Is Colt Python 2020 worth $1,500?

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$1,500 for a new Python is probably about right - the fit and finish on them are better than most guns being produced today. I haven't had the opportunity to play with the trigger on one, so I can't comment on that - but from what I've heard, the trigger is actually quite good.

I have two old Pythons - one manufactured in 1957 which I had refinished by Colt; and the other manufactured in 1960 which is 98%. Both are beautiful guns inside and out. I wouldn't sell either for the cost of a new Python today. However, I have about $1,400 in the one I had refinished by Colt (gun + refinishing). Some people will say "YUCK" why did you have it refinished and claim I destroyed it. Not true. It's still a really beautiful Python worth substantially more than what I paid for it. Had I left the Python the way it was, I doubt that I could get even $1,200 for it with all of the pretty new Pythons out there going for only a few hundred more.
 
After all the dust, delayed demand and zombie movies settle, do you think Colt Python is worth $1,500? I would say, it's a 900 dollars revolver.
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Any gun on any given day is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, no more and no less. Now if you figure a Colt Python is a $900 revolver then make an offer of $900 to a seller and buy one. Personally I doubt you will find one for that price but can't hurt to try.

Ron
 
For most of its first life, the Python competed with the SW Model 27, not the 686. The M27, of course, is an iteration of the Registered Magnum. So, I decided to see what they cost when they came out and use an inflation calculator and see what the inflation-adjusted price should be.

Registered Magnum price in 1935 was about $60 per ShootingTimes. Using the inflation calculator to 2020, the inflation-adjusted price would be $1,140.39. MSRP today is $1,091.00.

The Colt Python came out in 1955 at a price of about $125 per GunDigest. Using the same inflation calculator as the Registered Magnum, the inflation-adjusted price would be $$1,214.50. MSRP today is $1,500.00.

So, does that mean the Colt is overpriced and the M27 underpriced? I don't know because Colt significantly redesigned parts of the Python and has to recoup development costs while the M27 N-frame has seen little change in recent years.

What I do know is that revolver lovers are better off with both Colt and Smith making revolvers---both for the sake of competition and to provide a choice.
 
KyJim said:
What I do know is that revolver lovers are better off with both Colt and Smith making revolvers---both for the sake of competition and to provide a choice.
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I'm just glad Smith and Wesson and Colt have enough faith in the revolver market, outside the concealed carry market, to tool up and bring them (Python/Model 19) back.
 
KyJim: What I do know is that revolver lovers are better off with both Colt and Smith making revolvers---both for the sake of competition and to provide a choice.
CajunBass: I'm just glad Smith and Wesson and Colt have enough faith in the revolver market, outside the concealed carry market, to tool up and bring them (Python/Model 19) back.
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Well I'd agree with both of those statements...we all have our brand loyalties, some more than others...but good, healthy competition is just that...good for all of us shooters....hell, I'll even include Kimber in that competition statement.
Best regards, "Revolvers: Uber Alles!" Rod
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Kimber revolvers were mentioned here. I think they are not in the same category. Never held a Kimber revolver in my hand but they look light. That means all .357 mag recoil goes into your wrist and it may be quite painful.
 
I have both a 4" and 6" Colt Python and I enjoy shooting both. I have the correct original grips for the 6" pictured.

Python%201.png


I likely enjoy shooting my S&W Model 27 just as much and it shoots as well as either Python. So much for old.

Would I pay $1500 for a New Model Python? I would have to really like the gun and would like to shoot one first. :) Then too I really have no need for one.

Ron
 
The real question to ask is "how many Pythons is Colt turning out a year?" That will ultimately define their value in the long run.

I don't see Colt making the Python forever. In fact, I don't see Colt being around for all that long either. It seems to me that the gun they now call the "Python" is worthy of the name. If they are making 20,000/year, values will be rather low. If they are only making 1,000/year then at $1,500 we should all be jumping on them.
 
The 686 most defiantly competed with the Colt Python.

That the Python was out first doesn't matter. The 686 and GP100 killed the Python.

Colt released a 9mm hunk o junk too late because they kept with the Python too long.
 
The 686 most defiantly competed with the Colt Python.

That the Python was out first doesn't matter. The 686 and GP100 killed the Python.

Colt released a 9mm hunk o junk too late because they kept with the Python too long.
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While I don't have a 686 but do have a 586 neither has the quality of a Python. How do you figure the 686 competed with the Colt Python. The Python was released in 1955 and ran till 2005 (the original) and S&W released the 686 in 1981. Twenty six years later so I hardly see the release of the 686 to compete with the Python. While my 586 is a good gun it is nowhere near the Python and if I wanted a good gun to compete with a Python it would likely be an N Frame Model 27 certainly not a 586 or 686 gun. The Ruger GP 100 while a fine revolver is not even in the competition. Furthermore the 586 and 686 are medium L frame revolvers hardly in a N frame class revolver.

The new Python introduced in 2020 is a wait and see but I am not about to knock it till I try one.

Ron
 
Buying a Python may make sense after the price becomes reasonable (certainly below $1,500). As states in one of the comments here, Colt is likely to go out of business and then even the mass produced 2020 version will be a highly collectable item. Permanent stupidity of Colt's management cannot go unpunished by the market forces forever.
 
How do you figure the 686 competed with the Colt Python.
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I always saw the 5/686 series as being intended to compete with the Python. Maybe not in fit, finish and such, although S&W has never been a slouch in that department, but I was around back then. At the time, Colt was still churning out Python's , and Smith and Wesson was looking at a real or imagined problem with their K-frame 357's cracking the forcing cone. Plus Ruger was putting some heat on them too. S&W needed to do something.

So they worked up the L-frame guns. Good idea. But one more factor I think played in here. The "Smolt." People were paying good money to take a Colt Python barrel and mate it to a Smith and Wesson frame. Not a lot of people of course, but the Smolt (and Cougar...Colt/Ruger) was getting a lot of press in the gun magazines of the day. Shoot, I wanted one, but didn't have the money to buy the gun, the barrel (you could buy a Python barrel from Colt in those days) and send them off for however long it took to have someone do the work for you. And it wasn't cheap.

So, my theory, and my theory ONLY is that someone at S&W said, "Let's add a full length underlug to this thing. Sort of give it that Smolt/Python look in a factory package, and at a lower price than either a Colt Python or a custom Smolt. Sure there may, or may not have been some real advantages to the full lug, but I personally saw it only as cosmetic. About the same time, Ruger's GP-100 also had a full lug. As did Dan Wesson. It looked like everyone was jumping on the full lug bandwagon.

Now, I never cared for the full lug guns, except for the Python. I can't tell you why, only that I liked the look. On a Python. On anything else it just didn't look right.
 
Probably because the 586 and 686 are L frame revolvers. They are fine revolvers and I like my 586. I am saying that I and just me do not see the 586 or 686 frame as being on par with a Colt Python. If I wanted to compare a S&W revolver to a Colt Python I would likely choose a Model 27 or 28 or go back and compare with the S&W .357 Magnum or any of the pre Model 27 guns going back to 1935.

Anyway it matters not. I can't say I would pay a $1500 asking price on a new Python. I have no need to since I have about all I want in the Python world. Right now I am seeing Model 27 guns selling for $1500 and up. Matter of fact I would likely pop $1500 for another Model 27 or Pre 27 before I would pay $1500 for a new Python.

So is a New Python worth $1500? Not to me but I am sure it's worth $1500 to someone out there.

Ron
 
Colt's always put a $premium on that Pony logo
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Colt cannot "put value" on something; either people are willing to pay, or they're not.
Pythons are flying off the shelves at $1500, so the gun is valued at that, pony or no.
 
I don't know if it's (The Ruger GP 100) inferior or not. I have zero experience with them. I just think they're ugly. That's enough to move them off my list.
 
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If you let me know where you can get the new Python at $1500 I'll take two ... to go with the single new Python I have (and paid a lot more than $1500) and the couple of original ones (which I paid a lot more than the new model for)
 
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