Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires "Bucket List" Pistols - Finally Got Mine!

I have ALWAYS wanted a Colt Woodsman Match Target pistol!
I first began craving one way back in 1963 when I saw my first one at Warshals Sporting Goods Store in Seattle, Washington.
I was only 16 years old at the time but the nice counterman let me handle (fondle!) it. I remember being amazed at how beautiful it was and "intriguing" it was to me (never having owned a pistol).
I remember the price being in the low $80.00 range and what an enormous amount that was to a high school sophomore with only a part-time job as a busboy.
Anyway I picked up the ammo I needed and headed for the bus stop and the ride home - but I vowed someday I would own a Colt Woodsman Match Target.
Years go by and I finally get of legal age and have some money but by then the Match Targets were starting to get, what I thought to be, even more pricey.
More years go by and seems that every year the nifty little Colt Match Targets got more expensive.
Then in 1977 Colt discontinued the Woodsman series and prices really started to inflate.
Came close on several occasions to "closing the deal" on a Match Target it just never came together - mostly price issues.
Finally yesterday on a gun buying excursion I came across an absolutely MINT Colt Woodsman Match Target with my preferred 6" barrel (1973 manufacture).
I mean this thing is pristine!
I can find NO flaws in or on it.
The gun was part of an estate being handled by a gunshop owner friend of mine and we eventually came to terms with each other.
He was a bit "lenient" with me because in addition to buying the Colt Match Target I also bought what appears to be an unfired Smith & Wesson Model 63 revolver and a pair of Leupold scopes from that estate.
Anyway I am just on cloud nine and even though it took me 58 (fifty eight) years to check this one off of my "bucket list" I could NOT be happier.
Only downside is the pistol is so perfect I don't think I could ever bring myself to shoot it.
Pride of ownership will likely give me a great enough amount of satisfaction with it?
We'll see.
Anyone else have a rimfire pistol or Rifle on their "bucket list" that they are seeking out?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

my preferred is a tad shorter......

Huntsman22: That is a great looking pistol.
My Match Target has the same thumb rest grip and magazine release system as does yours.
I hope YOU are NOT going to start laying your firearms in the water of creeks and in sand and in wet moss like "small twig" does to photograph his guns?
That looks like ice and corn snow to me as a background in your nifty photo.
Even though I will probably never shoot my Match Target I prefer/wanted the longer sight radius whenever possible.
I looked up in my 1962 Shooters Bible and the Colt Woodsman Match Target was listed at $84.50.
My, how times have changed.
Enjoy that nifty pistol.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I bought one 2 years ago, best shooting 22 pistol iv ever shot! About time to start scouting with it.

Saddlering: Good for you - by "scouting with it" - do you mean you are going to go Squirrel Hunting with it or something else?
Enjoy.
I wonder how much an "extra" magazine for one of these runs today?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Certifiable: Great picture - thanks for sharing.
I don't want to say this to "loudly" but are there any "restrictions" in your area on that pistol or its magazine - I have lost track of all the craziness down thataway?
Enjoy that beauty.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

No sir all good

Had 4 and 6".
Good lookin and good shooting
Alas, my hand prefers High Standard.
Down to 4 rimfire handguns.

Contender w match bbl
Buckmark 5.5 w reflex sight
HS 106 trophy

And a Kart slide 1911.

The latter a 6" thats heavy but super cool.
The Buckmark may be going bye bye. Dunno if a grip change will endear it.
The HS feels way better to me.
The Contender has a 4x.
It gathers dust.

Hookeye: I am an admirer of and minor collector of the heavy barrel High Standards myself - although I do NOT shoot any of them anymore do to high values and fear of diminishing their conditions.
By coincidence one of my travelling partners today bought a 95% High Standard "Supermatic" today first thing at the gunshow we traveled to!
He paid $495.00 for it and if I would have seen it first I would have jumped on it as well.
I forgot to check when he showed the pistol to me if it had the original magazine - will check on that.
We do bring along snap-caps and the trigger on his pistol was FINE!
My heavy barrel BuckMarks all shoot well for me - even my BuckMark heavy barrel pistol/Rifle thingy.
It has a nice trigger as well.
With the scarcity of centerfire pistol ammunition and then the PRICE of it when and if it can be found I find I am shooting way more rimfire pistols of recent (last 2 years!) than previously.
Yeah I probably won't be shooting this darling of a Woodsman Match Target - I'll just be content to own it and hopefully it will appreciate in value when the time comes to "sell'em all"!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

It must look similar to this one. It dates to 1974.

A more detailed answer to VarmintGuy's concern: those who consider buying a Woodsman or any of its (cheaper) relations like a Huntsman or Targetsman in or for California should know that ATFE proclaimed ALL of those from the pre-Woodsman made before WWI to the last Third Models "Curio and Relic" firearms.

So if you want one and were thinking of the CA "Safe Gun" law, just buy it--they can be transferred in or to like any C&R handgun. None are affected by that stupidest of statutes.

I have two: a Third Model Match 6" and a Second Model Sport 4 1/2". Both get fired and the Sports Model gets carried. If I own it, it gets used.

The last magazine I bought was for the Sport and it cost $85 from a member here, a VERY good price. Second Model mags only work on Second Models. My Sport was at Pearl Harbor on 12/7/41, but didn't bag any Vals....

My brother has our Grandfather's MT Woodsman. It was a retirement gift from Graybar Electric in 1964. He has the box, manual, screwdriver, Ellison sight pamphlet and the receipt. $99 including a holster. Times have changed indeed.

Very much interested in acquiring a 4" one as well but the search is half the fun.

The reason it didn't bag any Vals during Pearl Harbor is, because second series pistols wasn't even made until 6 years after the Germans bombed the place.........

My cheapo re-blued second series Sport, with Huntsman walnut grips.

I do have a decent Targetsman but I really do want to collect the whole set someday.

5090: By "extrapolating" from a new Colt "dates of manufacture" list I found, I call mine from November 1974 - and indeed mine looks to be exactly like your'n.
Thanks for sharing that cool picture.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Mesa: Thank you for that more detailed explanation of what is what down in your neck'o the woods.
Keep the faith.
And thanks for the cost analysis on the magazines.
I was doing a gunshow and some gunshops this weekend (Friday, Saturday & Sunday) and NO magazines for the Colt Match Target 3rd model were to be found.
Two Colt Match Targets were there on different tables - one was $1,250.00 in 95% condition and the other was also in 95% condition but had the box and was priced at $1,450.00.
I am very pleased with my purchase.
Thanks again.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Pugs: Over 200 guns are to come in soon to the dealer I am dealing with and if a 4" model shows up I will get hold of you pronto.
I am "flat broke" (in the way of mad money - replenishing will take 2 weeks+) so a respite on my behalf is called for.
Enjoy the search!
And thanks for sharing that great photo.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Huntsman22: Great photo - is that a Pack Rat?
What a cool small game and Varmint pistol!
Keep up the good work.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

yup

That's a beauty. Do you carry your Colt target pistols in a holster? If yes, what make, what model?

Yeah, the Colts are good investments.
But Im no collector.
Am a user.
And if it aint gonna be taken out hunting, it goes bye bye.

Shot the 6" Woodsman a ton as a kid.
But it just didnt feel right as I got older.
Its still in the family as it now belongs to my cousin/ hunting bud.

Hope he shoots it. Because I wasnt gonna.

I have 3 kids, all adult, and only one shoots.....rarely.

IMHO a fine pistol deserves to be shot.

So when my bud asked about it, I let him buy it. No haggle on price, got current rate too

The Kart slide on a 67 Colt frame......that was my squirrel killer back in college days.

Wicked good.

If we do an indoor league Ill run it.

My HS is my field gun though. Decent but not mint.
Just feels right and is light enough ( or just balanced correctly ).

I have two long afterrmarket bbls for it.....but they aint gonna be used. Bridged rear sight.....aint gonna take that off to make it look better.

Have a Volquartsen 14" THM bbl and a Matco w Bond/ Bomar sights.

Might buy another HS and run the Matco.

Hookeye: Good luck in finding another High Standard for your use/project!
Sounds cool.
I shoot a LOT of Ground Squirrels anymore with heavy barreled Ruger MK pistols and heavy barrel BuckMarks all with red dot sights - its great sport.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

third series sport and another packrat....

but the first series Sports are the pick of the litter, as field pistols.....

but then again, the ol' 'huntsman22' can always hold its own....

Wasn't there a Third Series model called the "Challenger"? Could somebody refresh my memory on its features? Adjustable or fixed sights? Wood or plastic stocks ("Coltwood")? ( I THINK it may have been the model that became the Huntsman, but don't trust that memory....).

I agree that for usin' the First Series, 2nd Model Sport with the improved mainspring housing that allows HS ammo is the pick of the litter--as accurate as any and MUCH easier to carry--almost a "pocket pistol." Hard to find in decent shape nowadays, tho. Wish they'd kept that compact configuration but made it with the Second Series mag release!

The Challenger was introduced in 1948 as lower priced version with fixed sights and a different mag release. I think they all had plastic grips but not sure. I've seen them with both barrel lengths.

Yes. It was just exactly like the second series Sport that was in Pearl Harbor. The 'series' is off by a factor of 'one'. The challenger was second series, and a Sport at Pearl was a first..... As the second series didn't start until 6 years after Pearl. The Woodsmans before '47 were the pre-war/post war cleanup pistols.

Thanks for clearing that up, huntsman22!