Colt Woodsman magazine misfeed

[dmg4]

Hi,

I have a Colt Woodsman first series made in 1930. The magazine misfeeds about 10% of the time, with the round jamming about halfway into the chamber.

A picture of the magazine is attached. The feed lip on the right side is bent a bit over the follower. Does anyone have a picture of what this view is supposed to look like on a magazine that feeds well? I should also mention that the slide does not lock back after the last round, although I'm not sure if it is supposed to do so on the 1st series Woodsman.

A picture of a properly operating magazine would be greatly appreciated.

 

[30-30remchester]

Your magazine feed lips look alright to me, however the wife is gone till this evening so I cant post a picture of a few of my clips till she gets home.

 

[James K]

Both the rear and front lips need to be pressed together. The idea is that the rim of the cartridge rides up on (not in) the front lips so it goes into the chamber straight. Be very careful, though, as those lips are hardened and can crack easily. It might be best to remove the follower and tap the lips with a small hammer rather than trying to squeeze them with pliers or a vise.

Incidentally, those magazines with the folded follower are scarce and expensive but work well. They used the same kind of follower on the early Ace magazines; it was a lot better than the cheap zinc followers on later magazines.

Jim

 

[dmg4]

Google never ceases to amaze me. Type in "Colt Woodsman Magazine", select images and *poof*....it appears. This image didn't look too different to me, so I resorted to my grandfather's cure for all mechanical ailments: soak it in kerosene. I removed the grips, and left it soaking in a pan of the stuff overnight, removed it, hosed it with brake cleaner to removed the kerosene, let the brake cleaner evaporate, wiped it with Breakfree CLP, one drop of oil on each slide recess and she seems to feed fine now.

What a wonderful little pistol! John Browning was a genius.

 

[James K]

I won't dispute that Browning was a genius, but the Colt Woodsman was mostly the work of Colt employees Francis C. Chadwick and George H. Tansley, who were working on a .22 pistol at the same time as Browning; the patent applications were filed by Colt together, but not granted at the same time. It is apparent that the Tansley-Chadwick design, though little different from the Browning, was the one used for the production gun.

Ultimately, both patent grant dates were marked on the slides, so Browning gets some of the credit.

Jim

 

[30-30remchester]

Here is a couple of pictures of a Woodsman magazine I have. Hope this helps.

 

[dmg4]

Looks to me like the lip on the right side is bent in a hair more on my magazine, and it actually touches the follower very lightly. As it seems to be working fine now, I think I'll shoot some more and see what happens. If I start to get rounds feeding halfway into the chamber again then we'll revisit the issue. But for now the cleaning seems to have improved the reliability of feeding from the mag.

Based upon the advice received, and the picture of the other magazines, I'm still a bit unsure as to whether I should bend the left lip in more to match the right, or the right lip slightly outward to match the left.

30-30 Remchester: How's the feeding from this magazine? Have you ever had a jam in which the round only made it halfway up the feed ramp and was then trapped by the return of the slide?

 

[30-30remchester]

I have several older magazines and havent had the problem you describe. Just prior to your post I had fired my woodsman @150 times with this magazine and had no malfuntions.

 

[James K]

Just remember what I said about "...the rim of the cartridge rides up on (not in) the front lips..." That is the important part. If the rim goes between the front lips, you will have jams.

Jim

 

[dmg4]

Got it. Thanks for the guidance. I'll try cycling some rounds very slowly by working the slide by hand to see if I can see exactly how it's feeding.