What gun is the next Python?
- Thread starter Falcon642
- Start date
To me it seems that the Anaconda has more desire and mystique about it than the Python, although both were and are fine weapons. Hollywood always drives desire for items. Doesn't the main character of the Walking Dead carry an Anaconda? I don't think either will surpass Americas love affair for the Smith and Wesson model 29. It's been dropped twice and brought back because the public simply wont allow it to disappear. You can thank Harry Callahan for that!
A lot of what gets in our hearts regarding guns is pure luck of the times too. Mel Gibson's character in the Lethal Weapon movies carried a 92F, but I don't recall the movies causing the popularity of the 92F to surge quite like the good ole Model 29 N frame did through out the 70's and 80's.
Interestingly, someone could cast "The Rock" in a 3 series movie roll as a tough guy who carries an LCP and the American love affair with the LCP would begin LOL. Some would argue it already has...and it's doing it on it's own merits. You can thank luck of the times and price for that I believe...and it's also a darn nice little gun.
A lot of what gets in our hearts regarding guns is pure luck of the times too. Mel Gibson's character in the Lethal Weapon movies carried a 92F, but I don't recall the movies causing the popularity of the 92F to surge quite like the good ole Model 29 N frame did through out the 70's and 80's.
Interestingly, someone could cast "The Rock" in a 3 series movie roll as a tough guy who carries an LCP and the American love affair with the LCP would begin LOL. Some would argue it already has...and it's doing it on it's own merits. You can thank luck of the times and price for that I believe...and it's also a darn nice little gun.
micromontenegro
New member
AFAIK, he carries a Python.
Gotcha, if Colt was smart they'd re-release the Python then in the same configuration as the one on the show...they'd probably sell a boat load of them. I mean, look at Hornady's Zombie Max? Even Gerber cashed in on their Zombie knives. Then again, kudos to Colt for not sleezing up the reputation of a nice revolver.
I dont think there will ever be another Python, just too iconic. if that is a word. Why would they not put it back into production knowing they could make a fortune on them ? Long ago a good friend had a Python , beautiful revolver. Ran into him a few weeks back after not seeing him for almost 20 years, asked him if he still had it, he had a extended hospital stay, and wife had to sell his stuff to survive, she had no idea what it was worth. I almost cried.
Ahhh, if only it were that easy.
The amount of money it would take simply to produce the hardware to assemble a new Python would be mindblowing in the extreme, and that says absolutely nothing about the hand fitting and work that goes in to making them what they are... and even that doesn't describe the polishing process that is the largest part of how they look.
Suffice to say, they'd have to sell a LOT to simply "put it back in to production" and the cost for that venture goes in before any of them get sold.
You would be more likely to see what ends up being "bleeecccchhh, that's a 'new' Python, who wants THAT?!" if they ever went anywhere with such a project.
Microgunner
New member
Korth revolvers are already legendary and will continue to appreciate.
"Look for a company that:
--makes a fantastic product
--has some manner of a shaky business or operational plan
and
--falls on it's face or otherwise shoots itself in the foot
...and that's your recipe for finding the next Python."
The last piece of the recipe for "next Python" is that it doesn't already have an undeserved reputation. I would have submitted the MaTeBa company for Exhibit A, but they have since claimed an even greater mantle of "Python-eity" than the Colt itself. Well made pistols, no doubt about it, but hardly deserving of the same respect as Korth's and such that were flat-out made nicer (i.e. the price is due to rarity, not reputation)
I instead submit the offspring of Ghisoni's (of MaTeBa) M2006 revolver, the Chiappa Rhino, as the next "Greatest Thing We Didn't Love Until it was Too Late." We have a great concept, solid design, poor business decisions (early on, QC was sacrificed to make deliveries, an infamous RID-gate scandal culminating in the distributor calling its customers "tin foil hatters," and little to no marketing of such a new and controversial gun was paid for). As far as I know, the company is currently selling the revolvers well, but who knows for how long. It seems doubtful there is enough interest to keep them in production for many years (it's also probably the most complicated/expensive thing Chiappa makes).
I predict that market exposure will gradually increase sales to the point where Chiappa thinks it's got a cash cow, at which point they will over expand their production, lose a bundle when they don't sell for what they promised the Board, and abandon the project for the next whiz-bang idea.
PS; I giggle a bit when I hear Pythons described as "Rolls Royces or Cadillacs." There is a gross difference in quality between those two. Like between a Rizzini and a Purdey SxS shotgun. One is a very nicely made execution, one is a museum grade manifestation of human skill and spirit that you crudely blast stuff with
. I've seen Pythons, and heard many more accounts of them; they were very well made revolvers with pleasing aesthetics. They were not the pinnacle of gunsmithery, now and forever, like many wish to believe based on today's rarified prices. They were a very well made, and even more expensive/difficult to make, product, which was unable to justify its place in the market any longer (for a number of reasons, both gun-related and not). A Prince of Revolvers --not a God-Emperor of Revolvers 
TCB
--makes a fantastic product
--has some manner of a shaky business or operational plan
and
--falls on it's face or otherwise shoots itself in the foot
...and that's your recipe for finding the next Python."
The last piece of the recipe for "next Python" is that it doesn't already have an undeserved reputation. I would have submitted the MaTeBa company for Exhibit A, but they have since claimed an even greater mantle of "Python-eity" than the Colt itself. Well made pistols, no doubt about it, but hardly deserving of the same respect as Korth's and such that were flat-out made nicer (i.e. the price is due to rarity, not reputation)
I instead submit the offspring of Ghisoni's (of MaTeBa) M2006 revolver, the Chiappa Rhino, as the next "Greatest Thing We Didn't Love Until it was Too Late." We have a great concept, solid design, poor business decisions (early on, QC was sacrificed to make deliveries, an infamous RID-gate scandal culminating in the distributor calling its customers "tin foil hatters," and little to no marketing of such a new and controversial gun was paid for). As far as I know, the company is currently selling the revolvers well, but who knows for how long. It seems doubtful there is enough interest to keep them in production for many years (it's also probably the most complicated/expensive thing Chiappa makes).
I predict that market exposure will gradually increase sales to the point where Chiappa thinks it's got a cash cow, at which point they will over expand their production, lose a bundle when they don't sell for what they promised the Board, and abandon the project for the next whiz-bang idea.
PS; I giggle a bit when I hear Pythons described as "Rolls Royces or Cadillacs." There is a gross difference in quality between those two. Like between a Rizzini and a Purdey SxS shotgun. One is a very nicely made execution, one is a museum grade manifestation of human skill and spirit that you crudely blast stuff with
. I've seen Pythons, and heard many more accounts of them; they were very well made revolvers with pleasing aesthetics. They were not the pinnacle of gunsmithery, now and forever, like many wish to believe based on today's rarified prices. They were a very well made, and even more expensive/difficult to make, product, which was unable to justify its place in the market any longer (for a number of reasons, both gun-related and not). A Prince of Revolvers --not a God-Emperor of Revolvers TCB
orionengnr
New member
There are no guns that meet all of the requirements put out by sevens (see post #4)...and he has the essentials just right.
To the poster who said "Coonan"....that might have worked out, if Coonan had not re-started production again recently. The new ones are better than the old ones. If they halt again...who knows? But the ones made in 82-84 never achieved cult status, because the demand was about exactly equal to the supply. I honestly don't see anything different with the new ones....today or 20 years from now.
Yeah...
For idiots, and
For about 3 days...
To the poster who said "Coonan"....that might have worked out, if Coonan had not re-started production again recently. The new ones are better than the old ones. If they halt again...who knows? But the ones made in 82-84 never achieved cult status, because the demand was about exactly equal to the supply. I honestly don't see anything different with the new ones....today or 20 years from now.
Yeah...
For idiots, and
For about 3 days...
I think Coonan certainly has a "chance" to fill the qualifications that I laid... and I only say such a thing simply because Coonan has failed in the past.
Please believe me when I say that I pray it won't happen, because I'm a tremendous fan of the pistol and the whole dang operation. I personally believe that these are good people that turn out a fantastic product that simply isn't just "another handgun" out there amongst so many. It's "familiar" but yet so different than most anything on the market, and it manages to pull all that off in an almost "normal" sized handgun that is not freakish looking or one that makes even a casual non-gun person do a double-take and drop a jaw. (like, for example, an X-frame S&W or a Desert Eagle or a Rhino)
Given the history of the operation and how it did indeed fail in the past, it would seem to be wishful thinking to claim that it couldn't happen again.
Someone posted around these forums quite some time ago that they used a careful plan when re-introducing this wonderful gun. I had asked why it's not splashed on every magazine cover and being splattered high & low and the answer made a heap of sense: you can kill an operation when you stir up far more demand than you can possibly deliver given the situation. Coonan took a more rational approach and built a number of these pistols and their only advertising in the early stages of this current go-round was word of mouth.
It wasn't until the last two years of setting up at the SHOT show that Coonan has been piling up the orders and building a tremendous backlog of demand. My dealer recently indicated that a number of pistols have shipped (which he had mostly presold!) and that others are coming in. That's fantastic news for a guy like me that wants to see them live long and prosper.
But to think that a small operation like Coonan (2013) couldn't fail in some way and end up ceasing production and closing doors -- that would be to ignore our history, and to specifically ignore Coonan's own history.
Please believe me when I say that I pray it won't happen, because I'm a tremendous fan of the pistol and the whole dang operation. I personally believe that these are good people that turn out a fantastic product that simply isn't just "another handgun" out there amongst so many. It's "familiar" but yet so different than most anything on the market, and it manages to pull all that off in an almost "normal" sized handgun that is not freakish looking or one that makes even a casual non-gun person do a double-take and drop a jaw. (like, for example, an X-frame S&W or a Desert Eagle or a Rhino)
Given the history of the operation and how it did indeed fail in the past, it would seem to be wishful thinking to claim that it couldn't happen again.
Someone posted around these forums quite some time ago that they used a careful plan when re-introducing this wonderful gun. I had asked why it's not splashed on every magazine cover and being splattered high & low and the answer made a heap of sense: you can kill an operation when you stir up far more demand than you can possibly deliver given the situation. Coonan took a more rational approach and built a number of these pistols and their only advertising in the early stages of this current go-round was word of mouth.
It wasn't until the last two years of setting up at the SHOT show that Coonan has been piling up the orders and building a tremendous backlog of demand. My dealer recently indicated that a number of pistols have shipped (which he had mostly presold!) and that others are coming in. That's fantastic news for a guy like me that wants to see them live long and prosper.
But to think that a small operation like Coonan (2013) couldn't fail in some way and end up ceasing production and closing doors -- that would be to ignore our history, and to specifically ignore Coonan's own history.
...wanted to mention that my blood is flowing really nicely on this subject after pounding 150 rounds through mine between Thursday and Sunday, and running three completely different loads in that session, all with zero failures of any manner. And I was even able to gather most of my brass. 
fuzzie-boy
Inactive
volquartsen question
now that most of the standard velocity match/target ammo has either disappeared or costs a fortune, can the volquartsen custom, since it is built off of the ruger frame even though it has its own upper, match the ruger's reputation for shooting just about anything well and without jamming? anyone have any input regarding this volq custom and a steady diet of blazer or federal hv ammo going through it for long periods of time and accuracy/malfunction experiences? thank you.
now that most of the standard velocity match/target ammo has either disappeared or costs a fortune, can the volquartsen custom, since it is built off of the ruger frame even though it has its own upper, match the ruger's reputation for shooting just about anything well and without jamming? anyone have any input regarding this volq custom and a steady diet of blazer or federal hv ammo going through it for long periods of time and accuracy/malfunction experiences? thank you.
highpower3006
New member
I already see it happening with early Smith and Wesson N frame revolvers. Of particular interest are the post war, pre model guns like the .357 Magnum (pre-27), the .44 Magnum (pre-29) and nearly any .45 caliber Handejector.
Add to that pre and post war .38/44 Heavy Duties and Outdoorsmans, and for that matter nearly any pinned barrel Smith.
Add to that pre and post war .38/44 Heavy Duties and Outdoorsmans, and for that matter nearly any pinned barrel Smith.
Based on what I buy, quality .22 LR standard velocity ammo is what is most available. The junk .22 HV is what seems like has increased in price the most and is being bought up by the pubic the most. If you purchase a quality pistol, why shoot crap ammo through it just to save very little money. If you can buy a brick of quality .22 SV for like $50, why shoot junk that is now going for like $35 or more.
I think we can expand the selection process to include models from solvent gunmakers that did not catch on.
I think the Steyr GB would qualify,
http://www.google.com/search?q=stey...hl=en&client=safari#biv=i|3;d|gtRPXtb5PD0mTM:
And the Walther P5
I think the Steyr GB would qualify,
http://www.google.com/search?q=stey...hl=en&client=safari#biv=i|3;d|gtRPXtb5PD0mTM:
And the Walther P5
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