The Python

[Dagga Boy]

I have never been a real fan because of their reputation for not being good hard use long term beaters, and a lack of folks to work on them. I finally got one and was assigned an article on them, so we will be doing a solid shooting test of what are now investment guns as their prices are simply stupid. The Nill grips arrived today for the shooting test and this should be interesting. The action is great and they are known for being tack drivers.

[WobblyPossum]

Another gorgeous acquisition. Congrats. I can't wait to read the article.

[Trooper224]

I paid $350 for mine back in 1992, 'cause revolvers were dead ya know. Really wish I had it back. They're largely over rated and I consider the S&W M27 to be a much better gun of the vintage, but they are stylish. I just can't bring myself to pay the insane prices they command now.

[Paladin]

DB strikes again, beautiful can't wait to learn more from the article.

Rick

[rauchman]

As a teenager, I knew someone who had a 6" nickel plated one similar to yours. I'm not a revolver guy, but that was my favorite that I've experienced. The action was like butter.

[LSP972]

They're largely over rated...

Truth.

The faster twist barrel does stabilize wadcutters a bit better than S&W barrels (which is why, in the early days of PPC, some guys were putting Python barrels on K-38s), but other than that, the S&W is just a better revolver all around... the older, pre-MIM/pre-lock guns, that is.

Of course, Rick Grimes has done for the Python what Harry Callahan did for the M-29; so there's no accounting for vicarious thrills.

.

[LSP972]

I have never been a real fan because of their reputation for not being good hard use long term beaters, and a lack of folks to work on them. I finally got one and was assigned an article on them, so we will be doing a solid shooting test of what are now investment guns as their prices are simply stupid. The Nill grips arrived today for the shooting test and this should be interesting. The action is great and they are known for being tack drivers.

That looks to be a late-production stainless example?

.

[LittleLebowski]

I bought my brother an early 80's model, 6" Royal Blue after he made it through Fallujah (http://rationalgun.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-brothers-award-writeup.html). It was the least I could do.

[41magfan]

These names should dust off a few cobwebs for you old farts out there that are Python fans; Reeves Jungkind, Jerry Moran and Fred Sadowski.

[NickA]

I paid $350 for mine back in 1992.

Same here. I keep thinking I should sell it and get something (probably several somethings, given today's prices) that I'd actually use, but just can't do it.

[JM Campbell]

Same here. I keep thinking I should sell it and get something (probably several somethings, given today's prices) that I'd actually use, but just can't do it.
Do it...[emoji41]

I've been shooting g with you for at least 3 years and I've never seen it. I think it doesn't exist. Are you scared to shoot it little man?¿? <--just some shooting buddy trash talk.

Great looking heater you picked up there, looking forward to the article. Brings back memories of a 45 long colt anaconda I shot over 18 years ago.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[TiroFijo]

I was aware of their prestige, but then I shot a few I didn't like the DA triggers as much as my S&Ws, and certainly didn't see any difference in accuracy compared to the 586/686. I'm not a super shooter but I can hold tight groups with my handguns, and I'm fairly experienced.

Beautiful guns, though.

[Dagga Boy]

Yep, the Colt triggers just stack different and I also like the Smith trigger better. The Colt 357 and Pyhons tend to be great right out of the box, but the second there is an issue you are screwed. There is like one guy left at Colt to work on them and most of the legends of Colt smithing are gone. The few folks left have wait times in years. It is why they tend to be like 65 split window Vette's....you look at them in the garage, your friends all know you have one, and you drive it once in a blue moon. Meanwhile, your GP100 is a 3/4 Diesel Truck you can put a million miles on without much issue, and you don't cry when it gets some hail damage or a door ding in the parking lot (likely giving more door dings than receiving).

With the Walking Dead show, the 6" stainless Python has generated a TON of interest from a new generation. It is why I got tasked to run a test on one. I also picked up a 6" Anaconda in .44 because of its use in the new Mad max movie. Movie guns are cool and I am working on getting some examples of other famous movie revolvers, as they tend to be great investments. Wait till you see tonight's post.....:cool:. One of my all time favorite movie's has a 6" Python in a significant role. If you have not seen Dead Bang, you owe it to yourself. GREAT 80's type cop flick. They got a ton of funny details right with it.

[41magfan]

With no intention of stealing nyeti's thunder .....

This is '67 production Python that I bought in 1974. For a working teenager not making a lot of money, $125 was a pricey tab but the package deal included a Bucheimer Crass-Draw holster, a Sam Brown belt and a partial box of magnum factory loads. I'm 99% certain the gun was originally a Florida HP issue.

Since the bluing was worn off on most of the high spots, I sent it to Armoloy (the plating cost $80 IIRC) in 1979 when I got baptized into LE and then carried it as a duty gun for several years in a Tex Shoemaker holster.

I think I'll just keep it.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/661/a79vdq.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/ida79vdqj)

[rsa-otc]

Other than the Royal Blue finish that was to die for, I never was a fan of how Colt revolvers looked or shot. One of Austin Behlert's last projects was to add a roller bearing in the double action lock work of a Python. While I never shot it personally those who I talked to that had said it was the best feeling DA they had ever shot.

[NickA]

Do it...[emoji41]

I've been shooting g with you for at least 3 years and I've never seen it. I think it doesn't exist. Are you scared to shoot it little man?¿? <--just some shooting buddy trash talk.


Need to break it out one last time then sell it off.
But it's probably the only time I'll ever manage to triple or quadruple my $ on something, can't quite pull the trigger, so to speak.

[LSP972]

These names should dust off a few cobwebs for you old farts out there that are Python fans; Reeves Jungkind, Jerry Moran and Fred Sadowski.

Reeves Jungkind was THE man for Pythons. Dunno if the other two are still kicking (and working), but Reeves took an incredible amount of knowledge and artisanship to his grave.

.

[HCM]

Reeves Jungkind was THE man for Pythons. Dunno if the other two are still kicking (and working), but Reeves took an incredible amount of knowledge and artisanship to his grave.

.

Reeves Jungkind and Fred Sadowski are both deceased. Supposedly Jerry Moran is still up in Michigan but no longer does gunsmithing.

I had a 4" blued Python back around 1988. It didn't shoot any better the 686 I had at the time. I bought it for $350 and sold it for $400. I don't miss it but I do regret getting rid of the 6" Anaconda 44mag I had in the late 90's. I greatly preferred it to a the Adam Weeson 44 I'd had previously.

[Beat Trash]

I loved the royal blue finish on a 4" Python.

My limited experience with shooting PPC in the mid-late 1980's was that a trained gunsmith could do wonders with the Colt DA trigger. But whatever they did, didn't last long before you started to have timing issues, ect.

I personally preferred the DA trigger of the S&W's.

I'd still like to own a Python or two. But there is no way I would ever consider paying the current market rate for one.

[Dagga Boy]

With no intention of stealing nyeti's thunder .....

This is '67 production Python that I bought in 1974. For a working teenager not making a lot of money, $125 was a pricey tab but the package deal included a Bucheimer Crass-Draw holster, a Sam Brown belt and a partial box of magnum factory loads. I'm 99% certain the gun was originally a Florida HP issue.

Since the bluing was worn off on most of the high spots, I sent it to Armoloy (the plating cost $80 IIRC) in 1979 when I got baptized into LE and then carried it as a duty gun for several years in a Tex Shoemaker holster.

I think I'll just keep it.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/661/a79vdq.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/ida79vdqj)

Nice, and this isn't about me. I like this part of the forum and the revolver based stuff in general because it seems to be the least contentious, enjoyable part of the Internet gun forums. That is a good looking working gun. What is funny is the Armaloy that has "ruined" the gun by collectors standards is what made it a workhorse by cop standards. I doubt it was a FHP gun if it was blue as I believe they used Nickel ones. I could be wrong though.

Picked some stuff up at the local shop today. They had a twin of the Dead Bang Python. Kind of a beater and looked like an 80's user cop gun......for almost $3,000.....Not a fricking chance. Again, they are nice, but not that nice. Makes the Model 27 prices that they are getting seen downright like a bargain.

[41magfan]

I doubt it was a FHP gun if it was blue as I believe they used Nickel ones. I could be wrong though.


Nope ... you're correct. I checked and FHP bought nothing but Nickel as issued equipment and that included other Colt revolvers like the Trooper, etc. If I understood it correctly, their issued guns should also be marked with an "FHP" designation on the grip frame.

[jh9]

ne of my all time favorite movie's has a 6" Python in a significant role. If you have not seen Dead Bang, you owe it to yourself. GREAT 80's type cop flick. They got a ton of funny details right with it.

Wow. Haven't thought about that flick in a long time. One of Don Johnson's best. Loved the scene where he chases a guy down while hungover and then just ralphs all over the guy when he catches him.

"Your aegis? What the f*** is that? Anybody speak English around here anymore?"

Love the speedloader work in that movie.

[SteveK]

Dead Bang was awesome. I can't count how many times I've seen it.

[Trooper224]

If you have not seen Dead Bang, you owe it to yourself. GREAT 80's type cop flick. They got a ton of funny details right with it.

Indeed. One of the most under appreciated cop movies out there.

[Trooper224]

Same here. I keep thinking I should sell it and get something (probably several somethings, given today's prices) that I'd actually use, but just can't do it.

I don't get overly attached to my "stuff", but that's one of the few I kick myself for letting go. I have several other old Colt revolvers in the safe, but I don't shoot them much. If you take one to most currently working gunsmiths (who are becoming more parts replacers than smiths) they look at you as if you just came from the dark side of the moon.

[Jeep]

With no intention of stealing nyeti's thunder .....

This is '67 production Python that I bought in 1974. For a working teenager not making a lot of money, $125 was a pricey tab

It certainly was a lot of money. I was a teenager in 1974. I made $1.75 per hour stocking shelves. After taxes etc, I made less than $50 per week, so a $125 pistol would have been out of the question. However, I lived in New Jersey then, so all firearms were pretty much out of the question until I moved back to the United States.

[41magfan]

It certainly was a lot of money. I was a teenager in 1974. I made $1.75 per hour stocking shelves. After taxes etc, I made less than $50 per week, so a $125 pistol would have been out of the question. However, I lived in New Jersey then, so all firearms were pretty much out of the question until I moved back to the United States.

Mine is also a sad story of not being financially able to double down.

The guy that I bought this one from had another 6" Nickel version for the same price. By the time I squirreled away the funds to make a play for this one he had just sold it a few days before. Not long afterwards someone broke into his house and stole every one of his guns.

[Inkwell 41]

Wow, finally a thread where I feel a tiny bit qualified to post. Been lurking forever. Awesome forum, awesome people and awesome information. We were the first FHP Academy class (86th) to be issued the Beretta 92FS... However, in our force on force (don't remember if that it was called at the time) training, we used high polished stainless, 4" Pythons. They were kept, 15 or 20 stacked on top of each other, (like toys) in milk crates, not even in the armory but in a closet off of the gym (AKA Artie's Dojo). I asked a couple times about buying one, never got a "yes".

[Dagga Boy]

Wow, finally a thread where I feel a tiny bit qualified to post. Been lurking forever. Awesome forum, awesome people and awesome information. We were the first FHP Academy class (86th) to be issued the Beretta 92FS... However, in our force on force (don't remember if that it was called at the time) training, we used high polished stainless, 4" Pythons. They were kept, 15 or 20 stacked on top of each other, (like toys) in milk crates, not even in the armory but in a closet off of the gym (AKA Artie's Dojo). I asked a couple times about buying one, never got a "yes".

Welcome to the insanity. 4" Nickel pythons stacked in milk cartons would cause a black hole in the internet on the Colt forum...:). I would imagine that FHP was one of the last places to have a ton of institutional expertise on keeping Colt actions working and timed.

[Poconnor]

Looking forward to reading your Python article. What leather are you planning to pair it with?

[Dagga Boy]

I don't think I am going to do any holster work. If I do, I will likely run a cross draw.

[rsa-otc]

Yep, the Colt triggers just stack different and I also like the Smith trigger better. The Colt 357 and Pyhons tend to be great right out of the box, but the second there is an issue you are screwed. There is like one guy left at Colt to work on them and most of the legends of Colt smithing are gone. The few folks left have wait times in years. It is why they tend to be like 65 split window Vette's....you look at them in the garage, your friends all know you have one, and you drive it once in a blue moon. Meanwhile, your GP100 is a 3/4 Diesel Truck you can put a million miles on without much issue, and you don't cry when it gets some hail damage or a door ding in the parking lot (likely giving more door dings than receiving).

With the Walking Dead show, the 6" stainless Python has generated a TON of interest from a new generation. It is why I got tasked to run a test on one. I also picked up a 6" Anaconda in .44 because of its use in the new Mad max movie. Movie guns are cool and I am working on getting some examples of other famous movie revolvers, as they tend to be great investments. Wait till you see tonight's post.....:cool:. One of my all time favorite movie's has a 6" Python in a significant role. If you have not seen Dead Bang, you owe it to yourself. GREAT 80's type cop flick. They got a ton of funny details right with it.

To add to the high profile Hollywood connection, didn't David Soul use a Python in both his role on Starsky and Hutch as well as one of the dirty cops in the Dirty Harry movie Magnum Force?

[SLG]

Wow, finally a thread where I feel a tiny bit qualified to post. Been lurking forever. Awesome forum, awesome people and awesome information. We were the first FHP Academy class (86th) to be issued the Beretta 92FS... However, in our force on force (don't remember if that it was called at the time) training, we used high polished stainless, 4" Pythons. They were kept, 15 or 20 stacked on top of each other, (like toys) in milk crates, not even in the armory but in a closet off of the gym (AKA Artie's Dojo). I asked a couple times about buying one, never got a "yes".

My place did the same with their Browning Hi-Powers...after painting them orange. Sometimes I agree with the left that cops shouldn't have guns;-)

Back to Pythons, I'm on the road this week, and there are half a dozen nice examples in the Scheel's next to my hotel. Anywhere from $1500-3600.

[ACP230]

I have not shot a Python for 40 years.
Still remember how good the trigger was.

Kick myself for not buying a three-inch version just
before the prices went nuts. I was in my full .41 Magnum
acquisition stage at the time, so several .357s were left in the
dust of gun store pistol cases.

I came to prefer the S&W DA trigger, however.
So much so that the only Colt revolver I have left is a
Colt single action .22.

[LSP972]

We were the first FHP Academy class (86th) to be issued the Beretta 92FS...".

Are your uniform guys still wearing those 3" wide Sam Brownes? When the oil industry in Louisiana looked like it was going to tank, in the mid 80s, FHP sent a couple of recruiters around to all of our troops, offering a pretty attractive transfer package. There was, of course, a catch... one would have to start on the road in the Miami/Dade area. The recruiter I spoke with was cool about it; "No worries, bud. We'll give you all the ammo and Cubans you can shoot!"

Anyway... I remember thinking that extra-wide gunbelt HAD to uncomfortable as hell.

I saw them again a few years later, on Missouri troopers.

Sorry for the thread drift, DB...

.

[LSP972]

... David Soul use a Python ... as one of the dirty cops in the Dirty Harry movie Magnum Force?

I remember reading somewhere that those were actually Diamondbacks masquerading as Pythons; just like Callahan's movie gun was supposedly an M-57 for real.

Dunno for certain, of course.

.

[41magfan]

Fred Sadowski (300 Gunsmithing Services) developed a method to neuter the stacking associated with the Colt action design and I can attest to the effectiveness of his work. One of my Team members had a heavy-barreled Python set up for PPC by Fred and the double action pull was about 5 lbs with no hint the hammer was about to fall! It wouldn't bust hard primers but that's a moot point with such a piece.

Fred also went to the trouble and expense to equip his revolvers with a crown protector and I still have it though the gun has been long gone.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/540/cU7isA.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/f0cU7isAj)

[Dagga Boy]

I remember reading somewhere that those were actually Diamondbacks masquerading as Pythons; just like Callahan's movie gun was supposedly an M-57 for real.

Dunno for certain, of course.

.

Yea, it is like the model 57 thing......not true. Likely a rumor started by the same gun shop employees who didn't have a 29 in stock, so they would whisper across the counter the great secret that the Dirty Harry gun was "really" a 57. I am sure this worked well to sell Diamondbacks. In this case there is a little truth. Callahan's partner does use a 2.5" Diamondback.

I sure wish I could have predicted gold and pythons. Ten years ago I got a 3" Python at a gunshow. I thought I was brilliant when I made $200 bucks on it profit the next day when a friend of mine "had to have it". Had I held on to it, I could have made about $8,000.

[Jeep]

My place did the same with their Browning Hi-Powers...after painting them orange.

They painted a bunch of BHP's orange?????? Were they sniffing solvent fumes before this sacrilege?

[FNFAN]

Ha! I apparently resemble the "Old Fart" remark. Had a 6" Jungkind Python that was sold to pay my son's hospital bills way back when (my brother has the next serial number up from mine but is unfired outside of the factory.)

I still have a 4" 66 that Fred Sadowski at 300 Gunsmithing did for me.

[SLG]

I actually heard the m57 thing from a friend in the movie industry. No idea if that is correct, but I think it is more than gun shop sales tactics.

[Jim Watson]

I read the Dirty Harry M57 legend in a gunzine. What does it matter? It was a studio prop shooting blanks!

I have a couple of Pythons. The 6" was my PPC gun in the 1970s with a Colt Custom Shop action job with Don Tedford in charge. Federal primers only.
I shot IDPA SSR with the 4" for which I traded a German automatic. It was worked by Reeves Jungkind in semi-retirement. Still stacks a bit but popped any brand of primer.

Today, I would go with a well tuned S&W over either. I HAVE a well tuned S&W that I pick up when revolver shooting seems indicated. I keep the Colts only out of sentiment and inertia.

[Dagga Boy]

The M57 thing is one of those urban legends that rears its ugly head regularly. It has been disproven so many times it is like a bad joke. Bringing up the model 57 thing on the Smith-Wesson forum is like saying "I heard a guy maxed Rogers shooting a Hipoint 9mm" on here. In all honesty, a 25-5 in .45 Colt would have been the "logical" choice for a movie gun pretending to be a .44 Magnum due to the blanks adaptability. As a guy whose first revolver was a full house Magna Port .41 Magnum, model 57, Nobody wanted to believe the Dirty Harry story as me. Not one shed of evidence anywhere compared to tons for the .44 Magnum.

I would love to have a Reeves Jungkind Python. With that said, my Jim Clark Smython is the pinnacle of perfect to me. I just bought a set of old handmade Guy Hogue grips for it.

[NickA]

Shot mine today, first time in a LONG time. It ain't going anywhere anytime soon [emoji1] Plus it keeps my homely little Cobra company.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/27/cffd2631d79d1682312234fda9ac5236.jpg

[SLG]

The M57 thing is one of those urban legends that rears its ugly head regularly. It has been disproven so many times it is like a bad joke.

Is there any online proof you can point me to so I can show others when this comes up - as it will - again?

[41magfan]

The M57 thing occurred long before there was an internet and it was written about in a firearms publication. It was supposedly verified by the prop master that was providing guns for that movie.

I have no desire to get mired in a debate about this subject or any other, but I've been around long enough to know that there are MANY things that are absolutely true that CANNOT be verified by an internet search.

I know this sounds ludicrous to the current generation, but the net is not a comprehensive and credible primary source of information for anything and everything.

[41magfan]

1977 Edition of American Handgunner's write-up on the Python.

http://jeffersonian.name/ah1977/AHJF77.pdf

[LSP972]

.
... the net is not a comprehensive and credible primary source of information for anything and everything.

Of course it isn't… but you cannot convince some of those "Show me a link!" types of that, even when the topic being discussed is one I lived, and it all happened before the doubter was a gleam in his daddy's eye.

SLG, this was NOT aimed at you. Or anyone here, for that matter. But it does get wearisome on other forums.

Now I do indeed remember reading a magazine article about this, way back in the day, and the information was supposedly verified. Who debunked it, DB?

.

[LSP972]

1977 Edition of American Handgunner's write-up on the Python.

http://jeffersonian.name/ah1977/AHJF77.pdf

Holy cow… THAT was a trip down memory lane. Reading the ads was positively tear-inducing.

$3.95 for a genuine Tyler T-grip… sigh.

.

[SLG]

I thought I phrased my request pretty accurately, but maybe not. I never have, and never will, think that the net is a complete source of information in any way, shape or form. Many things have happened, and are true, that cannot be verified on the net. Nonetheless, IF there is an online source that is accurate, it makes life a lot easier for those times when you want to share that information with others. I was simply asking for that ability, IF it exists.

[LSP972]

I was simply asking for that ability, IF it exists.

I know; that's why I was sure to clarify that I was not taking a shot at your request for on-line verification.

.

[Dagga Boy]

Is there any online proof you can point me to so I can show others when this comes up - as it will - again?

This will be fun for you on a Sunday. Go to this thread:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1980-present/119538-clint-eastwoods-44-magnum-3.html

Enjoy....internet drama elsewhere. It is typical of he "internet", and "my cousin knew a SEAL who had a friend who killed Bin laden and he did it with a mK23". Along with that are links to the John Milius stuff on YouTube discussing the guns. Also, note post #57. I can vouch for Mike. Well established SME and long time LAPD and serious gun dude. I got into it on the rehash in post #106 with a typical cop look of "prove it"....because all the actual "proof" is that the guns were 6.5" Model 29-2's, including the guns, and all the folks actually involved. Then there is post #138 by a very heavyweight SME from the Smith Collectors association (which is a wonderous organization of great gun folks).

[41magfan]

This will be fun for you on a Sunday. Go to this thread:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1980-present/119538-clint-eastwoods-44-magnum-3.html

Enjoy....internet drama elsewhere. It is typical of he "internet", and "my cousin knew a SEAL who had a friend who killed Bin laden and he did it with a mK23". Along with that are links to the John Milius stuff on YouTube discussing the guns. Also, note post #57. I can vouch for Mike. Well established SME and long time LAPD and serious gun dude. I got into it on the rehash in post #106 with a typical cop look of "prove it"....because all the actual "proof" is that the guns were 6.5" Model 29-2's, including the guns, and all the folks actually involved. Then there is post #138 by a very heavyweight SME from the Smith Collectors association (which is a wonderous organization of great gun folks).

I couldn't force myself to read the entire thread but the two posts you referenced are good enough for me. Thanks!

[LSP972]

Yup.

.

[Lyonsgrid]

Watched Dead Bang last night. Loved it, great movie. I miss the 80's.

[jdw174]

Back in the '70's, I was heavily involved in PPC shooting. Started out with a 6" Python because I wasn't a fan of the S&W. At a match in Ohio, I was introduced to a deputy from a local sheriff's dept who, I learned, had been taught how to 'smith a Colt by Jerry Moran. I sent him my Python and it came back with a DA that was incredible. In the meantime, I ran down an old model Colt Trooper (Python action) and had it fitted with a 1" Douglas barrel, BoMar Rib, and I sent this one to the deputy. Came back with a full action job converted to DA only and a fully bobbed hammer. The DA pull was an even 4 pounds with no stacking whatsoever. It never misfired nor went out of time and I put a ton of rounds through it. It is indeed a complicated action to work on and I'd hate to have to find a gunsmith today to repair one.