Thinking of buying a revolver

[YALE]

I'm using the python as a watermark for quality, not chronology. Hence the "a python" for the 27 and "the python" for the M73. But you are correct, the 27 was much earlier. Use to be known as the registered magnum, Patton had one. They are difficult to find in good shape. At least, I've had some trouble finding one.

My bad, dude.

[Broncojohnny]

All I know is that I wouldn't buy a Python right now. I have been watching them for years. With one being used in The Walking Dead TV show and people being hood rich in general (thanks to the stock market) the prices have entered the full retard zone.

Barring Colt making them again (a rumor), during the next recession when the neckbeards need to pay rent, I am going to buy quite a few of these guns. I had read that the reason production was stopped is because almost every piece of the gun had to be machined and fitted by hand. They couldn't be made in China. You would think that if they can get two to three thousand per gun it might make sense to start making them again.

[CJ]

All I know is that I wouldn't buy a Python right now. I have been watching them for years. With one being used in The Walking Dead TV show and people being hood rich in general (thanks to the stock market) the prices have entered the full retard zone.

Barring Colt making them again (a rumor), during the next recession when the neckbeards need to pay rent, I am going to buy quite a few of these guns. I had read that the reason production was stopped is because almost every piece of the gun had to be machined and fitted by hand. They couldn't be made in China. You would think that if they can get two to three thousand per gun it might make sense to start making them again.

Yes that's right, they were all hand fitted by the some of the best gunsmiths. If you ever get a chance to read into the history of how they made those guns, and the insane hand picked talent that went into the individuals that built it, you will be impressed. Towards the end of production they were all built in the custom shop. I highly highly doubt they will ever go into production again. The reason they stopped was because it was no longer financially viable, they cost way more to build than colt was selling them for. Companies like S&W (and Colt, see King Cobra) were filling the market with cheaper designs and the high quality match revolver market was shrinking. There was an interesting article done a few years ago where a late model python was picked and put up against a full custom Korth revolver. The conclusion after testing was the Korth had a stronger action, but the python was more accurate. That should tell you something about what the price point would be today if it went back into production. I will post the article when I track it down again. You can still find a shooter python for a reasonable price and sacrifice aesthetics, those are out there. But good condition pythons without cylinder drag marks will run you around 2k or north of there depending on barrel length. They've always been expensive guns, even back in the 1950's. Earlier revolvers are higher quality, generally. Later model guns don't quite have the same lockup, use plastic front sights, etc. but even a late model is better than most any other. My 1976 Python has a 4lb single action, and 8lb double action (!) and all of them are silky smooth, my Elite has a slightly harder pull, but it's most likely due to low round count. It's a gun I think any enthusiast can appreciate once you shoot. As long as you look for them and keep some cash hidden away, good deals will come to you.

Here is a great excerpt from a master revolver gunsmith which is very educational:

As a preliminary evaluation of these revolvers, here are some talking points.

1. Based on my experience, the quality ratio of Colt to S&W is proportional to that of S&W to H&R. The Colts are much better made and more precisely fitted, of finer and stronger materials, than Smith & Wessons. I base this statement on the personally observed differences in working internal parts with a diamond file, and wear and peening in contact surfaces with comparable round counts. The Smith & Wesson single stage lockup is not nearly as precise as, but much more durable than, the Colt double stage lockup. The Smith & Wesson bolt is softer but less stressed than the Colt bolt. The S&W action is much easier to work on than the Colt action.
   
   
2. The Colt V-spring action as used in the Python with its "Bank Vault Lockup", is a licensed derivative of the Schmidt Galand patents. As the trigger of these revolvers is pulled, the double hand forces the cylinder against the locking bolt. The harder the trigger is pulled the tighter the cylinder is locked. Consequently, as the cylinder recoils, it compresses the hand, eventually peening it out of spec. This is all the more applicable to Magnum chamberings never contemplated by the original European inventors. The ensuing requirement for periodic maintenance is the price you have to pay for shooting a Python.
   
   
3. Every Colt double action revolver that I own, including unfired and factory overhauled guns, fails to carry up when thumb-braked in the course of cocking the hammer, though it carries up when the cylinder is free to rotate in the course of cocking the hammer, no matter how slowly I cock it. So either this tuneup represents a factory error, or the factory considers this condition normal. The basic features of Colt double action revolvers are well summarized by Grant Cunningham: "Colt revolvers have actions which are very refined. Their operating surfaces are very small, and are precisely adjusted to make the guns work properly. Setting them up properly is not a job for someone who isn't intimately familiar with their workings, and the gunsmith who works on them had better be accustomed to working at narrow tolerances, on small parts, under magnification." On the other hand, by referring to a copy of Kuhnhausen's shop manual, I was able to fit a new bolt to one of my Bankers Specials using NSk calipers, S&W screwdrivers, the diamond-coated file of a Leatherman Charge TTi, and a wooden shaft. So I agree that Colt actions are highly refined. I also agree that they require working at narrow tolerances, on small parts, under magnification. But much of that is within the reach of a hobbyist equipped with a $30 manual and $200 worth of hand tools.
   
   
4. The Manurhin MR73 is the best fighting revolver ever made, designed as a significantly improved S&W, crucially strengthened at the yoke, ingeniously refined at tensioning the hammer and the rebound slide, and manufactured to the quality standards of 1950s Colts. I have tried the current S&W revolvers. There is no comparison. In a nutshell, an early Python is a better revolver than a Registered Magnum, in the same sense whereby a Ferrari 330 P3/4 is a better car than a Ford GT40. But the MR73 is the only revolver I would take in harm's way, in the way I would choose the Citroën ZX over the Ferrari and the Ford for entry in the Paris-Dakar rally.
   
   
5. The market proves that S&W is king of revolvers in the same way, and to the same extent, that it proves that the Big Mac is the king of burgers. The problem with S&W is not design, but quality. Their basic action layout is capable of uncompromising performance, as witness this Manurhin chambered in .32 S&W Long, beating match guns by S&W, SAKO, and Walther. But in order to get a current production S&W to perform like that, you would have to rebarrel it and replace its MIM lockwork with increasingly unobtainable forged parts. And even then, it will not approach the quality of Manurhin's hammer-forged frame, barrel, and cylinder.
   
   
6. The Korth is by far the best made modern revolver, comparable in quality only to the best of the pre-WWI classics, from the French M1873, the Swiss M1878 and 1882, and the Mauser M1878. It is equal in precision to a Target Triple Lock, and far superior to it and the Registered Magnum alike in ruggedness and durability. Among post-WWII revolvers, only the first generation Colt Pythons compare to it in fit and finish. It is arguably the best sporting revolver ever made, as distinct from a social work tool such as the MR73. Its lockwork is hand ground out of steel forgings and deep hardened. It is nowise stressed at ignition, resulting in unexcelled durability and enabling Willi Korth to guarantee the same accuracy even after firing 50,000 Magnum rounds. Its design incorporates some Colt traits such as clockwise cylinder rotation, within an original layout that bears some resemblance to S&W two-point lockup and transport. Its ingenious hand detachable yoke is a great boon to regular maintenance, and its spring tensioned ejector built into the optional 9mm Para cylinder is the best such system that I ever used with rimless ammo in a revolver.

Massad Ayoob on the Colt Python

How accurate? From a Ransom rest with Match ammo, the Python will generally deliver about 1 3/8" groups at fifty yards. This is about what you get out of a custom made PPC revolver with one-inch diameter Douglas barrel. My 8" matte stainless Python with Bausch & Lomb scope in J.D. Jones' T'SOB mount has given me 2 1/4" groups at 100 yards with Federal's generic American Eagle 158 grain softpoint .357 ammo. The same gun, with Federal Match 148 grain .38 wadcutters, once put three bullets into a hole that measured .450" in diameter when calipered. That's three .38 slugs in a hole a couple of thousandths of an inch smaller in diameter than a single .45 auto bullet.

One of the best Python histories I've ever seen.

So really to sum it up based on all this shit

Python - accuracy.
Korth - durability.
MR73 - both, but watered down.

I'm looking for a Model 27, Manurhin MR73, Mateba Unica 6, or a Korth Combat. If you like I'll keep an eye out for some well priced Pythons if you have a particular finish/barrel you want.

[Broncojohnny]

Wow, great info. I won't be in the market until the next recession but i am going to buy about ten of them if i can find clean ones. I bought my Anaconda for $1200 and apparently it is a $1600 to $1800 gun now. I like that kind of appreciation.

[CJ]

Yeah, colts don't f around on appreciation. I'm always looking for a nice anaconda.

[KBScobravert]

What no love for an 1895 Nagant Revolver? Out of all mine (Dan Wesson Target .22lr, S&W .41magnum, S&W .38 Airweight) it is probably my favorite just by how unique it is.

[CJ]

in a world of fine revolvers, the nagant is the maggots on the poop.

[KBScobravert]

in a world of fine revolvers, the nagant is the maggots on the poop.

I have a special poop picture for you.

But no, my Dan Wesson is much more of a fine revolver and cheaper to shoot.

[CJ]

I have a special poop picture for you.

But no, my Dan Wesson is much more of a fine revolver and cheaper to shoot.

the picture that keeps on giving. Yes the Dan Wesson's are good revolvers. I liked yours a lot.

[matts5.0]

Thinking of trading my bushmaster carbon-15 for a 686-5 plus.. Good trade?

[YALE]

I would.

[Denny]

Hellz naw!

[matts5.0]

Hellz naw!

Haha why

[Denny]

If you don't want the Bush and want the wheel, sell it and buy you one, then take the money you have left over and buy me a thank you card.