Colt Python Unreliable?

C

CajunMagnum

New member
I've had a Colt Python 6 inch blued made in 1980 for about 5 months now, it's in very good condition but still in a condition to where shooting it wouldn't be a crime (at least in my book). The previous owner had shot it a little, but not a whole lot. I've shot about 500-550 rounds through it total, 150 rounds of .38 Specials through it and the other 350-400 were full house 125 and 158 grain .357 Magnum.

During my last session of shooting Double Tap 125 grain .357 mags, after the last round had been fired, I noticed the cylinder latch was not working. Pulling the latch from the back would not work, I had to pull it from the front towards the cylinder with my thumbnail. I called a gunsmith and he said a little plastic piece in there had broke. He said the gun would still work if I opened the cylinder the way I did after shooting, and said he could fix it. He fixed it.



I've heard people sometimes talk about timing and other issues with the Python, but I've never seen anyone talk about this. Is this something that would make you not trust the Python as more than a range gun or collector's piece? Why do you think this happened? Design defect? Manufacturing defect? Used gun that needed new part?

Is this a gun you'd trust your life to?


Thoughts?
 
1911s unreliable, now Pythons. You need a single shot pistol Cajun.

Happy New Year Everyone, at the stroke of midnight it sounded like someone fired a .44 Magnum in my backyard, wonder who did it. :D
 
nate, what can I say, I'm paranoid! LOL! I'm really trying to get as much info I can about the 1911, as I don't know much about it. The Python thing is more directed towards other Python owners. I'm wondering if anyone else has this experience.

I heard what sounded like a .45 go off in my neighborhood, and I swear it wasn't me... at least that what I'd tell the cops! LOL!

Happy New Year, all!
 
Your Python is a mechanical devise with small parts that will on occasion break. Just because a small part on a large revolver breaks doesn't make the whole line of guns "unreliable". Doesn't seem like something that needs explaining but you asked. Happy new year and enjoy your python.
 
I understand, its important to have faith in your weapon. Just remember that all mechanical devices can fail and no firearm is 100% infallible.

Below is an article on Colt revolvers by noted pistol smith Grant Cunningham that you might enjoy reading.

Is the Colt Python "delicate"?

Edit: I linked to wrong article. :o
 
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I have never in the thousands of rounds through mine had a problem. Though I put them on a similar note as a Rolex watch. Sometimes parts can wear, then it usualy takes someone skilled in working on such a well crafted design to fix it.
 
:confused: I've worked on scores of Pythons and there are NO plastic parts inside.

HGpython_1105E-1.jpg
 
Under the back of the cylinder latch, there's this little white plastic piece you can barely see.
Click to expand...

OK , that's a piece to keep the thumb piece from rubbing against and scratching the side plate. Forgot about that as that was added late.
 
in 1908 Colt introduced the Army Special, later renamed the Official Police.
This is the frame and action Colt used for every medium frame DA revolver they made up to and including the Python.

From the early 1900's to the late 1960's, the Official Police and other versions of the basic gun were THE police firearm for much of America including the New York City police and the FBI.
In those days, most cops bought or were issued ONE gun to last them for an entire career.
Strangely, for all those years no one seemed to have a problem with their Colt's just breaking.

All machines WILL break, whether it's a gun, an egg beater, or an aircraft carrier.
The Python is a strong revolver that will give a lifetime of solid service unless it's abused.
Many police bought and extensively used Pythons without any wave of broken guns.
 
I was talking to an older guy at the range, must have been in his 40s (:D), he used to live in Alaska, and was there talking to a big game hunter, the hunter also carried an Anaconda (back-up). He stated the hunter told him he filled down the front sight. And also told him that never to drop your Colt on hard ground like rocks or pavement, as if........:D

I guess he meant it's no Ruger, or S&W.
 
Many years ago I was a Range Officer and qualified Peace Officers with their handguns, 6 different agencies. It seemed that the Pythons were more prone to having trouble when they got really dirty. I'm not saying after firing 50 rounds but more like 300+ rounds. Now the ammo we used was really dirty. After 50 rounds your gun was a dirty mess. Guys who carried the Python would need to occasionally oil or clear their gun to keep it shooting. Factory ammo seems much cleaner now, or maybe I just remember it that way. I'd have not worried about reliability carrying a Python back then, early 80s to late 90s, or now.
 
The Python action is an excellent and smooth action , but it's design is about 100 years old. It really wasn't meant for and does not like a lot of fast DA shooting. The action take skill to tune and the parts are difficult to fit unless you have the experience. I love and trust my Pythons (and original .357 and Officers Model Match), but I do not subject them to rapid DA shooting. I mainly use the DA to 'stage' the hammer for bullseye work.
 
After reading these forums for a few years the only guns I'll trust now are original "handgonnes".

No parts to break.
 
The little white plastic doohickey can be a bother. I bought a brand new Python Elite the same week Colt announced it was abandoning the civilian market. I loved the gun. I shot it and shot it and shot it and shot it some more... and presently noticed a scratch on the side plate.

I'd never heard of a white little plastic doohickey. I didn't know anything about it until I bought a copy of Kuhnhausen's book.

I bought a little white plastic doohickey, put it in with a drop of glue, and sent the side plate off to be reblued. It doesn't match. It's blue, but not the exact same blue.

Some years later, I bought another Python, and lost the little white plastic doohickey while stripping the gun down to the frame for a decades-overdue cleaning. I rummaged around the garage until I found a piece of white plastic scrap. I found I could melt it with a cigarette lighter. I cut off a little piece, put it in, and melted it until it looked like an original little white plastic doohickey. I let it cool, added a drop of glue, and pushed it into the hole.

As much time and effort as Colt invested in each high end revolver, you'd think the company could have come up with something better than little white plastic doohickies that sometimes fall out.
 
After reading this, I'm going to sell my 1910 mfg. date Colt Army Special and my Colt Python . . . I don't want to take a chance that they'll malfunction. I don't need 'em anyway . . . I've got my 1861 Colt Navy that I KNOW I can depend on. :D

Well, maybe I won't sell the Army Special or the Python . . . I've been thinking some on getting a row boat to go fishin . . . if I tie the two of them together, they'll make a good anchor. :rolleyes:

Sorry . . . blame my commets on my "senility" . . . I'm older than "the older guy . . who must have been 40". :eek:
 
Once someone came up with an gadget to hold the match, it was all downhill in the maintenance department.

Yes, that plastic part was put in to "solve" a problem that existed only in the heads of Colt owners. For decades, the cylinder latch left a mark on the sideplate. Like, say, the S&W cylinder mark, it was a perfectly normal sign of use and no one worried. Then came the gun yuppies who insisted that THEIR guns be perfect and never show any signs of use. They complained long and loud about those horrible scrapes and scars that were ruining THEIR perfect revolvers, so Colt tried to eliminate the rubbing.

I can agree with about all that Grant Cunningham wrote. Except that there are almost no gunsmiths any more (not even at Colt) who can work on those guns and do the maintenance he says is necessary. And those who do work on them can't get many of the parts they need as Colt no longer produces them.

The comment that police officers were usually issued and carried one gun throughout their careers was true, but says nothing about the durability of the gun. In those days of low crime, few police officers ever fired their guns except in yearly qualification, and anyone above the rank of patrolman usually did that with a pencil. I have seen police revolvers from the 1940's and 1950's that had not been fired in years and were rusted shut. The ammunition was sealed in the belt with decades of verdigris and was probably inert. Maybe it was a better time.

Jim
 
I'm not saying after firing 50 rounds but more like 300+ rounds. Now the ammo we used was really dirty. After 50 rounds your gun was a dirty mess.
Click to expand...

What kind of idiot shoots SIX boxes of ammo through ANY gun and whines about function, did your range have recliners? I wouldn't consider it a problem if a gun stopped working after TWO boxes as a 100 round gunfight is unlikely even in the movies, after that much gunplay it would be time to eat. ALL guns fail at a certain temperature/crud level and if you pushed your gun to that point it's your fault. Did it work ok when it cooled down? Also, did you know the oil in your lawnmower actually has to be CHANGED every couple of years. Let's get a grip here. While we're on the subject of cylinder latches anybody who swings a cylinder closed 'cause they saw that in a movie should be kicked in the b*lls since I've seen THAT in movies.
 
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