A friend called saying that he had a line on a Colt Python as well as some other guns. He hasn't seen the Python, but has seen the shells for it. The lady's husband took her revolver, drove to Missouri from Arkansas. He fired one round in the ground to test the revolver, and one into his head. She is waiting to recover the revolver from Missouri, that's why she is selling it. Not sure that I would want it. But, I digress. Did Colt make a Python chambered in .45 Colt?

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otis

No, but the Anaconda was.

I am really sure I would not want it.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

I’ve never heard of a Python in .45LC myself. Anyone else?

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Some Might Say.

No but they did make the Anaconda in .45 Colt.

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BCCI Life Member #2068

Colt made 1 only Python in .41 Mag and never sold it(it mysteriously dissappeared from their office and was never to this day traced back).It was made so as to check if the frame and cylinder could handle the pressure from the thinner walls of the cylinder.
But to my knowledge,never has been one built in .45 Colt.I own one and doubt if there'd be enough meat between the holes in the cylinder to be safe.With lawyers lurking behind bushes I doubt Colt would have gone that path.

I don't believe the Python was ever made in .any calibers other than 38/.357. I don't think its big enough for the .45 Colt cartridge.
However, the Anaconda was. The .45 Colt Anaconda is somewhat scarce and highly prized among collectors. It does bear a resemblance to the Python and I'm sure your friend just made a mistake in the identification.

I am guessing it is a case of misidentification since he hasn't seen it.

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otis

On the condition of THIS gun. I don't think you will want it when you see it! Crime Scene evidence guns are never cleaned! Maybe refrigerated but never cleaned! So it has had everything on it since he pulled the trigger. It was also dropped, and that could be even worse, depending on what it landed on.

Dealing with widows is always a rough time. I would save myself a lot of grief and walk away!

Ivan

The largest of the 5 cartridges that the Python has been chambered in over the many decades is 41 Magnum

A Python cylinder is basically L-frame sized. There is no way that 6 45LCs would ever fit.

Now a 5 shot custom build would be possible

As already stated, the 45LC was a standard chambering for the Anaconda

As Old Timer, from Fibber McGee and Molly, would say...” that’s not the way I heard it sonny”........often discussed on the Colt forum it is said that Colt made up two or three Pythons in .41 for a distributor as prototypes......Colt had second thoughts on the safety and recalled them......Those prototypes were sold in a big Colt auction of a few years ago.......but there was never a .45 colt python.......

otis24, the O.P., did not write the Python's owner said the Python is chambered for .45 Colt. He also did not write anything about her misidentifying her Python. It's too bad that otis24 did not separate his question from his story by making his last sentence a separate paragraph.

Knowing the gun was last used to commit suicide would not bother me. I've had lots of military surplus firearms that came from militaries that did worse things with many of their guns and I do not even think about that.

The Python cylinder is not large enough for the 45 Colt cartridge, so there is no way that it is in that caliber. Pythons were only available in 38 Special and 357 Magnum. One experimental 41 Magnum Python and several gunsmith conversions of Pythons to 41 do exist. If it looks like a Python, but is actually in 45 Colt, then it would be the Colt Anaconda, which looks like a larger Python, but has the King Cobra style lock work.

It may have been a conversion but I saw a .41 magnum Python at a gun show a couple of years ago. The owner wouldn't let anyone hold it unless they were serious about buying it. It had a Colt box and some paperwork, but he was asking 17,000$ for it. Needless to say I only looked at it.