Colt should bring back the Python

[Photon Guy]

Colt should start producing the Python again. Such a fine gun and now you can only get it used and it will cost you $3000, $4000 or more. You might, stress the word might, be able to find one in mint condition but than you will be really breaking the bank even more. I wouldn't be surprised for a mint condition Colt Python to go for ten grand or more. With popular media such as Walking Dead I would think there would be a demand for the Python so Colt should bring it back.

 

[darkroommike]

Python redux

I don't see it happening, all new tooling, training a new generation of techs, all that hand fitting. I suspect that a new Python, if it could be made, would cost more than the $3000 you quoted for a used one. But if it did happen for a more reasonable price I'd be right behind you in line!

 

[DPris]

Colt can't afford to bring the Python back, and if they did you wouldn't buy one at the necessary price level.
Denis

 

[T. O'Heir]

Three or 4 grand is likely optimistic. BNIB and used Pythons are running 3 grand plus on Gunbroker now.
And they were finished, by hand, by highly skilled guys who, for the most part, are gone. One way or another. The guys who made 'em back when, weren't getting the kind of money unions demand now either.
"Mint condition" means unfired with no handling marks, in the original box and exactly as it came out of the factory.

 

[Tex44]

The cost to manufacture the gun is prohibitive, and even if they were to make it, the market would be limited due to the cost of the gun. Frankly, there's no money to be made doing it. Even when they were making Pythons, they were not easy sellers. They were too expensive and would sit on shelves for a long time.

Another reason that Colt won't bring it back is due to their over reliance on military contracts. They care far more about those contracts than their civilian shooting base. What army is going to buy a overpriced high end revolver?

 

[UncleEd]

I know many will disagree but really what demand is there for a revolver that never could measure up to the Smith revolvers and now also the Ruger revolvers?

Now if Colt built a look-alike Python with a stronger, less delicate lockwork, maybe a market could be there as long as the price didn't far outpace the
Smiths and Rugers. It truly was a beautiful revolver though how much
more so than a Smith 586 could be argued.

I've had Pythons apart and they in no way can compare to the Smiths and Rugers. Just pulling the side plate, a big risk exists that the very tiny
cylinder thumb release spring will fly into the nether reaches,
never to be found again. And a real pain is an internal bolt screw which
only needs to loosen just a hair for the action to go kaput.

 

[turkeestalker]

And they were finished, by hand, by highly skilled guys who, for the most part, are gone.

Sad but true, and based on that I'm not sure that a worthy resurrection on par with the originals would be a possibility.
If it were a possibility only the 1%'s could afford one, I know that I certainly couldn't or at least wouldn't.

 

[sirgilligan]

I believe the real problem is that the generation of buyers that are interested in the Colt Python are dwindling in numbers every day. I think of it similar to retro-cars. Those that remember fond outings in a 57 Chevy aren't a large of enough group with enough money to get GM to make a modern 57.

I think that modern machining processes can reduce the amount of hand fitting necessary to make a modern Python. So I don't think it is cost prohibitive.

I also think that if one was made it would be similar to how people respond to the Walther PPK. There are those that say, "I wouldn't own the S&W PPK, the beaver tail is wrong, ..., its not the real thing." People would look at the new Python and say, "Oh, that's the new Python. It will never be worth as much as the original."

So, for those that talk like they want the highest quality firearm made, what do they have in the safe? I imagine there are plenty of hand build firearms made somewhere today. My point is, I think most people like myself pine and dream about these things but our actions prove we won't spend the money.

 

[Doyle]

Colt is essentially bankrupt. They can't even afford to bring back their own name - much less something as complicated as a revolver.

 

[DPris]

It IS cost-prohibitive, and CNC can't get around that entirely.
Denis

 

[BigJimP]

S&W's revolvers today ....are not built the same as they were 40 yrs ago...there was a lot more "fitting" and different mfg'ing processes in those days - different plating & different bluing processes, there are MIM parts in their revolvers today, etc...

...that's not to say, that today's S&W revolvers are not good guns, they are in my view, but they are not the same ....( old model 27's like a Python demand a premium on used market / todays classic model 27 or the 627 at $ 1,000 - $ 1,250 are just not the same ) ...and I have some of both.

Today's classic model 27's ( 6 shot, blued only ) but its not the same blue as the old model 27's - not nearly as rich a color & there is no nickel available in the new model / or the stainless 627's ( 8 shot in .357 Mag ) - are still N frames in .357 mag..but they're very different.

Colt has the same issues ...they can't go back and recreate the craftmanship of 40 yrs ago.../ and I don't think they want to.

 

[buck460XVR]

Colt should start producing the Python again. Such a fine gun and now you can only get it used and it will cost you $3000, $4000 or more. You might, stress the word might, be able to find one in mint condition but than you will be really breaking the bank even more. I wouldn't be surprised for a mint condition Colt Python to go for ten grand or more. With popular media such as Walking Dead I would think there would be a demand for the Python so Colt should bring it back.

One wonders what big corporations like Colt pays their marketing executives when random internet gun forum posters know what's more profitable than they do.


Just sayin'.

 

[Photon Guy]

Perhaps in The Walking Dead the main character Rick Grimes should've used a Smith & Wesson or a Ruger as his signature weapon instead of a Python.

 

[NoSecondBest]

I like all the comments about "hand fitting" of parts.....like that was a good thing. The auto industry still "hand fits" all it's doors, hoods, and trunks, even on the cheapest cars. They have people at the end of the assembly process with pieces of 2x4s and adjust all of these hinged doors by slamming them on a strategically located piece of wood so that they close properly and the gaps are reasonably even all the way around. The Japanese just make them to spec to begin with. The better new guns are made on some very accurate CNC machines and don't require all the "hand fitting". I can't believe anyone thinks Rugers are high quality guns along the lines of a Python. Ruger uses the most cost effective processes ever developed for gun manufacturing. Nothing about them is "high quality". I own a good number of them....they work and shoot fairly well, but their light years from a Python in finish.

 

[DPris]

The Python was a very labor-intensive gun, CNC can't bring it back, Colt would have to start up from scratch (aside from the patterns), and they don't have a labor force that could produce in volume to the same standards as the originals.

Expensive program that would not recover start-up costs on any kind of a sustainable basis.
Denis

 

[Jim Watson]

Even the late coil spring large frame DA Colts are reselling high.
An Anaconda will have a high resale price.

The Mk III - Mk V guns were designed for modern production methods as of 40- 50 years ago.

I assume Colt does not have the money to bring even them back or does not think they would sell if they did.

 

[Nick_C_S]

One wonders why big corporations like Colt pay their marketing executives when random internet gun forum posters know better what's more profitable than they do. (paraphrased)

'xactly.

I can prove it wouldn't be profitable for Colt to reprise the Python . . .

. . . Because they're not reprising the Python.

Let's not forget that the (new) gun couldn't be sold in California - so that's a huge off-limits market.

At least I can say - with a gloat - that I have my Python. 6" Blue. Purchased new in '83 (has a late '82 production serial number). It's in about 95% condition. Has a tiny nick on the very tip of the muzzle - almost invisible. Very slight holster wear toward the muzzle. And of course, the cylinder drag ring. Probably about 2k rounds through it. Nice piece. I do wish it was a 4" bbl though.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

It IS cost-prohibitive, and CNC can't get around that entirely.
Denis

Howdy

I love all the folks who think there is something magic about CNC and how anything made on a CNC machine will somehow be perfect.

Driftwood Johnson - ex-CNC programmer.

 

[NoSecondBest]

I had one back in the 80's and ended up selling it. It was super slick as far as the action goes and the bluing was something else....real eye candy. However, it never shot quite as well as any of the 586s or 686s that I've owned. It shot good, just not as good. Still, I guess I wished I'd have kept it. It's sort of a piece of history.

 

[Mycin]

My buddy has a BNIB 6" Python he bought in, I think, 1979. Never been fired. No drag marks, dings, chips. Brand new. Original box and all the papers.

He jokes that he has a picture of it to show to anyone who breaks into the house, because that's as close as he could come to actually using it.

I think it's a big piece of his retirement plan, at this point.