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Pre Woodsman help needed

MOONED
OK, so I have a 1920 production Woodsman and go to shoot it the other day. I made sure I had standard velocity ammo, not high velocity. I put three magazines through the gun, with no problem with feeding or extracting.
All of a sudden after the fourth magazine, the grip safety seems loose. The grip safety actually seems to be falling out of the back of the frame. I put it up and shoot some other items before returning home.
When I get home, I checked out this link below:
http://www.colt22.com/colttakedown.html
I have tried two times now to reassemble this pistol, with no success. I do not know if I am overlooking something, or if there is a pin or something that fell out at the range the other day. The grip safety will not stay in place and almost (I would think) needs to have a small roll pin or something retaining it to the frame.....who knows.
I don't have a problem with the recoil spring being in the proper place. It is where it should be and the slide will go on & off the frame.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I do like to shoot this old one every now & then, but do not want to have to go hunting parts....that may be a major pain.

EDIT #1:
Perry-Shooter, I'm not sure if these pictures help. I just took them inside so they are not the best. Anyway, hopefully if you can look at your Colt tomorrow and compare it to what you see in the pictures, maybe there is a missing part. Thanks for taking the time to help.

EDIT #2
If there is suppose to be a pin present, it must not have been in place when I purchased this pistol about a year ago. I have cleaned the pistol, and removed the grips. But never paid any to whether there was a pin in place because everything seemed to be working fine. Now all of a sudden, the ol' Colt wants to fall apart while I'm shooting it.
If you (Rufe or Perry) come up with anything, I will once again be indebted to you for your assistance. I know it doesn't pay much, but do realize that I appreciate it.

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Aaron
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Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • perry shooter
    Heel The rear grip housing acts as a recoil spring stop Look on Gunparts .Inc and it will show a woodsman parts breakdown I will try to get my pistol out tomorrow and look I think off the top of my head that there is a round pin the housing latches onto down near the bottom of the grip BUT I cant see how this has come out

    EDIT Now I am confused I was under the impression that the bottom notch that is on the front side is what slipped over a cross pin and that held the housing up and the the recoil spring held the housing toward the rear where the small bump slipped into matching cut of the frame. I will have to refresh my memory I know I have taken them down many times years ago.
    EDIT III dont know if your pistol is different then mine But if you look at the picture of your frame Mine looks exactly the same and the mainspring Housing IS held in by a Cross pin through the grip frame down near the bottom and the small hook fits on this cross pin. I bet the previous owner though you had to drive this pin out to dismount the mainspring Housing . You may need to pull down on the magazine release to get the mainspring housing to move up to get the notch over the pin when you put it back together . These are close fitting parts and if at one time there was some dried grease / oil and the owner did not understand how the gun came apart he drove the pin out the gun was still frozen together and then when you shot it it came apart. . This is one of those guns that much easier to show some one the write how to do it . ONE thing for sure is if your mainspring housing with the notch and has a hole in the frame for a cross pin then it needs a cross pin. Come to VA with parts and I will show you [:I][:0] Cheers Karl.
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  • rufe-snow
    The Woodsman doesn't have a grip safety. It has a main spring housing that isn't supposed to move, when it's assembled properly. The main spring housing is held immobile in the frame by a pin that located under the grips. The pin is located about half way up the frame just to the rear of the magazine cut-out. Even if it was broken it would have kept the main spring housing in place. IMHO sometime in the past, somebody took apart your Woodsman and didn't replace the upper housing lock pin, this is what is causing your problem.

    EDIT #1, The hole halfway up the frame in your photo is where the upper housing lock pin goes. Did you have this pin when you removed the main spring housing from the Woodsman?

    EDIT #2, This is really strange, the schematic I have shows a hole in the main spring housing that this lock pin goes in, securing the main spring housing to the frame. But in your photo I don't see the required hole in your main spring housing?

    EDIT #3, I broke out Wood's book on the disassembly of semi-auto pistols. He notes that the lock pin was only used in later versions of the Woodsman. It's still not clear why Colt wood have drilled the frame for this hole, if the pin wasn't being used to secure the main spring housing?

    EDIT #4, Just got my hands on a pre Woodsman, (circa 1926), and took the grips off. It has a hole in center of frame similar to yours. This hole is for the machine screw that secures the grips. There is a corresponding hole in the main spring housing, that prevents the main housing from moving when the grips are in place.
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  • MOONED
    Rufe-Snow,

    Thanks for the info. I was uploading the pictures when you replied. If you don't mind taking a look at the pictures to confirm your suspicions, it would be appreciated.

    Aaron
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  • 1KYDSTR
    In my experience, you are in a world of poop! I borrowed a preWoodsman from a friend in high school under the understanding I would detail clean the gun after use and return. Even then I was something of a savant with reassembling guns as far as my buddies were concerned. Fast forward a year and a half and I was STILL trying to get that damn thing back together. Eventually found a gunsmith in Iowa who knew his job and put it back together for me for $25 ... he was old then and I'm sure gone now otherwise I would give you that info. Best of luck...really wish I could be of help!
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  • JudgeColt
    The pin that should be in the hole near the bottom of the grip frame is missing. This pin is what holds the main spring housing (it is NOT a grip safety) in place. It appears that the pin was either lost when you had the stocks off, or it was gone when you bought the gun. Apparently, by gripping the pistol to fire it, you were holding the main spring housing in place. That would explain why you thought it was a "grip safety" when it moved.

    Make a new pin out of anything that fits the hole snugly, perhaps drill rod or a nail. Then, with the trigger pulled so that the hammer can be forward at rest, start the main spring housing back in place, making sure that the hammer strut is properly seated in the main spring housing socket. Push it up and in so the notch at the bottom goes over the pin. Once it does that, it is properly installed.

    I am surprised to read that 1KYDSTR had so much trouble reassembling one of these pistols. They are really very simple with few parts. No special tricks or skills are needed to strip and reassemble one. I suspect there are instructions somewhere on the web, perhaps even a video, if you need more explanation than given above.

    Let us know how you come out.
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