Best coating for a python

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Open45

New member
I’m looking for a 3 inch old school blue snake but probably end up with a stainless,, trampin in the swamp and salty marsh plays heck on must blue guns , I do have a nib 50 AE 3 shot built on a Highway K frame but I’m wanting a finish on my gut .357 fir the summer it’ll be in my waistband.
I know a excellent gun smith who I trust to blue anything but I can’t make up my mind Stainless or blue or nib or even pvd or dlc,, if I walk up in a gator I need something quick and lethal fir a quick head shot that won’t rust ,,
 
If I wanted a revolver to carry around in a swamp, I wouldn't start with an old school Python. I'd buy a stainless S&W for a fraction of the price and be done.
 
Yea, my first selection would be to get a SS gun. Second would be packability. Third would be coating.

I’m thinking a S&W 386 7 shot, 357 mag, scandium lightweight frame, dark color. Doesn’t get much better than that! I probably just saved you $2000 also!
 
An old original 3 inch Python will set you back more then $10,000 AND UP.

A new model Python is available in 3 inch stainless, but so far not blue...yet.

According to APW/Cogan who knows as much as can be known on gun finishing, the ultimate durable gun is stainless steel with a hard chrome plated finish.

Arguably, the finest double action revolver made in America today is the new Python.
Accuracy, durability, and trigger action feel are top of the line.
Plus no Hillary locks and no MIM hammer or trigger.

For a swamp holster I'd look for a Kydex since it won't absorb water and can be just rinsed off to clean.
 
Open45,

I think Dfariswheel has it spot on. The matte finish 3" Python is $1299 MSRP and will probably look good as-is for a long time. It costs another $200 to have Colt polish the finish, so if you are going to get hard chrome plating, check with the plating service to see if they have a price difference for starting with a matte or smooth finish so you can figure out which option costs you the least when all is said and done.

3" barrel revolvers are something I've always been able to shoot well, whereas 2" revolvers seem to hurt my sight alignment, and I find it disproportionately difficult to get them to group, much less to place precise hits with. Besides, I've found 1⅞" and 2" barrel revolvers to produce significantly more velocity variation than 3" barrels, putting another feather in the 3" cap. So I think your choice of a 3" barrel is just right for what you plan to do with it.
 
$$$$$$$

One can want what ever they want, and spend their money on whatever they choose. Speaking for myself, I would not spend $1300+ on a new handgun, " the finest in America today",.....then more money to refinish it, and then take it into the swamp as a hard use piece, especially when there are other options more affordable which will serve as well if not better. But, to each his own.

I've never hunted, much less shot a gator, but agree the .357 revolver is versatile and practical outdoorsman's gun. I've walked alongside one style or another for a goodly number of years, and still sally forth with a 4-5/8" Blackhawk on occasion.
 
I owned a 6" Python many years ago. It was a beautiful piece, but I found it too "delicate" for carrying in the LA Swamps and Woods. Bought my first 357 Blackhawk, and followed it with 41, 44spl and Mag, and 45 Colt. Mahvelous.
 
The defunct Spokhandguns turned out a K frame 5 x .45 LC. The greatest stretch I know of. I sure wanted to see that Three Shooter.
 
I suspect the OP may have made some typos as I'm not sure what a "Highway K Frame" is nor have I ever seen, or even heard of, a modern 3-shot revolver. I don't think it would be possible to safely convert a K-Frame to .50 AE regardless of how many, or how few, shots the cylinder holds. I just measured the outside diameter of the forcing cone on my M10-5 and it's right at 0.500". Given that the bullet diameter of .50 AE is, depending on the source, either .499" or .500", you've got zero room to increase the bore diameter unless you increase the OD of the forcing cone and thus remove material from the frame.

I suspect that the .45 LC K-Frame that Jim Watson mentioned likely had very thin forcing cone walls and probably couldn't handle ammunition with pressures higher than the 14,000 psi SAAMI limit for .45 LC. I know that the Taurus models 445, 450, and 455 which were chambered in .44 Special, .45 LC, and .45 ACP respectively and were roughly K-Frame sized all had paper-thin forcing cones and could not handle hot-rodded ammunition. Given that .50 AE's max SAAMI pressure is 36,000 psi, the same as that of .41 and .44 Magnum, I don't see how it could be made to work safely in a K-Frame as there just isn't enough material there.

Like I said, I don't know what a "Highway K Frame" is. Did the OP perhaps mean a Highway Patrolman (aka M28)? This would make more sense as the Highway Patrolman, while chambered for .357 Magnum, is built on the much larger N-Frame and thus has room for a much thicker forcing cone. However, even in an N-Frame I think .50 AE might be stretching the limit as you've got a significantly larger diameter bullet than anything the N-Frames have traditionally been chambered for (biggest diameter I've ever heard of S&W making in an N-Frame was .455 Webley) operating at the same pressure as the highest pressure cartridges for which the N-Frame is chambered (.41 and .44 Magnum). Conventional wisdom for a .45 LC N-Frame like a M25 is that, while they can safely exceed the 14,000 psi SAAMI limit, it's best to stick with "Tier 2" loads which max out at 23,000 psi (same as .45 ACP +P).

The only DA revolver I've ever heard of being converted to .50 AE is Hamilton Bowen's "M1917" Ruger Redhawk which is a 5-Shot .50 AE that uses moon clips. Of course, a Ruger Redhawk is larger still than a S&W N-Frame and capable of handling 40,000+ psi pressures. Of course, it could be done easily in a S&W X-Frame as it is chambered for .350 Legend, .500 S&W Magnum, and .460 S&W Magnum which have max pressures of 55,000, 60,000, and 65,000 psi respectively, but doing one in .50 AE would seem like a step backwards when they're already made in much more powerful calibers.
 
The 50 Action Express , 3 shot Highway K-frame sorta threw me too ...

when I read things like that I see a thread heading off into the weeds !

I can't spend too much time in the ditches any more ... life's too short !
Gary
 
But if you spend all the time in the ditches you get to find all the forgotten wheel weights hiding in the grass. How else to shoot 50 AE through a k-frame, but with reduced loads?
 
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