Two reasons for the Smith:

1. Timing. If you watch the cylinder while firing, the Smith locks up before the hammer falls. The Colt doesn't. When I started in law enforcement, we bought our own Smiths or Colts. The range officers always said that 90% of the guns on the line were Smiths, 90% of the malfunctions were Colts. When in time, the Colts are great actions. Incidentally, this timing issue does not apply to the Colt Mark III action.

2. Grips. The raised checkering pattern on the Python grips can get downright painful after a while. This, of course, is correctible.

Bob