Not sorry about my Python...

I don't regret selling my colt python. Nor MY other colt firearms that had quality problems I'm not slamming colt for it was what it was.
I paid top dollar for the highest quality revolver I thought I was getting. But there bluing was so awesome it looked like plastic.

This pushed me more into ruger revolvers. But with ruger discontinuing most of there revolvers I wanted to purchase and had some experience with my newly acquired s&w k22 which made me realize how awesome quality wise the s&w revolvers really are. Plus s&w still offers there classic and N frame lineup. I wanted a large framed revolver in 41 mag double action. The plus was my dealer had new s&w N frames in nickel between $599 to $699. The rest is history. No other gun manufacturer offers there line up that s&w offers today in revolvers. With everyone else discontinuing there line up in revolvers today s&w is still offering there revolvers. I'm so pleased with my s&w revolvers when I'm ready for a pistol I'm already thinking about a s&w pistol. Why change to another brand.
 
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Funny, I don't see threads on the Colt forum bashing S&W's but seems the poor old Python can't make it two weeks without the folks on this forum congregating to profess their dislike for it!

It gets a little long in the tooth, folks.
 
I like the fact that both of those two brands being discussed are different. Different trigger feel, different accuracy, different looks, and different prices.

If I wanted all the same grip feel, trigger pull and exact handling feature I would just get one gun and be done with it....Damn, wouldn't that be dull !
 
Growing up, like most I saw the Python as THE .357 Magnum to have...gorgeous lines that only Colt could have created. Finally came a day when I owned one and I loved it...the feel, the look, the nicely complex internal lockwork...but as posted above, the DA trigger reach was loooong and stout...much better for SA use. Back in those days, like many, I bought and sold in order to have my latest love interest and so the Python went away because something else caught my affection.
These days I can afford to buy without having to sell anything and how many times I've wished I had kept that Python if for no other reason than to sit around late at night and fondle it while playing on some forum.
There ARE better revolvers to be sure, but nobody has ever bested Colt when it comes to style. I love S&W's .357's too...primarily the old K frames with their sleek lines and semi-shrouded barrels, but to me, when the 586 appeared it seemed bloated and indistinct in direct comparison to the Python...that's just my opinion of course.
Having said all that...of late I've been "restocking" my S&W collection with everything BUT an L frame...just doesn't seem to inspire my love.
 
The only S&W I have that has a DA close to my Python is a M10-5 3".

But my Python had a action job done by Austin Behlert in the late 1970's
DA has no stacking & breaks about 6.5 lbs with no misfires ever.

Then again, it's not mine now.....

The better half got & I got her.... :)
 
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fat tom said:
Never will understand why it has to be one or the other. Having both,as well as others,works just fine for me. :)
f.t.
Click to expand...

Some folks are just that way, I'm one myself.

The only revos for me are S&W's.

When it comes to 1911's, nothing beats a Colt in my eyes.

***ETA***

If someone were to give me a collectable snake I'd sell it to buy a Gold Cup and a 625 :)
 
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71firebird400 said:
Funny, I don't see threads on the Colt forum bashing S&W's but seems the poor old Python can't make it two weeks without the folks on this forum congregating to profess their dislike for it!

It gets a little long in the tooth, folks.
Click to expand...


Of course you don't see anyone bashing S&Ws on the Colt forum......LOL

I wasn't bashing the Colt in my first post......I've owned a few, my Dad had more Colts than Smiths......I just decided I liked the Smiths better ......
for fitting my hand and their double action trigger.......

I would have some Colts....... except Pythons have just gotten tooooooo expensive ...... and people paid me silly money for my Diamondbacks..........

I still have, and always will have, my Dad's .357 New Service and Detective special..
 
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In 1983 I went to the LGS to buy a 6" Python and I was shocked when I was told the price was $489.00. Just as I was about to turn and walk out the owner of the shop said he had a new S&W that was almost like the Python and was only $273.00 so I said sure, I'll look. He pulled out a S&W 6" M586 and I still have it 'till this day. It's a great Revolver and the action is superb.

I'm STILL kicking myself for NOT buying the Python for UNDER $500 Bucks!! I still look from time to time but most that are advertised as NIB and un-shot are full of Bologna OR they are just priced more than I want to spend. I also love the ones that are advertised on GB NIB and it's SO OBVIOUS that the box is a Chinese repro. The Colt Python is a fine Revolver but just not worth what they are asking for them these days - at least to me. I will continue to look for the needle in the hay stack though......... :)
 
A couple weeks ago I fondled a 6" stainless Python at the range.
The action was smooth, but the trigger was not impressive.

The owner was hitting the 9 and 10 rings at 50' with .38 Special loads, so the accuracy looked ok.
But then, I was doing the same thing with my 4" Model 19. ;)

For my money:
S&W
Coke
Chevrolet


:D
 
I've found this thread to be very interesting. I'd like to offer an opinion from a slightly different COLLECTING (not shooting) perspective.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would knock the aesthetics of the Python and Diamondback. They are marvels of American design and deserve the recognition they get. I've never owned a Python but I do have a beautiful Diamondback along with numerous other Colt products and all of them are highly valued members of my collection.

That being said, I personally would not purchase a top condition Python at the current market values with the hope that it will continue to rise in value and be a good return on my investment. It might be, but I'm not so sure. I have been a collector of numerous things other than guns for all my life and too many times I've seen items rise to astronomical heights only to fall and sometimes precipitously in value. One of the main reasons for these fluctuations is an aging population. Right now, IMO, Pythons are being grabbed up by those folks who have matured and have the financial resources and/or expendable income to buy them without much pain. They couldn't afford them then, but now they can. Thirty years ago I wanted an HK P7 but I couldn't afford it. I have one now!

In the not too distant future as the population ages and at the same time Colt, as a handgun maker for the general population becomes a company with less name/brand recognition for the newer more recent mature and financially well-off collector, a change in the current trend is likely to happen. The newer generation of gun collector will have their own pet wants and desires from a time when they could not afford to buy what they really wanted. The prices of these "new" classics will probably shock us.

Yes, the Pythons and Diamondbacks will always be desirable and collectible. There is NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! But my point is, there won't be quite as many folks around who grew up wanting one.

That's why I feel that S&W classics are a better bang for the buck (sorry I couldn't help that). The company is still viable and strong as an American company with great brand name recognition in the eyes of the gun purchasing public. And that 21 year old today who desperately wants a S&W (you name the model) but can't afford it now will certainly be adding one to his collection 20 years from now. And that same collector will probably be knowledgeable and desirous of those earlier classic S&W models from an earlier time.
 
To me the Colt Snake line is like the Corvettes of the 60s , great to look at fast and then affordable now thru the roof. I would gladly like to have any Colt just never going to happen.
 
Well said loeman. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear in my original post. My point is that I have only sold two guns in my life and vowed never to sell another due to sellers remorse. The Python I had was a drop dead gorgeous 6" with the best blue I have ever seen on a gun without a mark on it LNIB. I have often regretted letting it go for that reason.

This was more a post on getting past sellers remorse and being happy with what I've got. Most of us have sold stuff we wish we had back. I'm finally completely at peace about a gun I sold...that was the connection I was trying to make.
 
Loeman's thoughts are interesting and plausible. But I have yet to see the Colt SAA drop on value, and the people who grew up with them have been gone a while. There's never a guarantee that the market won't lose interest in them, of course, and no way to tell whether they'll continue to appreciate, but I'll be surprised if they don't hold value. If Colt ever starts making them again, and somehow equals the quality of the old ones, then maybe. But they're not making any more currently, and Smith is still making 586/686's. If Smith stopped production, in about 20-30 years they'd probably skyrocket too.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
 
lhump1961 said:
You didn't read the post....
Click to expand...

Actually, I am quite confident I did read the post. The poster can say he is not bashing, but that does not make it so.

lhump1961 said:
as I recall the reach to the trigger was long and the trigger stacked.
Click to expand...

lhump1961 said:
We traded for a few rounds and sure enough...there was that long reach and not so good trigger pull!
Click to expand...

lhump1961 said:
but I'm sorry...the trigger is average at best. Smooth yes, but can't get past the stacking.
Click to expand...


I really can't explain it, but this forum has a love affair with discrediting and diminishing the Pythons. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the prices they bring in the modern market, and the jealousy it creates. I have a trigger gauge and cannot fathom where the idea that the Python has a heavier double action than a typical S&W does comes from. Stacking, yes of course, but heavier? My trigger gauge must be lying.
 
clevolver said:
Loeman's thoughts are interesting and plausible. But I have yet to see the Colt SAA drop on value, and the people who grew up with them have been gone a while. There's never a guarantee that the market won't lose interest in them, of course, and no way to tell whether they'll continue to appreciate, but I'll be surprised if they don't hold value. If Colt ever starts making them again, and somehow equals the quality of the old ones, then maybe. But they're not making any more currently, and Smith is still making 586/686's. If Smith stopped production, in about 20-30 years they'd probably skyrocket too.
Click to expand...

I agree with this; if markets were driven by the audience who desired things from their childhood anything older than the 1930's would be worthless by now as those folks are essentially gone.
 
My first "big boy" revolver was a 4" blued Python. I loved that gun more than anything. I swore by it and vowed never to part with it. Then I got the opportunity to shoot a Model 19 for the first time..............

Bob


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Firebird....

.. liking something better and explain why ........ is not bashing the other.....

Things have pros and cons..... my Father Ordered a Colt New Service in 1939 sent it to Kings in Calf. for sights and trigger work...... it was his primary duty gun through the 1960s and his center fire target pistol into the 70s.....he loved that gun.....but for me it just doesn't fit my hand.

If I told you; I like k and L frames better than Js (trigger) or Ns (frame size) is that bashing the latter two S&Ws?

Always wanted a SMOLT..( today that would be a 586 w/ a Python barrel)..best of both worlds...IMHO!!!!!!. LOL

Jealous.....heck no.....about a month ago someone offered me enough $$s for my last safe queen .38 4" Diamondback (I never shot it; as I "prefer" a 4" 19/66 as I shoot them better double-action) to buy both a anib 4" Model 34 and a really nice 3" 65....... that $350 Diamondback was one of the best purchases I've made in 30 years.


As to the Colt SAA....... my generation grew up watching them win the west on TV!!!!!!
 
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