I was surprised to find beautiful two blued gems under the tree this year. On casual inspection however, I noticed that the bluing on the Smith had some "crazing" while the Colt had that deep blue Python thing going - could it be that the QC at SW was that bad?
I decided to do a more in-depth analysis...
The roll marks on the Colt are sharper than the Smith but maybe the SW has more detail...
...and the SW is marked on both sides:
No doubt about the winner of barrel size:
Colt also is a slight winner in caliber:
The SW is built for smaller hands...
...while the Colt invites a manly grip:
The Colt seemed like it might be edging out the SW, but on really close inspection, I was shocked at this discovery on the Colt (have we really come to this in this country):
While the SW at least leaves one guessing as to origin:
I hope that through this test, I have contributed in some small way to that Colt vs. SW controversy - I will leave the judgement as to who is the ultimate winner up to the individual forum member. As for me, I have to admit that most mornings I find myself reaching for the one that has the highest capacity
It's nice being retired!!

I decided to do a more in-depth analysis...
The roll marks on the Colt are sharper than the Smith but maybe the SW has more detail...


...and the SW is marked on both sides:

No doubt about the winner of barrel size:

Colt also is a slight winner in caliber:


The SW is built for smaller hands...

...while the Colt invites a manly grip:

The Colt seemed like it might be edging out the SW, but on really close inspection, I was shocked at this discovery on the Colt (have we really come to this in this country):

While the SW at least leaves one guessing as to origin:

I hope that through this test, I have contributed in some small way to that Colt vs. SW controversy - I will leave the judgement as to who is the ultimate winner up to the individual forum member. As for me, I have to admit that most mornings I find myself reaching for the one that has the highest capacity

It's nice being retired!!