I just missed a near pristine Colt 1917 this past month. While I would have bought it, I doubt I would have shot it much if at all. As mentioned, timing issues are common with Colt DA's and fixing endshake has no simple cure like dropping some Power washers (bearings) into the cylinder. I wonder if even the Colt factory is loosing the knowledge to work on these old v-springs. The Python was the last of that breed and it has been out of production for six years and had low production numbers for some time before that.