shooter grade Python cost

[R. Walter]

Need to get busy

I need to drag several of my shooter Pythons out of the safe and put them up for sale. Haven't been keeping up with prices much in the last year or two, so sounds like now is a good time to sell a couple.

 

[BigBull 301]

I was at the LGS yesterday. They had a stainless 4" Python that was a shooter grade it looked like some took a grinder to the bottom of the barrel a half dozen times. The hang tag was $2200...They offered it to me for $1400.

I passed.

 

[AustinTX]

AustinTX, I think you and I are somewhat on the same page. Pythons will always command a premium, they always have. I not saying that they'll ever be cheap but, when I see nice but not special examples going into the $2,500/3,500 range, that says to me they're over priced. The fact is that because they've always been at the top of the mark, most have been well cared for. Look at older S&W 27s. It's sort of the same thing. High grade guns that have been babied, lots of them out there, but they can be had all day long for under a grand. The Python is the current "must have" for a lot of folks but the reality is they're not rare nor that special. It's an artificial construct that's driving the market, not the actual product.

Ha. Yes, that was a fairly equivocal "disagreement" on my part.

I agree with you about the later Pythons -- the prices I've seen for pristine standard '80s and '90s models strike me as rather absurd and likely prone to a correction. There are a lot of them, and they're really a far cry from the early Pythons in terms of workmanship. People who aren't serious Colt or Python aficionados don't really know/care about the year of manufacture. They just want a Python. They're generally not going to compete with collectors for the more desirable specimens, which means the glut of new buyers will disproportionately inflate the prices of the less desirable examples. That's my feeling, anyway. And then there are the wild prices for the stainless models, thanks to the "Walking Dead" boom. That can't last.

Superb-condition '50s and '60s Pythons are quite a bit harder to come by, though, and I don't really think we're likely to see any sustained downward trend in their prices. Could be wrong, of course. We'll see how it plays out.

 

[mrray13]

I paid $800 for my 1974 vintage 4" Royal Blue Python about 5 years ago or so. Most of the finish wear was around the muzzle, and it didn't have the correct grips. It keeps me from shooting my 1961 6" Royal Blue in 95%+ safe queen.

I think, at current prices, anything under $1k is a deal, under $800 a steal and $1200 top dollar for shooter grade.

 

[Skans]

"...grinder to the bottom of the barrel a half dozen times...They offered it to me for $1400. I passed."

Smart move - I wouldn't classify that as shooter grade. That's a gun that's been abused. Shooter grade, in my opinion, would be significant finish wear and perhaps a couple of places of some light surface rust.

Now, if the gun was blued and the only problem you had was a bad barrel, you could purchase a better 4" barrel from between $260 - $350 and then that gun wouldn't be a bad investment at all......ifff the only problem was the barrel I don't see that many stainless Python barrels out there and I'm sure they will be a bit pricier.

 

[Clark]

This Python cost me $1418 out the door in late 2013 at a pawn shop.
I have not had it to the range yet, but I am a lousy shot, anyway.