Case 4, shelf A: Single Digit Serial Numbers, plus Prototypes and Experimentals
  1. Experimental Shoulder Stocked Woodsman: No Serial number, "in the white." This Woodsman, formerly in the Robert Q. Sutherland collection and pictured in The Book of Colt Firearms by Sutherland and Wilson, is one of only two known factory shoulder stocked Woodsmans. The other one is part of the Colt collection in the Connecticut State Museum. Due to having a shoulder stock, together with a barrel that is less than 20 inches long, it meets the definition of a "Short Rifle" by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF). It has, however, been reclassified as a "Curio and Relic." The BATF ID number is on the tag in the trigger guard.

    At left, from left to right:

  2. Pre-Woodsman, serial number 5. Originally sold in 1915 to F. C. Nichols, Vice-President, Colt Firearms. Pictured in Sutherland and Wilson and numerous other publications.
  3. Challenger, serial number 6-C. Pictured in Sutherland and Wilson.
  4. Challenger, serial number 7-C. Consecutive serial number to 6-C, above.
  5. Match Target Woodsman serial number 2-S, the second Woodsman numbered in the post-WWII series. Formerly in the Colt Firearms Museum, but sold by Colt at auction in Las Vegas in 1979.

    At right, from left to right:

  6. Unnumbered, "in the white," experimental Match Target with heavy bull barrel. Pictured in Sutherland and Wilson. Colt museum tag number 286 in the trigger guard.
  7. Colt's model shop prototype for the Woodsman. This pistol includes feature of the earler Borwning desgin that have been modified to the final Colt design. The polished and blued barrel, which contrasts sharply with the unpolished, "in the white" frame, was obviously added at a leter date. The barrel is marked:

    Sample For New Dia.
    4    26    22

    This type of barrel was introduced on the production models in 1922. Apparently the sample barrel was mounted on the then seven year old working model for demonstration or testing purposes. This pistol is mentioned in Bady as an "observed example."

  8. Second Series Match Target, serial number 66509-S (Mfg. 1949). In 1949 Colt built five Match Target Woodsmans in .22 short for the US team at the Pan-American games in South America. This was Colt's factory prototype for those pistols.

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