Woodsman Second
Series / Third Series Mystery Gun |
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28. Woodsman 2nd Series /
3rd Series Match Target Mystery Gun .22LR 6" Blue, 90%+. Features 2nd Series SN#111489-S (1952) with
original 2nd Series brown injection molded plastic grips w/thumbrest, mint
bore, 2nd Series machined slide stop lever, 2nd Series barrel roll
markings 2nd Series mag, 2nd / 3rd Series Accro rear sight / flattop slide
w/rounded base front, 3rd Series (early) polished radius slide, 3rd Series
bluing motif on bottom of barrel and in barrel flutes, 3rd Series blued
(not bright polished) finish on raised front barrel muzzle surface, 3rd
Series larger trigger guard, 3rd Series trigger, 3rd Series mag release on
butt, 3rd Series no mag safety feature, 3rd Series main spring housing
without lanyard ring bar or grip adapter hole with thinning blue on grip
front and backstraps. Major
Robert Rayburn, of Tacoma, WA; author of the Woodsman collector's bible,
the little red Colt
Woodsman Pocket Guide and the world's leading authority on Colt
Woodsman pistols thinks it "was a 2nd Series that had problems (such
as a cracked frame) and was returned to Colt for repair after the 3rd
Series came into production. They
probably replaced the frame and numbered it with the original SN#.
They would probably have reblued the whole thing at the same time,
likely using the bluing scheme in effect at the time of the repair.
They may, or may not, have stamped an ampersand (&)(they did
not) somewhere on the frame, most likely in the aft right hand trigger
guard web." Rayburn
continued: "I don't know about your particular pistol, but I do know
that frames were replaced and given the original number sometimes; I saw
entries in the shipping records to that effect for some prewar guns.
Unfortunately that doesn't necessarily mean that there would be
such a notation by your serial number, but there might be."
I found the gun at a local Iowa gun show in November '97 and
normally don't look at guns in this condition but something just didn't
look right and it took several minutes to come up with the reasons why it
didn't. Truly a Mystery Gun
and a special find! There are
no hints of tampering of any sort!
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Woodsman Third Series
(1955 - 1977) |
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29. Woodsman 3rd Series
Huntsman .22LR 4.5" Blue, 99.9% /
ANIB,
SN#070584S
(1975) with mint correct original
walnut grips (no thumbrest), mint bore, correct mag, correct fixed rear
sight, original instruction sheet, Colt
congratulations letter, in decent correct woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam
insert box with label intact and numbered to gun.
Gun is strikingly MINT! My
very first Woodsman.
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30. Woodsman 3rd Series
Huntsman .22LR 6" Blue, NIB,
SN#305914S (1976) with mint correct original walnut grips (no
thumbrest), mint bore, correct mag, correct fixed rear sight,
original instruction sheet,
Colt Authorized Warranty Service Stations brochure, Handling
the Handgun brochure, NRA
membership form, in outstanding correct woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam
insert box with label intact and numbered to gun.
Gun is strikingly MINT and unfired!
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31. Woodsman 3rd Series
Huntsman .22LR 6" Blue, NIB,
SN#S100690S (1976) RARE Double 'S' Variety with mint correct
original walnut grips (no thumbrest), mint bore, correct mag, correct
fixed rear sight, original instruction sheet, Colt
Authorized Warranty Service Stations brochure, Handling the Handgun brochure, hang
tag, in outstanding correct woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam insert box with
label intact and numbered to gun. The
Double 'S' Huntsman variation occurred in 1976 when the serial number
series being used passed 100000S and reached 101336S BEFORE it was noticed
that numbers used in 1952 were being duplicated.
Instead of destroying 1336 otherwise perfect guns, they were
hand-stamped with an 'S' prefix in addition to the then currently used 'S'
suffix (the Woodsman is Colt's Model S) thereby creating the
"Double 'S' '' variation. All known examples are Huntsmans and were available with
either a 4.5" barrel (scarce) or 6" barrel. (Thanks to Bob Rayburn in his Colt
Woodsman Pocket Guide and Ed Brink in his Colt Rimfire Automatic Pistols, for the "Double S"
information.) Gun is
strikingly MINT and unfired in Primo
box. These are seldom
encountered.
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32. Woodsman 3rd Series
Targetsman .22LR 6" Blue, ANIB,
SN#136785-C (1959) with mint correct original black
plastic grips w/thumbrest, mint bore, correct mag, correct unique
adjustable rear sight, Xerox
Huntsman instruction sheet (oily), Colt
Warranty mailer card, in correct woodgrain lid with black bottom
two-piece box with label intact. This
is an extremely hard gun to find in this particular configuration because
as the Targetsman was introduced in late 1958 / early 1959 and Colt's
began mounting walnut stocks in early 1960 making this a configuration
produced for one year only. Comes
with mint Colt Dealer info sheet
denoting the black plastic grips. Gun is strikingly MINT and possibly
unfired!
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33. Woodsman 3rd Series
Targetsman .22LR 6" Blue, 99.9%;,
SN#064658S (1974) Engraved heavy 'C' level (maybe 'D' level --
top of slide, frame, and barrel are engraved) very tastefully done (most
likely not factory) and very nicely
finished with near mint correct original walnut grips w/thumbrest,
mint bore, correct mag, correct unique adjustable rear sight,
Xerox Huntsman instruction sheet (these may have been issued with
Huntsman instructions), no box. Gun
is strikingly MINT and a nice compliment to any Woodsman collection!
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See Number 33 Above. |
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34. Woodsman 3rd Series
Targetsman .22LR 6" Blue, NIB, SN#092755S (1976) with mint correct original walnut grips w/thumbrest,
mint bore, correct mag, correct unique adjustable rear sight, original Huntsman
instruction sheet (these may
have been issued with Huntsman instructions), Colt Authorized Warranty Service Stations brochure, Handling the Handgun
brochure, Colt sight adjustment
tool in kraft envelope, in outstanding correct woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam
insert box with label intact and numbered to gun. Gun is strikingly MINT and unfired!
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35. Woodsman 3rd Series
Target .22LR 6" Blue, 98%+,
SN#166068-S (1956) with near mint
correct original black
plastic grips w/thumbrest, mint bore, correct mag, correct Accro
adjustable rear sight, no box. Gun
exhibits thinning blue on grip front strap and backstrap as was typical of
these early 3rd series models and a very faint 1" long scratch on
right side of barrel near muzzle (hardly noticeable) -- gun
displays as 99%+.
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36. Woodsman 3rd Series
Target .22LR 6" Blue, NIB, SN#303558S (1976) with beautifully figured correct mint
original walnut grips w/thumbrest, mint bore, correct mag, correct Accro
adjustable rear sight, , original instruction
sheet, list of authorized Colt
warranty service stations and Handling
the Handgun brochure, Colt
congratulations letter, NRA
membership form, in
outstanding correct woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam insert box with label
intact and numbered to gun.
Gun is strikingly MINT and unfired!
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37. Woodsman 3rd Series
Sport .22LR 4.5" Blue, NIB,
SN#170149-S (1956) with mint correct original
black plastic grips w/thumbrest, mint bore, correct mag, correct Accro
adjustable rear sight, original instruction
sheet, Colt sight adjustment
tool in kraft envelope, in
average correct woodgrain top and woodgrain bottom two-piece box with
label intact and faintly numbered to gun on bottom.
Gun is strikingly MINT and unfired!
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38. Woodsman 3rd Series
Sport .22LR 4.5" Blue, NIB,
SN#083384S (1975) with beautifully figured original walnut
grips w/thumbrest , mint bore, correct mag, correct Accro adjustable rear
sight, original instruction sheet, Colt
Screwdriver in envelope, list
of authorized Colt warranty service stations and Handling the Handgun brochure, Colt Congratulations! letter, in
outstanding correct woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam insert box with label
intact and numbered to gun.
Gun is strikingly MINT and unfired!
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39. Woodsman 3rd Series
Match Target .22LR 6" Blue, 99.5%,
SN#186758-S (1959) with mint correct original black
plastic grips w/thumbrest, mint bore, correct mag, correct Accro
adjustable rear sight, Xerox instruction sheet, no box.
Two minute freckles on left side barrel at front and one minute
freckle on right side barrel. A
striking example of an early 3rd Series match Target.
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40. Woodsman 3rd Series
Match Target .22LR 6" Blue, NIB,
SN#234558-S (1968) with mint correct original walnut grips w/thumbrest,
mint bore, correct mag, correct Elliason adjustable rear sight, original
correct green front instruction
sheet showing newly added Elliason rear sight, test
target numbered to gun, Colt
sight adjustment tool in kraft envelope, warranty mailer card, in correct woodgrain lid with black bottom
two-piece box with label intact (scotch taped on right side) and numbered to gun. A
striking example of a 3rd Series Match Target with walnut grips, Elliason
rear sight, and polished slide
radius which is seldom seen.
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41. Woodsman 3rd Series
Match Target .22LR 6" Blue, NIB,
SN#310760S (1976) with mint correct original walnut grips w/thumbrest,
mint bore, correct mag, correct Elliason adjustable rear sight, Xerox
instruction sheet, Colt sight
adjustment tool, list of
authorized Colt warranty service stations and Handling
the Handgun brochure, in above average correct woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam
insert box with label intact and numbered to gun. Gun is strikingly MINT, exhibits
a better grade of finish for a gun of this era (almost Royal Blue),
and is unfired!
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42. Woodsman 3rd Series
Match Target .22LR 4.5" Blue, NIB,
SN#311275S (1976) with mint correct original walnut grips w/thumbrest,
mint bore, correct mag, correct Elliason adjustable rear sight, original
correct and RARE blue front
instruction sheet showing Elliason rear sight, Colt
sight adjustment tool in folded kraft envelope, list of authorized Colt warranty service stations and Handling
the Handgun brochure, in correct original woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam
insert box with label intact and numbered to gun.
Gun is a strikingly MINT example of the rare 4.5" 3rd Series
Match Target and unfired!
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43. Woodsman 3rd Series
Huntsman S Master Colt Custom Shop Limited Edition 1 of 400; .22LR
4.5" Royal Blue, NIB & Cased,
SN#309030S (1983) with mint correct beautifully figured (really
nice) original walnut grips w/thumbrest, mint bore, correct mag, correct
unique Elliason adjustable rear sight, unique (for Huntsman) slide stop
mechanism/lever, original Xerox
instruction sheet (they all were Xerox copies - 6 years after ending
Woodsman production), list of
authorized Colt warranty service stations and The
Colt Companion brochure, Colt
Congratulations! letter, The
Colt Collection merchandise brochure w/order form, hang
tag, in near mint correct woodgrain sleeve/styrofoam insert box with chartreuse
Colt Custom Shop lable intact and numbered to gun.
Gun is finished in the
striking high gloss Royal Blue (Python) finish accentuated by differing
gold etchings on both sides of the slide and featuring a target shooter on
the left (display) side. Comes
with walnut french-fitted display case with blue velvet interior and similar
motif blue w/gold etchings edition plaque denoting Huntsman S Master
Edition 1 of 400. Display
case is mint with key in kraft envelope.
Colt produced these as a parts clean-up effort 6 years after
Woodsman production ceased and they were all 4.5" guns but around 285
had the regular untapered Huntsman barrel/front sight as does this gun and
the remaining 115 had the tapered Sport model barrel with either the Sport
trapezoidal front sight blade or the Target patridge front sight blade.
Some had 3rd Series triggers while this has a 2nd Series trigger.
Colt Factory Letter
included. Gun is strikingly
MINT and unfired!
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44. Woodsman 3rd Series
Huntsman S Master Colt Custom Shop Limited Edition 1 of 400; .22LR
4.5" Royal Blue, NIB & Cased, SN#314974S (1983) with mint correct beautifully figured (really
nice) original walnut grips w/thumbrest, mint bore, correct mag, correct
unique Elliason adjustable rear sight, unique (for Huntsman) slide stop
mechanism/lever, original Xerox
instruction sheet (they all were Xerox copies - 6 years after ending
Woodsman production), list of authorized Colt warranty service stations
and The Colt Companion brochure, Colt
Congratulations! letter, The Colt Collection merchandise brochure w/order
form, hang tag, in near mint correct wood grain sleeve/Styrofoam insert box
with chartreuse Colt Custom Shop
label intact and numbered to gun. Gun is finished in the
striking high gloss Royal Blue (Python) finish accentuated by differing
gold etchings on both sides of the slide and featuring a target shooter on
the left (display) side. Comes
with walnut french-fitted display
case with blue velvet interior and similar motif blue w/gold etchings
edition plaque denoting Huntsman S Master Edition 1 of 400.
Display case is mint with key in kraft envelope.
Everything comes in original shipping case. Colt
produced these as a parts clean-up effort 6 years after Woodsman
production ceased and they were all 4.5" guns but around 285 had the
regular untapered Huntsman barrel/front sight
and the remaining 115 had either the tapered Sport model barrel
with either the Sport model trapezoidal front sight blade or the Target
model patridge front sight blade as does this gun.
Some had 3rd Series triggers while this has a 2nd Series trigger.
Colt Factory Letter included. Gun is strikingly MINT and unfired!
Note: These two Huntsman S Masters above represent two of the three
possible barrel / front sight combinations.
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This photo taken earlier than the others shows the gold detail on the
left side of the slide that glare destroyed in the other photos. |
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See Number 44 Above. |