Python with 3in barrel

[Jeff #111]

I have wanted a Python revolver since the Seventies (I was a kid at that time). I was too young and as I moved into the Eighties I (like so many of my generation) turned my back on revolvers and went over to semi-auto pistols. By the time I rediscovered six shooters (approximately 20 years ago) the Python was a specialty shop handgun and way out of my price range. As we all know once Colt discontinued the Python Elite in 2005 the price went even higher. I turned to S&W and Ruger and discovered that I could purchase examples of Colt's Official Police, Officer Model and Detective Special for a whole lot less money. I stopped wanting a Python.

When the Python was brought back in 2020 I was intrigued, but I figured there would be teething problems. There were. I watched the Hitchcock45 YouTube video, and I watched a couple of the YouTube videos by that young man who seemed to have some type of personal vendetta going on against Colt. I read the articles and the interviews and over the last couple of years I concluded that the issues were fixed. I was okay with the fact that the internal design isn't the same and actually appears to be stronger if less intricate. I like the fact that Colt had made the frame stronger as well.

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time. I sold a couple guns, pulled a little bit extra out of my savings account and purchased a 3" Python. I'm impressed. No scratches or blemishes, the side plate screws are tight, and it shoots just fine. It's a very well put together revolver and it appears that sometimes you do get what you pay for.

This has nothing to do with Colt vs S&W (though it is fun to read the articles in the back issues of various gun periodicals from the Sixties and fifties) and I am aware of the barrel length and magnum performance issue. I had a scratch that I waited decades to scratch, and I have always liked the 3"-barrel configuration. It isn't for the field. It's for fun. I have working handguns. This isn't one of them and what's wrong with that? There is a YouTuber who describes those of us who purchase handguns just to own them as "idiots" so there is that then.

I already own an original Colt "357" revolver with 6" barrel so I can get "true" magnum performance with a magnum revolver. I switched the Altamont grips from the Python to the 357 in case you're wondering.

 

[44 AMP]

There is a YouTuber who describes those of us who purchase handguns just to own them as "idiots" so there is that then.

There are those of us who describe UTubers as idiots. With rare exceptions, I think we are more correct than they are.

Unless I'm missing something, the only way to own anything is to make it yourself, receive it as a gift, inherit it, or purchase it...

Is everyone who purchases art such as a painting or sculpture an idiot too?? because, after all, all one can do with those things is look at them....

Personally I've never been a Python fan, old or new, and 3" revolvers do nothing for me. But, having spent over a decade (more than once ) waiting and trying to get my hands on specific guns I wanted, I know the itch and scratch, quite well.

What matters is you got what you had wanted for a long time.

 

[Jeff #111]

Unless I'm missing something, the only way to own anything is to make it yourself, receive it as a gift, inherit it, or purchase it...

Is everyone who purchases art such as a painting or sculpture an idiot too?? because, after all, all one can do with those things is look at them....

That's what retail, and our economy, is all about isn't it? The never-ending debate about whether guns are only tools of if (some) guns are items that are owned for their own sake.

 

[RC20]

Having had the distinct pleasure of shooting an old Python, well, it just reeks of slick feel, its an incredible feeling action.

Now I owned Smith and Wesson revolver and loved them. Good action, but a Python would be a to die for feel to it.

For myself, I would never buy a Python, its not worth it to me, but I would not buy a latter day one either, its just not going to be the same.

 

[Jeff #111]

For myself, I would never buy a Python, its not worth it to me, but I would not buy a latter day one either, its just not going to be the same.

I understand. I have had the opportunity to fire a Manurhrin MR73 revolver. Very impressive piece of engineering, but I'm not going to pay over three thousand dollars for one. The Python is my max. And then there is the price tag on the Korth revolvers. Mind blowing.

 

[The Happy kaboomer]

Have ya'll priced a Freedom Arms revolver lately? My mdl 97 is now over $2800.00.

 

[CajunBass]

I'm another who wanted a Python for a LONG time. When I went to buy my first handgun in the late 70's, I knew I wanted either a Smith and Wesson Model 19, or a Colt Python. The Python sold retail for about twice what the Model 19 did. I became Smith and Wesson guy. I owned dozens of them over the years, but I never lost the "want" for a Python, I just always ended up with something else that was "just as good, but less expensive." And they were really. As a platform to launch a .357 bullet downrange, one was probably as good as the other. But they weren't a Python, and I still wanted one. Heck for what I spent buying "just as good but less expensive" I could have bought a dozen Pythons, but my mind doesn't work like that.

Eventually, thirty years or so later, I did buy a Python. A rare "shooter grade" with a 4" barrel. Loved it. Why just looking at it made me happy. Was it any better? If it was, I couldn't tell it. But it was a Python.

Alas, I had to sell that gun when I lost my job and suffered a "personal economic downturn." I told myself it was OK. At least it went to a young Marine just back from the sandbox. I figured he'd earned it. I figured I'd never own another one. Colt had stopped making them, and the prices were heading toward used car land.

Then Colt reintroduced the Python in 2020. I was pretty close to the front of the line to get one. S/N was less that 3000, and I had read that Colt held back the first 1000 numbers. It was a 6" gun, not my preferred 4", but it was a Python, and I liked it. Shot the snot out of it. At about 800 rounds I had a problem...uh oh...the same problem Hickok45 had it appeared. But I had seen his video, and thought to check the sideplate screws. Sure enough, they were loose and the sideplate was starting to work it's way out. A couple of minutes with a screwdriver, and it was back in business. They never came loose again.

Well, to make this long story a bit shorter, I eventually found a 4 (.2) inch one and got that too. S/N in the 5500 range. That one has never had a problem. I check the screws once in a while, but they're always tight. I sold the 6" one since it wasn't being shot anymore. Then my wife insisted she wanted one of "her own" and she picked out another 4" one. I have to check the S/N to know which is which.

I almost never fire magnum ammo in them. Mostly 38 wadcutters to tell you the truth. All I use them for is casually punching a hole in a piece of paper so why bother with magnum ammo? I don't own a holster for them, and never will. They ride in a range bag, and sleep in a gun sock in my safe.

I tell people, I didn't buy a Python because I think it's any better than any other revolver. I tell them I bought a Python, because (1) I've always wanted one. And (2) because it's a Python, and when you really want a Python, nothing else will scratch that itch.

A blue one would be nice though...

 

[603Country]

I’ve had a 4” Python since the 80’s. A couple of years ago I bought a S&W 686+ to take the shooting load off the Python (the grandkids and visitors always want to shoot the Python). Now they shoot the 686. I could be talked into selling the 686, but not the Python.

Had a French kid here a while back. He was a Walking Dead fan and was so excited to shoot the “Pee-thown”, as he pronounced it.

There is something special about the Python.

 

[Jeff #111]

Yeah, a blue one would be great.

 

[Lavan]

I...always... preferred the Smiths to the Pythons. Sold every Python I ended up with.
But....sold the LAST ONE......
...............................
............................Two months before the announcement of discontinuance.