spencerhut
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Look familiar to anyone?
Just a 19-4 Smolt
- Thread starter spencerhut
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Now that's just too cool. 
"Back in the day" when Smolts and Cougars were all the rage, I really wanted one. But you had to have the gun, the barrel, and the money to pay a top notch gunsmith to put them together for you. Alas, I had none of the above. Well, I did have a Model 19, but I could barely afford to keep 38 wadcutters in it, much less pay for the other two.
"Back in the day" when Smolts and Cougars were all the rage, I really wanted one. But you had to have the gun, the barrel, and the money to pay a top notch gunsmith to put them together for you. Alas, I had none of the above. Well, I did have a Model 19, but I could barely afford to keep 38 wadcutters in it, much less pay for the other two.
I've heard about these before, but I think yours is the first one I've seen.
Interesting, it makes me scratch my head and ask why someone would do that?
Interesting, it makes me scratch my head and ask why someone would do that?
Wrangler Rich
US Veteran
Hence the 586, and 686 were conceived.
Dillyp
Member
The smython.
OP
spencerhut
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Yeah, me to. It's sort of the odd duck among my Smith's.
Shoots like a dream. Whoever did the trigger did it just right. It loves lightly loaded lead bullets.
Anywho . . . just sharing.
They were generally made for PPC shooters. The idea was that the Python barrel was more accurate (no idea if it was or not) and the Smith & Wesson action was better. You have to remember when these were being made, you could just call Colt and they'd sell you a brand new Python barrel.
When the same thing was done using a Ruger Security-Six action, and a Python barrel, it was called a "Cougar."
When the same thing was done using a Ruger Security-Six action, and a Python barrel, it was called a "Cougar."
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If I'm not mistaken, the bore of the Python barrel was tapered slightly towards the muzzle, hence the "claim" that the barrel was more accurate. Shooters who had them swore the accuracy was better.
Jim Watson
Member
S&W has .540x36 barrel threads, Colt has .5634x32 threads.
Can you turn the Colt shank down to get clean 36 tpi threads for the Smith frame? A friend once said that a Smolt was an exercise in creative crossthreading.
Can you turn the Colt shank down to get clean 36 tpi threads for the Smith frame? A friend once said that a Smolt was an exercise in creative crossthreading.
Back in the '80s I had an 8" Python barrel I bought at a gun show for $25 as I recall.
Bought a Colt Trooper for $165 and had the two mated by Tom Rajec.
Voila a Colt Pooper!
It was a fun project on the cheap.
Bought a Colt Trooper for $165 and had the two mated by Tom Rajec.
Voila a Colt Pooper!
It was a fun project on the cheap.
muzzleblast
Member
"Smolt", "Smython" and the Ruger Security Six / Colt Python hybrid, the "Cougar" remind me of my youth and reading the works of Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, Skeeter Skelton, Charles Askins and other handgunners of the day.
Nice acquisition you have!
Nice acquisition you have!
Doug M.
Member
*
And one of the things to remember is that when is considering the level of competitor involved, every tiny advantage was potentially worthwhile. Even if there was no objective difference, the belief that there was might have been worth it. For the rest of us mere mortals, probably no difference that our skill levels would handle.
Thanks for showing your Smolt spencerhut. As previously written, Smolts were made for PPC competition before S&W made L frames with similar weight. Smolts were superseded by 3 1/2 to 4 pound custom bull barrel K frames then automatics. For us poor boys paying a thousand pre-inflation 1970s dollars for a Davis PPC revolver was out of the question but large police departments paid officers to compete on PPC teams. Getting out of policing nasty neighborhoods to earn your living competing in PPC was worth a grand.
While Pythons did have smaller groove diameters than S&Ws and a different twist, a Python's bore being full length tapered to its smallest diameter at the muzzle is a hard to believe salesman's claim. How could the taper have been cut on a production line?
Anschutz .22 LR match barrels are constricted for the last approximately 2" or choked. They make them by button rifleing a barrel that has a larger outside diameter near its muzzle. After the button passes through the thicker barrel walls spring back more.
While Pythons did have smaller groove diameters than S&Ws and a different twist, a Python's bore being full length tapered to its smallest diameter at the muzzle is a hard to believe salesman's claim. How could the taper have been cut on a production line?
Anschutz .22 LR match barrels are constricted for the last approximately 2" or choked. They make them by button rifleing a barrel that has a larger outside diameter near its muzzle. After the button passes through the thicker barrel walls spring back more.
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Tom_R
Member
I want one of those.
I do have the next best thing though, a nice 586.
I do have the next best thing though, a nice 586.
Stirling
Member
That is a cool looking revolver. I like the looks of the python barrel but prefer the Smith action. A bit biased towards the N-frame though. 
bronco45
Member
These were the rage until the L Frame was invented by Smith, then boy-howdy, L Frames were the weapon to have. Had a 4" nickel 586 when they first came out and it was a real shooter. Never had a 586 or an L frame that wouldn't shoot.
Facts are out there. Maybe in the Colt book.....The barrel ID is tapered....Final barrel ID finish was to put the Python barrel in a jig and use a special arbor type press to force a ball of mystery material (Colt wouldn't divulge the composition of the ball) through the bore to give it the final polish.......
According to the Colt book the taper from breech to muzzle is .001"......This taper is not unique to the python.....The pre-war target .38's had it too.........
Original Pythons had a hollowed out(drilled underlug)....Later on the were left solid.........
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Forward of the barrel shank the mystery ball would create a constant diameter. Does this mystery ball smooth the bore before it is rifled or smooth the lands?
Jim Watson
Member
It does seem hard to ball burnish a taper. Perhaps the lands are straight and the grooves tapered, which would still be a good trick.
Pedersoli advertises tapered BPCR barrels and theirs are broached which does not seem feasible to taper unless done by lapping.
Harry Pope produced tapered barrels and said he did not "lead" them.
I found several threads on gunboards for the past 14 years with the same lack of hard information. Even from me.
I had one of those "Lightweight Pythons" with hollowed underlug. It was nickel plated and I traded it for a blue gun of later manufacture.
Pedersoli advertises tapered BPCR barrels and theirs are broached which does not seem feasible to taper unless done by lapping.
Harry Pope produced tapered barrels and said he did not "lead" them.
I found several threads on gunboards for the past 14 years with the same lack of hard information. Even from me.
I had one of those "Lightweight Pythons" with hollowed underlug. It was nickel plated and I traded it for a blue gun of later manufacture.
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