Colt Boa

[jtcarm]

The nice thing about that ribbed barrel...it completely removes any desire on my part to own it. Colt's ribbed barrels are fugly.

Chris

With the exception of Korth revolvers, vent ribs belong only on shotguns.

[Stephanie B]

The gun in question went for nearly $32K (if that was a legit auction).

[Lester Polfus]

Wow.

Those guns are essentially the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Sunbursts of the gun world. The joke about '59 Sunbursts is that 2000 were made, and we only know where 3000 of them are. A certain well-known musical instrument chain store even bought a fake, or so they say.

I think making a fake gun out of metal would be orders of magnitude harder, and an order of magnitude less profitable, than making a fake Les Paul out of wood, but I bet there are people doing the math.

[Pol]

The gun in question went for nearly $32K (if that was a legit auction).

The buyer account was created on 12/8/2020. Perhaps a serious gun collector who discovered gunbroker only recently, or somebody who only recently became a serious gun collector? Or some lucky Joe who happened to have won the lottery a few weeks ago?

I remain a skeptic. I think something is afoot.

[TDA]

Wow.

Those guns are essentially the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Sunbursts of the gun world. The joke about '59 Sunbursts is that 2000 were made, and we only know where 3000 of them are. A certain well-known musical instrument chain store even bought a fake, or so they say.

I think making a fake gun out of metal would be orders of magnitude harder, and an order of magnitude less profitable, than making a fake Les Paul out of wood, but I bet there are people doing the math.

Allegedly it used to be a bit of a cottage industry to assemble 3 inch Pythons from aftermarket parts and sell them as factory snubs. And, famously, Elmer Keith told the story of the A company #90 Colt Walker which he owned as a battered wreck and later saw for sale in much better condition. Life is short, but scamming is long...

ETA: Not that I'm immune to the allure of the limited run, or Lew Horton stuff. Wish I had more awesome stuff I never shoot in the safe, honestly.

[Lester Polfus]

Allegedly it used to be a bit of a cottage industry to assemble 3 inch Pythons from aftermarket parts and sell them as factory snubs.

That's much more do-able than whittling a new Python or Boa out of a block of steel. I guess that's where the factory letter comes in? I assume Colt would know by serial number how the gun was configured as it left the factory.

I misspoke on the number of Les Paul sunbursts. 1700 is the total number assumed from 1958 to 1960. The best guess on 1959, the most desirable year, is around 600. It's all guess work because the factory shipping ledgers are gone. Nobody knows if they were thrown away, misplaced or if they are sitting in someone's attic somewhere. Gibson is willing to pay a pretty penny for them.