What can you tell me about my buddy's gun?

[.284]

According to him, this is a 1944 or 45 Colt Woodsman 22 LR that his father-in-law carried in Korea. He would like to know the approximate value and any history that you fine folks may have. Sorry about the crappy cell pic and I can provide the serial number if it helps.

[TailGator]

I am not an expert in the Colt Woodsman lineup by any means, but I am not aware of it or any .22LR being a standard issue of the US military. I would start by asking about the possibility of his father in law either being misunderstood or carrying a privately owned firearm during his service.

[carguychris]

FWIW stories about guns carried by relatives in wartime often turn out to be apocryphal. I have a hunch that the gun may have lived stateside during the war, or it was only used for target shooting on base, not in actual combat.

The gun is a First Issue Sport Model, which was introduced in 1933 and dropped in 1943. The First Issue can be visually distinguished from the Second Issue by the heel mag release rather than a thumb button. The later Third Issue reverted to the heel release, but also had a different type of thumb safety, distinctive grips with a thumb rest, and different barrel and slide legends.

Here's some links with a bunch more information about the pistols:

http://www.colt22.com/
http://www.colt22.com/dates.html

Keep in mind that the production dates are approximate; Colt, like numerous other gunmakers at the time, often assembled pistols out of serial number order.

[OJ]

See if this answers your question -

http://coltautos.com/woodsmans/2Seri...ndSeriesci.htm

There were Woodsman pistols for troops at some time -

[Vermonter]

Wow

FWIW stories about guns carried by relatives in wartime often turn out to be apocryphal.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/apocryphal

I had to look it up so I figured some others might. Figured I would post a link.

As to the answer to your question I know nothing of that particular firearm however I have heard of a few personal firearms having been carried in war time. I bet 9/10 of them are BS but you never know.

Regards, Vermonter

[OJ]

As to the answer to your question I know nothing of that particular firearm however I have heard of a few personal firearms having been carried in war time. I bet 9/10 of them are BS but you never know.

Woodsman 2nd Series Target .22 LR 6" Blue, Serial Number 65017-S (1949) RARE Air Force Survival kit gun

There is a picture of this one but I can't figure a way to copy it - see it at the link I provided

Also, there was a 22 conversion of the 1911 issued for some time -

[Kevin_d77]

Apocryphal=word of the day!!!