New Colt Python

[Sal1950]

And I forgot to mention everyone is complaining about the heavy and lousy single action pull on the "new" Python. The "original" Python had an out of this world single action pull. The last 3 "original Pythons I owned had single action pulls of 3 lbs or less.

Yes but lets be honest, a great trigger pull in both SA and DA mode, BUT, after a short time they would go out of time and require gunsmith tuning to get them back in order.. Back in the day, gents who used their guns for a living or just shot them a lot knew the truth which was well known. Colts had the BEST factory triggers but they didn't last too long.
S&W's were much better, just a bit of a smith tuning and the trigger could equal a Colt and last much longer.
Then there was Ruger, built like a tank but factory triggers were really crude by comparison. A good smith could really improve them, but they still couldn't equal a Colt or S&W for competition shooting. The Security Six was a great LEO but for the very high round count shooter, the GP100 replaced it with a gun that can last virtually forever, no matter how much you shoot it. I've got my personal range GP SA to break at 2 5/16 lbs, DA at a little over 10, BUT its a Federal primer gun only and not one I'd ever use for personal protection.

 

[Sal1950]

I don't care what anyone says, that finish looks awesome. A Python is a Python no matter what suit it wears. Now I kinda want my 4" to look like that, but it's stainless so maybe not.

If you really dig it, watch Gun Broker for a used and abused one on the cheap, then do the same.

 

[malph]

How much for the sights?

I think you replied to the wrong guy.

 

[GeeBee]

I prefer the look, feel and trigger of a vintage S&W and always have. I can see where others love the look of the Colt better. Each camp's choice has its pluses and minuses. I think it comes down to a "Ford versus Chevy" thing. Here are my favorites, an Outdoorsman and a pre-27, each with Coke grips.

View attachment 791404

superb

 

[Mostly Good]

Don't ask me if I could only have one ...

 

[cookieman]

My Python was given to me by a dear friend, now passed. He had been given the pistol by the original owner's brother. The original owner had bought it sometimes in the 1970s, I believe. It was originally a nickel-plated 6" model. The owner had some mental issues and at one point, got into a confrontation with some Sheriff's Deputies. At some point in the confrontation, guns were drawn and Dan, the original owner, had a pistol shot out of his hand. One of the deputies told my friend that after being shot, Dan told the deputy, "Goddamn, good shot!". Dan then spent some time in the nervous hospital and while away, his brother hid his guns. The Python sat in a cardboard box on a shelf in an old abandoned barn for maybe 20 years. When my friend, Joe, was given it by Dans brother, it looked like this:

Joe brought it over to show it to me and I suggested that it might could be "saved" by having it refinished. I suggested that since it was in pretty bad shape, he could have it parkerized for a different look. He and I took it to Randy Kline, aka Sledgehammer, in Jacksonville, Texas. Randy is a master gunsmith and has built several FAL rifles for me. At his shop, I lobbied to also have the barrel shortened to 5" for a truly unique look, but that idea was shot down. Probably for the best, too. Randy said that the most expensive part of the refinish was having to send the pistol away to have the nickel coating electro-chemically removed in Houston. Joe put the Pachymar grips on after getting it back.

I've heard of several other parkerized Pythons since acquiring this one. I imagine they were finished like that for similar reasons. It may well offend Colt purists, but I like the way it looks now, and it's surely much improved over the way it looked when Joe first got it.

I have a 4" S&W 686, bought new around 1987 or '88 that was tuned by a neighbor who was a gunsmith. His specialty was tuning S&W revolvers (and bedding rifle stocks) and he was fantastic at it. Gene Salach replaced the factory springs, stoneded, polished and shimmed the parts and the result is just an incredible trigger job. Many people say that it's the best they've felt. I don't know about that, but it is very fine. Recently, I had both it and the Python out of the safe and I'll say that even now, that Colt's trigger isn't that far from the trigger of that Smith. In both single and double-action mode, it's not far behind, and after all it's been through, that's quite the testament to its quality.

Maybe a silly question but was complete disassembly require to do the job?

 

[cookieman]

Don't ask me if I could only have one ...
View attachment 791455

That's a tough one. Colt does have a chrome hammer though.

 

[bph9]

good point, do you think a trigger job on the new python can get to that pull of 3-4 lbs without compromising the gun???

People have reported you "can" get a lighter trigger pull by grinding on it but there is one big problem with doing this. It voids the warranty and it opens you up to big lawsuits if you drop the gun and it goes off and hurts someone. The new "California Trigger" is supposed to prevent the gun from going off if dropped when it is at "full cock".

In other words the factory trigger redesign made the trigger pull heavier and grinding it off cancels out the new "drop safety" factor.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Colt makes pretty guns. I will give them that.
I much prefer the Smith action for shooting though.

......X2!......

 

[GaryBrantley]

Maybe a silly question but was complete disassembly require to do the job?

You know, I've asked myself that same question before and I don't know if that was required or not. I would think that it was, would the process of removing the nickel have required all parts be removed first? Maybe someone more knowledgeable than me will know. I don't remember anything being said about it, but I wasn't there when Joe picked it up at Randy's shop. If Randy Kline did reassemble the trigger parts, then he did a great job as it does have a very nice trigger in both SA and DA.

 

[bph9]

Again, would you detail your (extensive?) experience with the new Pythons to add credibility to your comments?

My answer is hands on testing of both the single and double action pulls. I might also suggest you go over to the Colt forum. Everyone is complaining about the single action pull (and they all cannot be liars for sure) although some do prefer its double action pull (certainly not me).

There is also an engineer on the Colt forum who gave a detailed run down of how the new trigger system works (or shall we say doesn't work as well as the old system). The new design was meant to be "safer" not better an this it does do. I might add the Engineer at the Colt Forum is a New Python cheerleader.

 

[rockquarry]

My answer is hands on testing of both the single and double action pulls. I might also suggest you go over to the Colt forum. Everyone is complaining about the single action pull (and they all cannot be liars for sure) although some do prefer its double action pull (certainly not me).

There is also an engineer on the Colt forum who gave a detailed run down of how the new trigger system works (or shall we say doesn't work as well as the old system). The new design was meant to be "safer" not better an this it does do. I might add the Engineer at the Colt Forum is a New Python cheerleader.

I just wondered about your qualifications to make such statements and wanted to get some idea as to how much you had actually fired your new Python(s), not just tested the trigger(s). I'm on the Colt forum regularly and am aware of the complaints about the single-action pull of new Pythons, but I doubt many have fired them enough to become accustomed to the trigger. I don't know about any cheerleaders.

I have found it takes a good bit of concentration before trigger squeeze, as I mentioned in an earlier post, but that should help me and others to improve our shooting skills. I seldom shoot double-action.

 

[bph9]

Yes but lets be honest, a great trigger pull in both SA and DA mode, BUT, after a short time they would go out of time and require gunsmith tuning to get them back in order.. Back in the day, gents who used their guns for a living or just shot them a lot knew the truth which was well known. Colts had the BEST factory triggers but they didn't last too long.
S&W's were much better, just a bit of a smith tuning and the trigger could equal a Colt and last much longer.
Then there was Ruger, built like a tank but factory triggers were really crude by comparison. A good smith could really improve them, but they still couldn't equal a Colt or S&W for competition shooting. The Security Six was a great LEO but for the very high round count shooter, the GP100 replaced it with a gun that can last virtually forever, no matter how much you shoot it. I've got my personal range GP SA to break at 2 5/16 lbs, DA at a little over 10, BUT its a Federal primer gun only and not one I'd ever use for personal protection.

Not 100% true. It depended on how the hand was fitted at the Colt Factory. I bought a Python that went out of time but only slightly and you had to know what you were doing to even detect it but it would have gotten worse over time so I ordered and fitted a new hand "on the long side" deliberately almost to the point where the gun would not cock. I never had a problem with the timing after that.

 

[bph9]

I just wondered about your qualifications to make such statements and wanted to get some idea as to how much you had actually fired your new Python(s), not just tested the trigger(s). I'm on the Colt forum regularly and am aware of the complaints about the single-action pull of new Pythons, but I doubt many have fired them enough to become accustomed to the trigger. I don't know about any cheerleaders.

I have found it takes a good bit of concentration before trigger squeeze, as I mentioned in an earlier post, but that should help me and others to improve our shooting skills. I seldom shoot double-action.

I am not a novice to double action shooting. I have been doing double action shooting since 1962. I can pick up a revolver or even an auto pistol and come pretty close to giving the trigger pull weight without even using a trigger gauge. But that is beside the point. What is to the point is that an experienced person certainly does not have to live fire a revolver to know if its trigger pull stinks and it may take thousands of rounds to even smooth out if it is rough and I can guarantee you the pull weight will not change much if at all no matter how much you try and break it in. Heavy trigger pulls do not magically go away simply because you wish they will. Pick up a turn of the century H&R revolver ( now there is a good example) and see if the very heavy trigger pull magically got better in the last 125 years.