[Jayb]

As the title says, I have a question regarding the operation of the magazine catch/release. I'm no stranger to semi-auto's, or magazines, but I'm a real novice when it comes to the Woodsman. I've seen the exploded drawings, and read the downloaded manual. The manual speaks to mag removal, but not insertion.... now to my question....

...when removing the magazine, the magazine catch must be manually operated rearward to release the magazine... got that part.....

...but, when inserting the magazine, does the magazine catch need to be manually rotated forward (towards the muzzle) to lock the magazine in place, or is the magazine catch supposed to latch by itself when the magazine is fully inserted. On my pistol, (3rd model Match Target... 1965 vintage) I have to manually rotate the catch forward to retain the magazine. Is somethin' broke, or not?

Thanks

 

[JudgeColt]

Nothing is broken on your pistol. That is the way it is designed to operate. If you study the latch, you will see there is nothing that would cause it to "latch itself" when the magazine is inserted. If you want magazines to "self-latch," you will need to get a Second Model.

 

[Jayb]

Thanks, Judge. I appreciate your reply. It's not a case of how it functions, as much as knowing the pistol is functioning properly. I'm still learning on this platform.

Just out of curiosity, was there any specific reason that Colt moved away from the push-button mag release?

 

[Jackson]

Hey I known this one! I Think. The 2nd Model Woodsmans that were introdiced after WWII has several similarities in common with the Colt 45 Auto, i.e. magazine release button, Safety location, removable arched mainspring housing, lanyard loop, etc. IMO, for all for the returning GI's to ease into a 22 Woodsman. I think that the 2nd Model MT Woodsmans, especially the 4-1/2" barrel version offers the most desirable standard features available of all the Woodsmans. Only problem was that the trigger pull distance had to be increased over the old Woodsmans due to the location of the mag release; Colt has used a curved triggers (similar if not exactly identical to the pre war Woodsman) on the earlist 2nd model MT Woodsmans and then went to a double bent version on all later models to try and reduce the trigger pull distance. The third models have a shorter trigger pull distance and a larger trigger guard opening than the 2nd models. The 2nd Models also came in the best Colt Boxes that still seem to last after 50-60 years. The only downside are those fugguly 2nd Model later plastic grips, which can be easily upgraded. No disrepect meant for the 3rd Models, it just seems like to need to collect them all.