Worked for Colts Security in 1976. We could purchase any Colt product at employee prices. While I really admired the Pythons I still bought a S&W 19 with 4 inch barrel.Shot plenty of Pythons but the Smith felt better in the hand.

I would have worked out a layaway deal on the whole bunch and used the money as my first installment.

I would have gravitated toward that 4" Python.

I would have tried to get that, or a model 19.

The short barreled Smith, 3-1/2 or 4", whichever it is, because that's not only a great gun, it's a barrel length I don't have. Pretty wood in the grips too. I have or had 2-1/2, 6, 6.5 and 8-3/8, but never landed a 3.5-4".
RKmesa - Thanks for the pics - they're all beauties.

I've loved the discussion so far... BTW, in 1978, I was fairly young, but coveting a 4" model 66

Side by side photo comparison of the S&W and Snakes (no box/case distraction):

__________________
Richard
Engraved S&W fan

Richard:

In 1978 I had a 2 1/2" and a 4" 66 no dash!! Only because I had been issued them in 1975 as a rookie police officer. In 1977 I had been to the Smith and Wesson factory Armorer's school, and was working on Smiths on a regular basis, and was very impressed with the mechanics of the Hand Ejector based guns. Smith automatics were in their infancy then.

Best Regards, Les

__________________
SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I was fourteen in 1978 and was after a shotgun with a slug barrel so I could shoot a 10 point buck. I do have a 78 Python that I bought in 1992 for $400 that came with 300 rounds of ammo.
If I could go back to 1978 now I probably buy the 4" Python or maybe a 4" model 19 , oh heck I'd buy them both.

Attached Images

image.jpg (70.2 KB, 39 views)

I was a Skeeter fan in 1978, so I got the 5" M27



At the same shop I passed on a consecutive numbered pair of M29's,
one a 5 screw the other a 4 screw, the pair for $1,500!

The M27 is wearing some Blu Magnum grips

In 1978 i was but a senior in High School so i wouldn't have
had the funds for any of the above. But if i did......
First choice is a 4" Python. Second choice is the 3 1/2" model
27.

But all four are beautiful guns. Thanks for sharing !!!

Chuck

__________________
They hold no Quarter

RK, those side by sides are absolutely suitable for framing!!

I would have got the long Smith. I had already owned a Colt and upon disassembly was not impresses with the mechanism. Had found that the S&W had a much sounder mechanism.

Yes, I would have lost out in the future. But, then having graduated from computer sciences school in 1969 and not sticking with that kind of shows you my ability to predict the future at that point. LOL. But, then again if I had stuck with that I would have never seen the Bearing Sea a sheet of ice with a volcano stick up out of it puffing smoke, the dump at Dutch Harbor, spend lots of summers in SE Alaska, met my future wife, had a bunch of great S&Ws. Life has been good and I would have never really regretted pickling the S&W over the Python.

3.5" 27, I've had 3 Pythons over the years. They are overpriced today with inferior triggers. I have more rounds through them than any other handgun likely in access of 100K and I have no desire to ever fire one again. And yes the trigger had been extensively reworked on one in particular; ever wonder why every top action pistol shooter built their guns on K frames when the revolver was king? It wasn't because of cost btw!

__________________
K & N S&W revolvers

I bought my first center fire handgun in October of 1978. I was making $4 an hour working on a survey crew and thought I was rich!

I wanted a 4" 19 real bad. I wound up with a 6" Ruger Security Six. Still have it. Wanted it in 4" but the 6" was what the store had. They also had a bunch of Smith and Wesson branded ammo that I shot a lot of .... Still have one box of that put away with the Ruger.

As to the question at hand, I would have chosen the 3 1/2" 27.

I wasn't smart enough to buy Apple stock either!

I walked into the Ivanhoe Gun Shop in Watertown Square in Watertown, MA in 1971 looking for a Model 29-2. I came out with a Colt Python with a 4-inch barrel($115.00 on sale!!) since the shop owners told me they had not seen a 29 in several years. Over the next two years I bought several S&Ws from them. They had a 27-2 with a nickel finish in the case that sat there for at least a couple of years and was still there when I moved back to Montana in September 1973. Times have really changed since that model with the short barrel has been a hot item with collectors for quite a few years now.

Bill

I didn't buy a 4" NYSP Model 28 when they became available because I couldn't see a use for a 4" revolver. CCW was almost unknown, outside of a few states. The uses I had were for range shooting and hunting; for those, a 6" was a better choice.

Probably the only case of "woulda, coulda, shoulda" that I beat myself up about.

One of my friends bought a 6inch stainless Python in 1978. I saw it quite often and always lusted for one like it. Now I like the royal Blue even better, and I can't afford one. So in 1978 I would have the Python.

I'd be on the 3.5" 27 like ugly on a baboon's butt.

__________________
Oh well, what the hell.

Back then I was a young newby cop who saved up and bought a Model 57 six inch for duty carry. I had it cut to four inches (yeah yeah I know) since the four inch was virtually unobtainable. Even with the 210 grain Remington lead SWC round it was a handful to qualify with. I was a pretty good shooter back in the day but competing against others shooting 148 wadcutters in their Model 19s and 28s left me pretty depressed. I managed to score a four inch Model 19 a few months later and regained my confidence.

Sadly, I remember 3 1/2 inch Model 27s languishing on gun shop shelves in the late 70s and early 80s. The K frame magnums were the "in" gun to have and the appearance of the Model 66 became the gun to carry. The N frames were pretty heavy to pack off duty. All the cool cops had a four or a 2 1/2 inch 66 for both duty and off duty carry.

By the early 80s the auto craze was in full swing and most of us carried Colt 45 autos or S&W Model 59s as primary or "backup" guns. I remember an Anchorage cop shop owner urging me to buy a couple of the new fangled Model 547s from the stack gathering dust in his display case. Who would ever want a 9mm revolver when you needed a 45 auto at least to survive the shift. They were on sale for $189.00!

Knowing what I do now, I would be all over the Model 27 3 1/2 inch for a keeper gun. I would put the four inch Python on lay away and put it under my bed until today and sell it on an auction site with the proceeds going into my traveling to New Zealand fund.

I wanted the 6 inch Python... but I was 12...
my father got the 19-4 for $178...
gave it to me NIB for my 21st birthday...
glad he was there to make the decision...

Or...Ask the store owner if he's got any old Smith boxes, diamond insert stocks or knurled SAT's hanging around. Buy all of those your bank roll affords.

Good call...... by 1985..... buy the store's "Big Box-O-Grips" from all the Pachmyar grip buys!!! $5 a grip or $100 would get you the whole box w/ 30-40 grips......

[QUOTE=BAM-BAM;139247110]Good call by 1985..... buy the store's "Big Box-O-Grips" from all the Pachmyar grip buys!!! $5 a grip or $100 would get you the whole box w/ 30-40 grips......[/QUOT

Now the same guys who tossed them are buying them back on line for $150.00 a set.

[quote=Laketime;139247140]Good thing I'm a saver. I replaced a lot of factory grips with Pacs back in the 70s-80s. . I always took the grips home and mounted them and then put the stockers in the original box.

I have a space above my gun safe just loaded with stuff like that and boxes rifles & shot guns came it. Same if I did some trigger / hammer work took the stockers off and put in new parts.(no spring kits in those times)

__________________
14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Like others back in the 60s I dreamed of the day I could afford a Python.

I couldn't afford them then and wouldn't pay the price for one today.

__________________
Eccentric old coot

There were several shops around "the Burgh" that had "The Big Box-O-Grips" behind the counter or out front for shoppers to "root through".....

One day about 10-12 years ago, I went to look for original grips for (something).... at 3 or 4 shops; I got......

"Some guy came in last _______ and offered me $( IIRC $100-150) for the whole box......ya I sold all of them...... most were in there for years!"

I was never a fan of Colt revolvers. In the very early days of my LE career (ca. 1972) I decided to move up from my pretty gold trimmed Pre Mod. 10. The LGS gave me a choice, at the same price, between a brand new 6" M28 or a good used 6" M57. Being young AND stupid, I of course chose the M28. So much for choices.

__________________
Retired Dep Sheriff & Armorer

Never a Python fan,,I'd have taken the 3.5" 27.
I did stumble once and buy a used Diamondback in 38sp 4" . Had that for a short time,,about 2 days.
Cost me around $250 IIRC
I traded that straight accross on a Model 1910 Mannlicher Schoenauer.

It's not that I don't like the old style Colt DA,,I do.
I just never liked the looks of the vent rib and the full length lug on the Python/Diamondback bbl. The O/Police was more my style or their Model 357.
Vent ribs don't belong on pistols and rifles...

It's a no brainier in 1975 it happened the 6" 357 magnum in blue the Colt Python the best 357 magnum ever manufactured came home with me.
Don't flame me there's no screws to come loose. I'm sorry I sold it but I worked 3 months per year in '84, in '85, in '86 I had little kids that ate like me. There mouths came first.

Ask to see the 3 1/2 inch; then ask for a box of shells. Load it while clerk isn't looking. Then take all of them.

Absolutely correct. Many get their jollies badmouthing Colts because of the alleged "timing problems" - but without having a shred of personal experience to substantiate that. And History has clearly shown that the Python has become a far better investment vehicle than the S&W.

DWalt:

That was exactly the point that I was making in an earlier post, which I copy here:

"I have an awful lot of Smith and Wessons, and I love them all. But I also have an awful lot of Colts, including double action revolvers, going all the way back to my 1877 "Lightning", (which may be the, or at least one of the first) D.A. Colts, and all the way up to some "modern" Detective Specials and Diamondbacks, and Agents, Official Police, and a lot of others as well. I must be special, because none of those has developed any timing issues. I shoot all of my guns. Not all of the time, of course, there are too many of them for that, but they always come around in rotation,depending on my mood. And of course, I have a lot of autos as well, so I get a lot of shooting in. I think that this Colt timing thing reminds me of Mark Twain's response when he read his own obituary in a newspaper (which thought he had died): "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated!"."

Best Regards, Les

__________________
SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

If I only had enough cash for one I'd buy the one I wanted right then, ask about lay-a-way and/or whip out a credit card for the rest and just ate cheap for a few months. That's what I would of done.

I could tell almost the exact same story. My DA Colt revolvers (nine of them) go back to 1910, with the latest being from 1960, in four different calibers. I've fired several of them a lot over the last 30 years (not all of them). And of course I have no idea how much they may have been fired by previous owners/users. In any event, all of them remain in perfect time. Now if I were a shooter who goes out and burns up 500 rounds every weekend, I might have a different story to tell. But for the average use a Colt experiences over its lifespan, one should easily outlast its owner and still remain in time, and I am sure that most (if not all) of mine already have outlived their former owners in fine form.

I was a LEO at the same time. I bought a C--T Python from a Police Distributor for less than $200.00 brand new. Worst decision I ever made. I traded it for a AR 15. I traded that for a Model 19 to the Mass State Police Swat Team.

__________________
Don Mundell

With all due respect, the C--T looks like a girly gun. The N Frame has attitude! Like, you want to mess with me?

__________________
Don Mundell

I understand Don's making a wisecrack above, but I do agree- the N-Frame just looks meaner to me, more business-like.

Note the cylinder appears to be quite a bit larger, too.

__________________
SWHF #448

Smith 27 in the wood box were 300 bucks and Colt 45 autos that I got in my moms name were 200 or 225 I think . New Colt 2 gen Det Spl 38 150 the gun shop guy said Jim I thought I would never sell that no one wanted it . Western Auto had 8/38 model 29s in wood box 450

Neither. I'd like to have snagged the full auto M-16/AR-15 or as many DIAS's as I could find!

I've owned a blued 6"Python ,4" blued Python and a 4"stainless Python but had a lot of S&W's model's 13,28,27's,65,and 686's .
I do love the actions on the S&W's better than the Colt's.

Well, I'm just a rookie here on the forum, and I respect my elders on the forum, even if they are younger in years. I certainly respect Don's opinion, after all, he started in police work a year ahead of me! Just kidding. I've listened to guys make the same arguments for hours over Ford vs. Chevy.

As far as handguns go, I love my Smiths AND my Colts. But in fairness, I've never owned a Python. Only the older styles of double action revolvers and a few SAAs as well. And I've never owned a Smith and Wesson semi automatic newer than a 39 and a 59. Never really interested me.

Best Regards, Les

__________________
SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

1978 Enlisted in the Navy for what would be nine years in submarines chasing Rooskies........

The 27 3.5" all day, any day!

In 1978 in the way of handguns I owned a standard 4" barrel Model 64, a Colt Gold Cup, and a 5 1/2 inch Colt SAA 3rd gen in 44 spcl.

The Gold Cup was stolen, and I sold the SAA 15 years later to fund a kid's braces.

I still have the Model 64.

I probably would have went for bubble gum and baseball cards isle, since I was far from old enough to buy a handgun in 78

The Colt Python is one of my favorite guns I haven't owned yet.Should of bought one when they were less than $200.00 over a new S&W. The Python's timing issue with a steady diet of magnum rounds is old news.Regardless ,it is still one of the sexiest guns ever made.

In 1978 I was working the afternoon shift in a machine shop. Running a horizontal milling machine. I was making $2.85 per hour and loving life, making chips and the smell of cool tool. My guiding light was my plant manager. He pulled me out of the gutter and gave me a chance to go to college, learn a skill, accept the grail of responsibility and marriage and fatherhood. He believed in S&W. Model 29 & 19 & 17. I could do no less. To this day, when I am I trouble, I ask myself, what would he do? I associate my love of firearms and life with his lessons. Are they not connected?

In late 1978 I moved to Alaska from California. I was used to grey market prices of nice Smiths by that time. Anything of interest went well above retail, when my shop got an early M66 6" I was extremely lucky to get it for retail, but that was because I bought all my leather, ammo and cleaning supplies there.
In Alaska, anything with a "4" in the first digit of the caliber was in hot supply, you couldn't pick up a 44 mag for anything near retail, sometimes double. 357 Mag revolvers didn't move fast, sometimes sitting on shelves for months. 38 specials?, couldn't give them away, I had a friend in So. Cal that wanted a M60, found one at a local Anchorage sporting goods store for retail that had sat there for months, they were happy to ship it to him.
In 1981, moved to Salt Lake City for a year, M27's of all barrel lengths were sitting on shelves collecting dust in several stores. At that time the M629 was new and some carried a premium, albeit slow movers they were (there), I remembered my Alaska days, so after my year there we were headed back, so bought a 6" M629 for a slight premium to retail and took it with me.
Upon my return to Alaska I remember buying a Colt Gold Cup, a S&W M41 and a S&W M52 on the shelf at a local Fred Meyer store for retail, it took me a bit of time to get the dust off these guns... they sat there for a long time before I bought them. I did manage to trade into a 6" nickel Python, it made a great wall-hanger but never warmed to it, just seemed too pretty/delicate. Man, would I love to have that gun these days, they have definitely gained in value.

__________________
.............SmithNut

I did walk into a gun shop 2 years later and walked out with a nice nickel 4" Python NIB.

I guess the next question on this pop quiz is; were you smart enough to not sell it......

In 1980 I was 16 and with my Dad. We pooled our money together and bought a 19-4 6" Blued with a 6" Barrel, Target hammer, trigger and stocks. Out the door with a Bianchi Leather Holster, 200 CCI Small Pistol Primers and a box of 100 Lead Bullets was $239 and change, the receipt is still in the bottom of the original box. We headed home dead broke but happy. I've put 10,000 + rounds through her since then but other than the turn line she still looks like the day we brought her home. If I could go back in time I wouldn't change a thing. I own another 19 in 2 1/2", four 27-2's- one 3 1/2" Nickel, a 4" Nickel, two 6"- one blue one nickel and even a 642. But my first S&W is still and will always be my favorite.

__________________
Andy

I did walk into that gunshop in 1978 and I bought a M-65-1. But of your choices I would pick the 3.5" M-27. A classic!

__________________
Support your Police, & NRA

Actually you have the year wrong. It is really 10/30/1971 and I walk into Lew Horton's Sports Shop in downtown Framingham, Massachusetts (before he went commercial) and purchase a 6" blue model 27-2, my first S&W.

According to my receipt, I paid $129.95 for the gun, $6.35 for a box of Remington ammo, and what looks like some 9 1/2 Remington primers for .80. According to the hang tag, they were asking $139.95 so must have taken $10 off.

I was working for US Steel, Cyclone fence division installing industrial chain link fence for $6.35 an hour.

That was 45 years ago and seems like it was just yesterday.

__________________
James Redfield
LM #497