I know that we spend a lot of time talking about the defensive use of the pistol, but my true love of shooting started with a Ruger Standard RST-6 and a Maxwell Coffee can as a target with the range being the field behind the house in which I was raised. It was 1973, and I was six years old. My father taught me the basics of shooting with a strong emphasis on safe handling and then it was my turn to try to hit the target. I was (and am not) big for my age, and that RST-6 was a heavy pistol. I would like to say my first shot was on target, but it was not. Nor was my second. But by the end of the second magazine, I was on target -- and hooked.
Today I still spend a lot of my shooting time shooting a RST-6 (not the one that I first shot; that is a long, sad story), and it never fails to make any day a better day. A quick trip to my backyard range with a few magazines and a reactive target is often how I unwind. My daughter has a Ruger Standard pattern pistol, namely a purple Tactical Solutions upper on a 50th Anniversary Mark II lower. So three generations of my family have shot the Ruger Standard pattern. But this post is about another design, an even more influential rimfire pistol. In fact, the first successful rimfire semi-auto, namely the Colt Woodsman. Well, in reality, it is about a clone of that design.
To digress a bit, there are not too many rimfire firearms I do not like. I even bought a USFA ZIP Gun (and it was a piece of trash with a trigger like the proverbial gate latch). So I have ended up with more than a few rimfire pistols. Some are for serious purpose, such as Bullseye competition or small-game hunting. But the ones that I enjoy the most are fixed-sight, made of blued steel and wood. Colt, relatively late in the life cycle of the Woodsman, made a simpler, less expensive fixed-sight pistol, the Colt Challenger. As Browning already had a .22 pistol with that name, Colt changed the name to the Huntsman. Unlike the Woodsman, which for the 2nd Generation, had a magazine release in the Browning 1911 location, all of the Challenger and Huntsman pistols, like the Ruger Standard, had a heel magazine release. It was the biggest issue with both pistols.
I had a 2nd Generation Woodsman Target with the magazine release where JMB put it on the 1911. Great pistol, but that target adjustable rear sight is not well suited for plinking or holster carry. The Woodsman with the 4.5-inch barrel could be had with fixed sights, but the longer barrel balances better for me and I (not the pistol) shoot much better with the extra 1.5-inches of sight radius. I have a Huntsman with its fixed sights, but it has the heel magazine release. It is a great shooter, but the heel magazine release is not the best for quick or easy magazine changes. The Woodsman is a solid design from a time when machines were expensive and labor was not. It is all forged steel, polished to a brilliant shine. The design, like most from JMB, is attractive, functional, and well considered. The slide means there is no ejection port; if the round extracts it most certainly has to eject. It is a breeze to run a bore snake down the barrel. I do that whenever I change ammo types as the lubricant from one brand seems to cause the next brand to vary on target. Colt, of course, did a great job manufacturing this design, and the guns are indestructible if one does not dry fire. Dry firing will peen the breech face and/or break the firing pin.
I must not have been the only one who liked the six-inch fixed sight Woodsman but disliked the magazine release at the heel. I still do not understand why Colt reverted to the heel release when the 3rd Generation guns were introduced. My best guess is cost as the Ruger Standard, with its receiver made from tubing and a welded grip frame, was much less expensive to produce -- and to buy. Ruger undercut Colt by enough to sell a lot of Standard pistols. Anyway Colt got away from the 1911 magazine release with the Woodsman.
Of course, classic designs are copied. To this day, Norinco makes a clone of the Woodsman, the M93 Sportsman, just as they make clones of the 1911, the SIG P226, and others. Of course, none of those can be imported into the USA due to executive orders. In Canada, these are widely available at very reasonable prices. But someone else made a clone, and Iver Johnson, of all companies, imported it into the USA. Well, Iver Johnson Firearms of Jacksonville, AR, imported it into the USA from Fundalum in Argentina and called it the TM22PB Trailsman. Like the Woodsman, there were three generations of the pistol. Not long after importing began, Iver Johnson started making the pistols in Arkansas. And they refined the original Argentina product as they went, both improving it and lessening it. The later guns have a much better spring-loaded extractor, better metal finish, and wood, not plastic, grips. But they also lack the disassembly button to secure the recoil spring, making field stripping an adventure unless you use a punch to replace the missing button. It must be the idea as the hole in the slide for the missing disassembly button is still there, and deleting the hole would eliminate manufacturing steps. The guns were offered with a rear sight suitable for holster carry (though adjustable, once a screw is loosened), a six-inch barrel, and the JMB 1911 magazine release. These guns were not made for very long, starting around 1985. In 1993, Iver Johnson -- and the Trailsman -- were gone. I am not sure how many were made.
Anyhow it is not a common pistol, and I lucked onto one. I more than likely paid too much but I am not likely to find another anytime soon. I am at the age where I have more money than time; at least, that is how I justified spending too much. It is one of the last guns made, sporting a decent polished blue and wood grips. Shooting with CCI HV "Patriot Pack" bulk ammo has been a blast. It balked at a few rounds of Federal 36-grain HV HP, failing to eject. Other than that I have had no issues, but the round count is not that high. It is a great plinker, and I am enjoying it. Today I put twenty rounds through it, relaxing after a long day of "working from home" due to COVID-19. Plinking now is more important than ever, and I have a new (to me) pistol to enjoy.
[ETA] Adding picture of the original Argentinian pistol [/ETA]