Colt Python

I don't know how good it may or may not be for Bullseye, but I'm going to find it very difficult to not buy one of these....

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2020/1/1/the-keefe-report-the-colt-python-is-back/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=insider&utm_campaign=0120

I always wanted one, and actually could have bought a brand new one from a showcase 30 or so years ago, but since then, the price just keeps climbing, and fewer and fewer gunsmiths have the knowledge to work on them.  I guess I need to squeeze one of these in between the two High Standards I'm already buying, and the Pardini that I find it hard to forget about.  

(If this gun will NOT be useful for Bullseye, this thread can be moved to the General Forum....   but if the new technology is accurate and precise, maybe it will be good for us as well all the people who want one but can't afford an original....)

That's awesome news! I've always loved the lines of the Python, the only thing I don't like is the price lol. Maybe these will be priced where us shooters can actually afford them.

It will be great for Bullseye. At least for DR matches. I don't think they drilled and tapped it so it won't be my first choice. I always thought the grips felt odd also. But that is why they make different colored hats.

Len

Lots of them for sale on Gunbroker at scalper prices. Get on Buds list if you want one. NFI

https://www.budsgunshop.com/product_info.php/products_id/411559134/colt+python+revolver+357+magnum+6in+stainless%2fwalnut+6rd

Won't they take all the "shortcuts" that S&W has, regarding manufacturing, machining, and quality?

Thanks for the link regarding Bud's.  I added myself to the list, but won't be doing anything about this for a while.  I'll see if there are any reviews that have been posted.

Three different reviews, one with a factory representative...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA5er19C7cA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2NEmyJMd1k 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrLYZruNw_g

I don't think we will know how good they are until a bulleye shooter gets one and uses a ransom rest to test it at 25 and 50 yards.  I would like one but in CA I don't think they will be available.

Those are some fluff reviews, to be sure.

Outthere wrote:Those are some fluff reviews, to be sure.

I'd like to find a real review, comparing the details, sort of like what was done for the "new" S&W Model 19.  I've got a Model 19, and based on placing it alongside a new one, and reading what S&W did to keep the new one affordable, I lost interest in the new one.  The old one even felt "better" in my hand, along with feeling more "precise".  The old one felt like S&W used to create, before economics changed everything.

The first YouTube video I posted seemed mostly like "marketing".  After watching that, I wasn't very impressed.  The second YouTube video was interesting, but didn't move me one way or another.  The third video I found fascinating for so many reasons - here's this "old timer" expert giving his impressions, and everything he said sounded useful, even if it wasn't directly related to Bullseye.  I finished that thinking that my "dreams" of an original Python would only be while it was in a display case.  The new model looks just as good, no complaints, and apparently it "works" better.  

That leaves me wondering about the barrel, and the "parts", whether they're made with old technology or new.  I guess the "proof" will be how they compare in the hands of some good Bullseye shooters.


Probably there are too many people like me, who've wanted one for many years, while watching the price climb like an elevator.  Something they said in the video hit me as very true - if I spent the thousands of dollars to get an "original", why not spend a fraction of the cost and get the new one that apparently is designed to work better.  Maybe someone here with the talent to give us a good review will test one, and post the results.  (In the meantime, when Bud's or my local hobby shop has one in stock, at their advertised price, I expect I'll be buying one.)

...........if S&W re-introduced the Model 952, manufacturing it to the same quality level as before, I'd possibly feel the same way..............

troystaten wrote:I don't think we will know how good they are until a bulleye shooter gets one and uses a ransom rest to test it at 25 and 50 yards.  I would like one but in CA I don't think they will be available.

I don't think anything new can make it onto the list

So CA distinguishes between new Pythons and old ones? Good thing you guys have good weather in CA, at least you get something good for living there lol.

The weather really is quite nice.

(I doubt old Pythons are on the list either.)

For the most part in CA your only choice for a Python is finding a used one in State or buying one out of state that is older than 50 years old.  I think if you are in law enforcement in CA you can buy whatever you want.  Don't quote me when your buying though:)

For me it would matter if I could “thumb” it during rapid fire. Of all me revolvers, only the Smiths work for me.
Kurt

I shoot a Python for DR and I thumb it. I have small hands, too.

Not sure how dimensionally similar these new Pythons are to the originals.

They're similar enough they said in a video the old and new grips are interchangeable. The videos claim the new Python has a very smooth double action superior to many other revolvers but I've never played with a new or old python.

Colt might have a few bugs to work out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dO-lQEX49U

It won't affect their accuracy, per say.  I'd also love to see how they do in a Ransom Rest.

Read Kuhnhausen's shop manual on the D,E,I (Python) revolvers and you'll likely agree that the internals such as the bolt, rebound lever, and hand from those guns literally can not be mass produced and dropped in.  Their design precludes it.  So I suspect we have a Cobra with a rib and high polish unfortunately.  We'd need to see the thing with the sideplate removed as well as a view of the forcing cone.  Then a real revolversmith would need to comment on timing, cylinder throat diameter consistency and alignment with bore.  Fortunately this is all already done for us and guaranteed to be near perfect - just go find an Officers Model Match, shut up and write the check for a grand.  It's a python without the polish as long as you don't want to shoot 357. (PS  There is nothing in Jerry's book about this mythical tapered bore of the Python. Maybe a current owner can slug his gun and comment.)

Even though it's out of stock, I noticed Buds has raised the price from $1350 to about $2000.   Supply and demand at work!

There is a picture of the insides with the side plate removed on the Colt forum and the lock work is not a coil spring lock work it is more like a simplified version of the old Python lock with a leaf spring.  Still no real accuracy report yet.

I love this old magazine article about tuning the older Colt lockwork with a hammer: https://gunsmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/G0557.pdf

Here is a blog written by someone who sought out tuned Pythons/Officer Models and such to figure out what was done to get good DA and SA trigger actions: http://coltpython.blogspot.com/search?q=double+action  Unfortunately photobucket ate all his pictures and, hoo boy, there used to be a bunch of comparison pictures between stock and modified parts.

Photobucket single handedly screwed over pretty much all forums and hobbiests in the country.

So I've always wanted a Python and I've been looking at them on gun broker again so my question is what does it mean when in the description is says may have foreign marks or import marks but on the side of the barrel it's stamped Manufactured by Colt Hartford Conn. Anybody ?
                                                                                   Thanks Keith
And by the way theses brand new Python's are popping up on Gun Broker already.

   By the way I'm referring to the older models with the foreign "proofs and import proofs"

(They've had an issue where the cylinder doesn't rotate properly.  Wait until that's corrected if you want to buy one.)

thanks Mike I will.

(I posted this earlier - you can see the problem near the end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dO-lQEX49U    )