We don't see many "as-new" Pythons...

[TTSH]

Never had a Python..... do have my Dad's 2" Dick Special and his 1930s .357 New Service worked over by Kings as well as a few .38 Diamondbacks and 2 inch Detective Specials over the past 40 years.

All things considered I'd rather have an early 4 or 6 inch 586........I much prefer the S&W action.

TTSH; for the kind of $$s your talking get yourself a 3 inch 66 and keep a $1,000 in your pocket.... or get the 66 and a 586 and still have money to take the wife out for a really nice Italian dinner!!!!

Ha!!! Only you know (or remember) the significance of that last part of your recommendation! But you forgot that I already have four 70's vintage Model 66 revolvers and I really don't need another. And while I don't have a Model 586, I do have an early Model 686. Now you know why I am thinking outside the S&W box... or at least my good wife is doing so.

But your point is well taken. I look at it a little bit differently. I keep thinking that Python will cost me the same as an FBI 1076 and 2 or 3 lesser 3rd Gens or S&W revolvers to go with it. That does sort of take one's breath away. But then again, I don't see any FBI 1076's for sale right now and I'm up to my elbows in everyday 3rd Gens, so...

Ya got to look at this as an outlier... a flyer... an aberration... an anomaly. This isn't me talking. This is the good wife talking... and me obeying.

 

[TazTJ]

My 6" blued Python. Paid $600 for it about 10 years ago, no box or papers. Put a set of Culina grips on it to replace the rubber grips. IIRC, it is from the 1980's.

 

[S&WIowegan]

Cheap Python

TazTJ's post made me remember my cheap Python. Back in the early to mid-90s a local dealer had a blue 8" Python on his table for several months. I don't remember his price exactly but it was $5 or 600. I made him an offer and he got huffy and turned me down. Later that day I saw him carry "my" Python to another dealer's table and trade him for 1 or 2 semiautos. I approached the new dealer and took a look at his Python. Without talking price at all, he said "it's yours for $300. even. Done. It pays to hang in and keep your eyes wide open.

 

[TTSH]

Epilogue...

Well, the Python saga has come to an end. The one I found sold last week. I'm not even sad about it. I'm just glad it is over and that I can get back to "business as usual" instead of trying to scrimp and save like a crazy person for a premium-priced gun I could never really afford.

So close and yet so far. Such is life. Now, all the things that I had put on hold can resume... and not a minute too soon.

Lesson learned: Stay in the used Smith & Wesson lane and let the rich folks zoom by with their shiny Pythons.