Python, still being produced?
- Thread starter bk40
- Start date
Last time I checked, the Python was a Colt Custom Shop ONLY proposition. I believe that even from the CCS, the Python is available in stainless steel only. No more beautifully blued Pythons.
BTW, I was looking in my just arrived GunList this evening. Prices for used and older NIB Pythons is really climbing.
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Just one of the Good Guys
BTW, I was looking in my just arrived GunList this evening. Prices for used and older NIB Pythons is really climbing.
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Just one of the Good Guys
Pj0759@aol.com
New member
BK,I was told by Colt some time back that they will no longer produce the Python,even special editions,whether the person I talked to is correct I can only speculate. Acording to any dealers etc,I have talked to they are occasionally still getting some backstock items from Colt..but not much,and have not heard of any new Pythons being offered. It is a shame I have 3..all mint mid 70's to 80's models and have to say they are my favorite revolvers.There are still some older ones out there but they bring a high dollar..PJ
Out of curiosity I hit Colt's website. There is NO mention of the Python anywhere. DAMN! I guess the Python really is gone! All the Custom Shop currently offers is Model P's and 1911's. No wonder the prices for Pythons are going up. And me owning only one Python. 
bk40, it looks like you were wise to put that one on layaway. Pythons are in a league of their own, something you will soon find out the first time you take yours to the range. HAVE FUN!
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Just one of the Good Guys
bk40, it looks like you were wise to put that one on layaway. Pythons are in a league of their own, something you will soon find out the first time you take yours to the range. HAVE FUN!
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Just one of the Good Guys
Gunslinger
Moderator
Other than the SAA, which is a custom shop gun, and the Cowboy all Colt revolvers were last built by Philips & Rodgers in Texas. Colt quit "producing" revolvers some time ago.
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Gunslinger
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Gunslinger
Robert the41MagFan
New member
Someone got a contract to build guns for Colt from their parts bins. They are building these guns, adding 28% markup and selling them to the dealer. Yes, Pythons have arrived in this fashion, but very spendy. About $900 a copy.
Robert
Robert
Thanks for the tip Gunslinger and Robert- learn something new every day.
I checked it over pretty close and it is very well fit and the finish appears to be excellent. Whoever put this one together did a great job. The only mod I envison will be a trigger job... but, I'm a picky •••••••
I checked it over pretty close and it is very well fit and the finish appears to be excellent. Whoever put this one together did a great job. The only mod I envison will be a trigger job... but, I'm a picky •••••••
There are amazing amounts of NOS sitting on back shelves at distributors, so expect discontinued Colts to continue showing up for quite a while.
Having said that, the Python is not what it used to be. I just traded a stainless mid-80s one that had to go back to Hartford a few times for timing problems for a royal blue custom shop Python from the mid 70s. Because everyone likes stainless better (well, almost everyone -- I think there's nothing quite like the Royal Blue) it was an almost even trade.
I'm very interested to hear about these "parts bins" non-Colt Pythons. You'd need an 01 FFL to do that (I think that's the "manufacturer" license). If they were put together by people who knew what they were doing, I suppose it could be just as good as Colt ever made? Sort of a strange concept, though -- and how do you sell them without infringing on Colt's trademarks?
Having said that, the Python is not what it used to be. I just traded a stainless mid-80s one that had to go back to Hartford a few times for timing problems for a royal blue custom shop Python from the mid 70s. Because everyone likes stainless better (well, almost everyone -- I think there's nothing quite like the Royal Blue) it was an almost even trade.
I'm very interested to hear about these "parts bins" non-Colt Pythons. You'd need an 01 FFL to do that (I think that's the "manufacturer" license). If they were put together by people who knew what they were doing, I suppose it could be just as good as Colt ever made? Sort of a strange concept, though -- and how do you sell them without infringing on Colt's trademarks?
Gunslinger
Moderator
J, Philips & Rodgers were simply building them and shipping them back to Colt to be marketed with the Colt name. I'm not sure if they are still building them because I haven't talked with Rodger in some time.
They are a ClassI manufacturer. They are the same people that build and sell the Meduza multicaliber revolver.
An interesting side note is that Colt was planning to release a multicaliber revolver under their name produced by P&R's when they decided to get out of the "civilian" market. There were 25 guns built.
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Gunslinger
They are a ClassI manufacturer. They are the same people that build and sell the Meduza multicaliber revolver.
An interesting side note is that Colt was planning to release a multicaliber revolver under their name produced by P&R's when they decided to get out of the "civilian" market. There were 25 guns built.
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Gunslinger
GS -- neat, I think <g> -- thanks for the info.
I am remembering, sorta, an article quite recently in The Hartford Courant (the Hartford newspaper) that IIRC said that Colt had basically stopped shipping *any* civilian firearms. I wouldn't swear to this, and the sad thing is that it was within the past two or three weeks and I really don't remember the exact words. It was more extreme than the action Colt took late last year, and since it was from the local paper I thought it was probably likely to be pretty reliable (but who knows).
I am remembering, sorta, an article quite recently in The Hartford Courant (the Hartford newspaper) that IIRC said that Colt had basically stopped shipping *any* civilian firearms. I wouldn't swear to this, and the sad thing is that it was within the past two or three weeks and I really don't remember the exact words. It was more extreme than the action Colt took late last year, and since it was from the local paper I thought it was probably likely to be pretty reliable (but who knows).
JNewell, that was the result of a story published in the WSJ last Sept(?) as a result of a letter sent out by a FORMER Colt employee, he got fired. It isn't true, it never was true, it is urban legend. Colt is shipping guns. Not a lot after laying off about 300 employees, but the Match Targets have been flowing at the gun shows.