Picked up a rifle a couple weeks ago I've had my eye on for awhile - there was always something else to buy but finally the owner started threatening to deactivate it and sell it to steampunk cosplayers and I had to shit or get off the pot! This is a Portuguese Kropatschek Mo.1886/89 - sort of a weird transition between the blackpowder and early smokeless era.
Portugal had the misfortune of always being short on funds and consequently a step or two behind on arms procurement. They were usually using one generation back of British arms until 1885, when they adopted the locally designed Castro-Guedes single shot rifle and then promptly realised that everyone in Europe was ditching their single-shots for repeaters. They then canceled the contract with Steyr (who was making it for them) in exchange for Kropatschek rifles (also used in small numbers by the French and Austrian navies) in a new 8mm cartridge using compressed black powder as propellant.
Of course they adopted this at roughly the same time the French came out with the Lebel and smokeless powder, leaving them stuck with a rifle that was obsolete when adopted. While the round was very advanced (for black powder) and could be loaded with smokeless easily enough, the rifle itself was not. They're long and heavy and use a tube magazine (which the French pretty much copied wholesale on the Lebel) with an odd side-mounted cleaning rod and bayonet, and the bolt has no front locking lugs, meaning its of marginal strength for smokeless loads. Interestingly enough the 8mm Kropatschek smokeless load, while no magnum, was still fairly powerful and the rifles seem to have held up well enough. Regardless the Portuguese didn't order any more than the initial contract and came out with the Vergueiro relatively soon afterwards.
The Kropatscheks did actually see combat use in Africa in WW1 in the hands of Portuguese colonial troops, mainly native askaris. Apparently white regular army sent to Africa used Vergueiros while the colonials got Kropatscheks, modified with an extra wooden handguard for African use. This is one of those, and as the Portuguese troops on the Western front were issued Lee-Enfields to simply logistics, one of the few actual Portuguese rifles to see use in action.
I also had an impulse purchase - after having so much fun with my High Standard Model B, when I saw this 1929 Colt Woodsman Target listed in a sale flyer with another dealer I just had to jump on it. At $300 it was too good of a deal to miss!
My first thoughts on seeing it were that as close as the designs are, a Colt is a Colt. The Hi Standard is nice but there's no comparing it to the fit and finish on the Woodsman. My second thoughts, on taking it apart, is that it was not John Moses Browning's simplest design ever! The simplified takedown on the Hi Standard was a vast improvement, I spent 10 minutes figuring out how to reinstall the hammer spring on the Colt.
I like the ergonomics better on the Woodsman, the trigger is slightly further forward and it falls more naturally under your finger, and the gun is overall slimmer and lighter. The safety on the Hi Standard is easier to use though. The Hi Standard has a notably heavier barrel and less muzzle flip, but neither kick much and they're both scary accurate. The Colt has adjustable sights, which is a nice touch - they're a little smaller than the Hi Standard, but its not like either is intended for combat shooting.
Overall between the two I think I like the Woodsman best, until I have to clean it. But of course I've always been a total pony whore. It is definitely nice to have a .22 pistol or two around, both for cheap shooting and for when I take the girlfriend. It's funny I spent so much time returning GSG 1911s and Sig Mosquitos at Cabelas, and getting frustrated I could never convince new shooters to just buy a real, non-tacticool target pistol, but it took until after I left to take my own advice!
