for it). I like the woodsmen about the same, but give an edge to the earlier one for slot target shooting and the later one a bit for faster target shooting.

Thats an expensive gun to get to run cheap ammo through looking at the price. Makes me feel a need to get mine appraised(but neither is a match target model) I have also found accuracy shooting a .22 different than a 9mm or .357mag, but that could just be me.

Honestly, my assessment of my three that I have is that it would be hard to go wrong with any of them. I just wish they were as easy to clean as most of my other pistols. They are all pretty accurate though.

BrokenYugo wrote: Any good? It's supposed to be one of the greatest. Though for your purposes that money will buy like 5-6 used Rugers that will meet your requirements. Don't listen to the people bitching and moaning about how hard the Rugers are to take apart, if you start out with accepting the fact that they don't come apart like a typical tilting barrel short recoil pistol you can field strip one very fast with nothing but a paperclip with very little practice. Just make sure you don't end up with the particular Mk3 22/45 I had a while, that thing inexplicably sucked hard, it was reliable as a hammer (I had zero malfunctions not attributable to ammo), but about as accurate as one too. Bull barrel 22 pistols shouldn't group 1"+ at less than 7 yards clamped in a vise.

It's not taking it apart that people bitch about, it's putting it back together that is the tricky part. That is why Ruger made the newest ones with a push button takedown.

I love my MK2 bullbarrel, very accurate. I had considered selling it to get one of the new ones with the pushbutton, and because you can get them with a threaded barrel from the get go, but after handling one of the new ones I really didn't like how light they were, they feel like an airsoft gun in your hand. After handling one I just had the barrel on mine threaded to mount a suppressor, and ceracoated it after. I'll keep my MKII as the pistol is very accurate and once you get used to how to put it back together it's not overly difficult.

In reply to Rumnhammer:

Ok it's coming back to me now, something about having to make sure the hammer and its floppy strut was positioned the right way when you put the takedown piece (which also housed the hammer spring) back in. Documented a billion times and not that hard to figure out.

I should probably mention that Ruger guns have a zippo style forever warranty, I think they might even cover shipping to them if you ask. I didn't send mine in because I was in that weird 18-21 gap (where you can buy handguns, but only private party) at the time and it was/is my understanding that if they decided to replace the whole gun (I'm pretty sure the barrel was defective) it would need to be FFLed back to me and get stuck at that point. There was a panic at the time so it was easy enough to just sell it for what I paid, that and it was about that time that rimfire ammo was drying up which kinda killed the appeal of a rimfire handgun.

I've never lost money on firearms. Ever. In fact, I've usually made money over teh years. Buy whatever your heart desires, the value won't be likely to depreciate all that much.

spitfirebill wrote:

Appleseed wrote: Colt no longer makes civilian arms. Anything with "Colt" stamped on it is worth it.

They don't make 1911's anymore? So it ain't so.

Oh, they do, just not for you.