Woodsman Match Target reblue tells?

[chinaski]

Hello, I have an opportunity to pick up a 2nd series Woodsman Match Target that seems to be in pretty good shape but I'm not very familiar with these and had some questions I was hoping someone may be able to help with.

From if my research is correct, the serial number the gun dates to 1950 or 51 (SN is 8xxxx S) and is a second series with the magazine release below and behind the trigger guard. The blueing looks almost perfect on the gun, no edge wear or marks, slight bit of wear on the top inside of the slide where it contacts the barrel but I can tell that's normal from the slide functioning. The grips have almost perfect checkering but the finish is peeled off on the bottom of the left grip and probably only 50% on the right one, just spots left and a little black spot near the top (may from the way the empty case is ejected).

My concern is the finish, it seems too good for a gun close to 70 years old with the grips in the shape they are in, though to their credit the checkering is still very sharp. I've worked part time at a gunsmith shop and have seen a good amount of bad, not so bad, good and excellent reblue jobs. I don't see any tell tale signs of a bad or not so bad job on this one, the polish is nice, the markings are not washed out, nothing seems to be badly rounded over either. One thing I did see is that the edges of the stampings like the Cold signal are not proud from being upset. I don't know enough about Colt to know if this is correct or not, looking at my old S&W revolvers from the 50s I can see the edges of the markings sticking up just a fuzz from the stamping process, seems the guns may have been polished stamped then blued or polished ever so slightly before blueing. Just wondering what would be correct for Colts of the 50s, that and if the grip finish deteriorating is just a normal thing, kinda like the "crazing" that old Belguim Brownings show on their finish.

Thanks, any help is appreciated, I don't want to be a stickler for perfection but I don't want to spend more money on something than I should.

[824tsv]

2nd Series Woodsman's including the Match target shipped with plastic grips. The Target/Sport/Match Target had a thumbrest on the left grip panel. These 3 also shipped with a large and small plastic grip adapter that attached to the rear of the mainspring housing by way of a screw. Can you provide any pic's of the pistol you are looking at?

[NVaVettes]

Second series Woodsman Match Targets should have the muzzle face in the white.

Many re-blues will re-blue everything and then just leave it at that.

Hope this helps!

Don

[chinaski]

Thanks you two, I appreciate it, I hadn't ever really researched these and this one popped up, the muzzle is blued so that's a dead giveaway, I had known about some kind of grip adjusters but never seen them and knew this one didn't have anything like that and nonplsatic grips.

Gun would be a nice shooter but not for the deal and trade I've been offered, glad I checked here.