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Thread: For the Love of Plinking

  1. #1
    Site Supporter farscott's Avatar
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    For the Love of Plinking

    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]
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    Last edited by farscott; 04-30-2020 at 05:25 PM.

  2. #2
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    Shooting can definitely be about relaxed fun as well. I have more 22s than any other caliber and usually take a couple to the range along with some steel targets every week. Lately it's been a MKIV 22/45 with 3 uppers; a 4" Standard upper w/red dot, 5.5" Target upper and 4" aluminum upper. Always end the session with some carry gun practice. Also shoot NRL22, bullseye and Silhouette when I can. I would LOVE to have a back yard range!
    Adam

  3. #3
    Site Supporter OlongJohnson's Avatar
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    I won't admit how many Buck Marks I own. The ones with the 6 3/4-inch pencil barrels, like the old Challengers, may be my favorites.
    .
    -----------------------------------------
    Not another dime.

  4. #4
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    At this point in my life, with a 13 year old daughter and 10 year old son, I consider one of my most important shooting tasks to be teaching the kids that shooting is fun. Of course the hows and whys are important, but if it is not fun, they will not continue when they are adults.

    Probably more than half the guns on my future purchase list are .22 lr. for exactly this reason.

  5. #5
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    I own enough .22 rifles to occasionally forget how many I have. This is probably equal parts space cadeting, and love of plinking, if I’m being honest.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by BillSWPA View Post
    At this point in my life, with a 13 year old daughter and 10 year old son, I consider one of my most important shooting tasks to be teaching the kids that shooting is fun. Of course the hows and whys are important, but if it is not fun, they will not continue when they are adults.

    Probably more than half the guns on my future purchase list are .22 lr. for exactly this reason.
    This one gets it.

    I don't do any shooting with my kids except "for fun" shooting.

    To the OP, plinking is my favorite form of shooting. Always has been even when my "gun" was a BB gun. A few boxes of ammo, some reactive targets, and no particular agenda is a fine way to spend an afternoon. Oh to have Hickock45's range...

    Chris

  7. #7
    Site Supporter farscott's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BillSWPA View Post
    At this point in my life, with a 13 year old daughter and 10 year old son, I consider one of my most important shooting tasks to be teaching the kids that shooting is fun. Of course the hows and whys are important, but if it is not fun, they will not continue when they are adults.

    Probably more than half the guns on my future purchase list are .22 lr. for exactly this reason.
    That is the reason my daughter's first pistol has a purple Tactical Solutions upper because, "Purple!!". It is also the reason we have a pink Tactical Solutions X-Ring rifle in a pink Hogue stock. Once she liked the guns and was not concerned about recoil, she loved to go shooting. We did a fair amount of family shooting where everyone had a rimfire of some sort. My daughter's first shots were from a 1948 S&W pre-M17 and from a Marlin 39AS. Both were from the bench to make hits easier. I still remember standing behind her left shoulder to cock the hammer of the pre-M17 for each shot. It is a treasured memory.

    She has decent taste in firearms and her carry guns are a Colt Detective Special with the factory hammer shroud and a S&W 3913LS (her mom has a 3914 and a ton of J-frames to go with her P30 pistols). I pretty much scrounged an entire replacement pistol for the 3913, down to the gray grips, to insure she has parts if needed. We even paid for her first carry permit when she turned 21 as she was still in school.

  8. #8

    Cool I Too Love To Plink!!!

    What a great thread. And, I suppose I'll do a little plinkin today here in Missery.
    Maybe my oldest son and his son will join me for some of what we call " cast & blast ",
    with those two doing the casting.

    Going to be real nice here west of St. Lou today. Small little town that I now call home.
    My area continues to grow slowly as peeps leave the cesspool of St. Louis and move west.

    I look forward to other " plinkers " adding to this ongoing thread!!!

    God Bless

    john


  9. #9
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    I grew up on the 22. First handgun I fired was my dad's Ruger single six and first rifle was his level action 22 Marlin. I still have my bolt action single shot rifle I got when I was a kid. I recently realized I did not have a 22 pistol to help train my kids on. Was looking at geting a S&W Victory. Then decided why not get a 22 conversion kit for one of my favorite handguns I already own. I found that the Kadet kit for the CZ P09 and P07 can not be found much anymore. So, with Beretta doing the 25% off discount recently combined with my other discount, I got the 92/M9 22 conversion kit. Just got it in yesterday!

  10. #10
    Site Supporter farscott's Avatar
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    Some of my other plinkers. My old RST-4 before and after refinishing with Cerakote and the aforementioned 2nd Generation Colt Woodsman finished in Roguard and NP3. The sights are great for shooting, but the sharp edges are tough on holsters.
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