Wish I could say this was mine...

JD Mandrell

JD Mandrell

Joined
Apr 20, 2001
Messages
18,423
...but it ain't! :(

Belongs to a friend and his wife, they found it while cleaning out her parents house after her father passed away 2 years ago and they were moving her elderly Mom in with them.

They found it in an old leather flap holster in a tackle box in the garage, loaded with a round in the chamber. :eek: (Her dad was in his late 80's, and she didn't think he'd been fishing in 20+ years and the Remington ammo in it had turned green)

They asked me to take them shooting last week, and she brought it along.

1957 by the serial number, Colt Woodsman Target Model, in great shape, with 2 factory magazines. Sadly someone put an old nickle in the right grip, which may hurt collector value, but she sure shot as good as I've always heard they did!!

Woodsman-2.jpg


Woodsman-1.jpg


I had brought it's great-great grandson along in the form of my Browning Buckmark, so it was nice to shoot them together, but I gotta say that this Woodsman was just a real pleasure to shoot.
 
Those are nice. My Dad has an old Colt Match Target Woodsman with the barrel lug all the way out to the end of the barrel. It belonged to my Grandpa who bought it new way back when. Those slides are sooo smooth. Those pistols will easily outshoot a lot of the rifles coming off the shelves now days.

Same model as this one...
 

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Nice pistol!
If you look at that picture,the rear sight to the tip
of the barrel,doesnt it look "bent" ??
Maybe its an optical illusion.
 
The one thing the nickel guarantees? That it should be used and not a safe queen. Great discovery, perhaps they will let you shoot it sometimes.
 
Nice find. Just remember, the collectors only matter if you intend to sell it. ;)
 
Not sure about the rear sight, don't remember it looking bent.

Sure doesn't shoot like it's got a problem! :)

It was just wild shooting it, just tearing up the center of the target.
 
I had one when I was young that my dad gave me. It was a great little pistol.

I switched to Hi-Standards and gave the Colt to a buddy. Years later I sold the Hi-Standards (needed the money) and bought a Ruger. I still have the Ruger 22/45, but sure wish I still had the Colt, too. It was sweet.
 
If that were my Dad's pistol, and now it was mine, collector value would be meaningless. They'd have to wait until I was dead. Any by the way, I do have my Dad's pistol and it's also a Woodsman. It's the pistol I learned pistol shooting on. I will never part with it. When I'm gone my kids will have to decide what to do and if I know my son, it will stay in the family and continue to be used.
Bob
 
My grandfather had one of those, I remember shooting it at the pistol range when I was a kid. I love the nickel in the grip, I'd pay more for it, but I'm not a collector...
 
Good guns. I haven't shot mine for quite some time now. I loaned it to a "friend" and when it came back it was somewhat rusty. It's a safe queen now. Pic makes me want to get it out. Did a lot of hunting with it for rabbits and squirrels. Fits the hand well and points like a dream. Use my Ruger Mark II slabside target pistol now. Shoots like a rifle. What a nice find. Always good to check the chamber when you pick up a gun. Good reminder for us all now and again.
 
Those old timers loved thier Colt woodsmans. My dad bought his in the late 1930's, and it was his only handgun till he passed on in 1981. He taught me to shoot with it in 1953 when I was 12. The old man could sure shoot that thing. They were better guns than they are turning out today. Nowadays, you'd have to get a Smith and Wesson 41 to get that kind of accuracy from a pistol.

Plus, the finish was so much better.
 
What a neat find. My father has a couple of these pistols. I have been meaning to pick one up myself for years.

I think the nickel is pretty cool also. Gives it an interesting provenance.
 
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