Colt Woodsman Scout

[oldguyguns]

Have a friend with a Colt Woodsman Scout. How does one tell which model it is? Also what would the retail price range be for one in excellent but fired condition? thanks

 

[PaulF]

Hi!

My grandpa left me a Colt Woodsman, built Nov 1963. Colt offers a service where they will provide you with all the details they have (for money), but there is some info out there. The wikipedia page is worthless, but has an entertaining quote from none other than Ernest Hemingway:

"Novelist Ernest Hemingway on the Colt Woodsman:

The rifle and the pistol are still the equalizer when one man is more of a man than another, and if…he is really smart…he will get a permit to carry one and then drop around to Abercrombie and Fitch and buy himself a .22 caliber Colt automatic pistol, Woodsman model, with a five-inch barrel and a box of shells. I advise him to get lubricated hollow points to avoid jams and to ensure a nice expansion on the bullet. He might even get several boxes and practice a little… (emphasis added)

Now standing in one corner of a boxing ring with a .22 caliber Colt automatic pistol, shooting a bullet weighing only 40 grains and with a striking energy of 51 foot pounds at 25 feet from the muzzle, I will guarantee to kill either [boxer] Gene [Tunney] or Joe Louis before they get to me from the opposite corner. This is the smallest caliber pistol cartridge made; but it is also one of the most accurate and easy to hit with, since the pistol has no recoil. I have killed many horses with it, cripples and bear baits, with a single shot, and what will kill a horse will kill a man. I have hit six dueling silhouettes in the head with it at regulation distance in five seconds. It was this type of pistol that Millen boys’ colleague, Abe Faber, did all his killings with. Yet this same pistol bullet fired at point blank range will not dent a grizzly’s skull, and to shoot a grizzly with a .22 caliber pistol would simply be one way of committing suicide."

That said, this is a pretty good page:

Colt Woodsman FAQs

The NRA has some stuff:

The National Firearms Museum: Colt Woodsman Semi Automatic Pistol

I'll edit if I find more.

-Paul

 

[doublegunbum]

Not sure I've ever heard of a Scout model Woodsman. There are targets, sports, and match of three series. And although I think highly of Hemingway, the five inch barrel was not a factory offering. It was either 6 5/8 or 4 1/2.

 

[oldguyguns]

OOppss its a sport model. Sorry for the confusion. And--I didn't even have a beer before writing the post---