Colt Pythons in Nam ?

There were lots of off the wall firearms floating around VN. Remember that the divided nation was in a state of war for decades. TheJapanese and French, invaded VN, bringing in and leaving arms. Also, the US troops and US spooks, spies, and special forces, plus the Australian and south Koreans, and of course the Russians and Chinese, all brought in issued arms of all sorts. So, if someone told me he saw a Colt Python in country, I'd tend to believe him. Edited to add: As a 19 yr .old buck sgt over there 1970, i saw many firearms that i couldn't identify.

I had a book about the Vietnam War when I was a kid, I remember a pic of a US Army soldier with a 357 magnum revolver.

A tiny bit off the subject, but Gen George S Patton carried a 1911 on one hip and a 357 Magnum revolver on the other. Generals got to pick their sidearms then, and still do. Who in the world would have a logical argument on sidearms vs Gen Patton?

Maybe he was in a company that all agreed to carry the same revolver. I can understand that.

High Plains said:

A tiny bit off the subject, but Gen George S Patton carried a 1911 on one hip and a 357 Magnum revolver on the other. Generals got to pick their sidearms then, and still do. Who in the world would have a logical argument on sidearms vs Gen Patton?

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He was also known to carry a pair of Ivory- handled Colt Single Action Armys, a Colt 1903 .32 Auto and a Remington Model 51 at times.

When my brother came home from Nam he told me there was a few guys with Pythons and there were other odd sorts as well.

The down side to carrying a Python over there is you would be relegated to shooting the very anemic 130 FMJ .38 Spl. ammo in it. (At least if one were following regulations.) I remember reading an account of a S&W 39 being carried over there also.

I was told by a vet that he was allowed a personal sidearm. He said he had a .25acp that he took to Vietnam.

As an E4 stationed in Germany 1969-1971 I worked a part time job in the sales store at the on post Rod & Gun Club in Augsburg. We always had younger Armored Cav officers coming in asking when we were getting the next Colt Python in stock. In the 20 months I worked that job i bet I sold at least a dozen.
This was a part time job I worked after my normal duty hours.

I read the biography of a guy that commanded a river patrol boat in Vietnam. He said he took his S&W 357 along

I worked with a guy at one time that was a tunnel rat.
(interesting guy - he was 5 foot nothing & weighed a hundred nothing when he served. When I worked with him, he was still 5 foot nothing, but, he was pushing 300 pounds. In his words, he did that so they could never put him back in a tunnel)

Anyhow - one day I asked him what they carried.
He told me that My Lai had been a game changer in what they were and weren't allow to have.
That's all he would say on the subject.

A few thoughts about VN... Actually those folks have an entire history (at least 500 years worth of warfare), repeatedly in conflicts with everyone around them (and anyone that invaded them soon learned that they made a fierce enemy...). From what I was taught all of their cultural heroes were warriors, and they highly value education... Anyone that took a look at their past history would have run the other way rather than get in a fight with them... My Dad did two tours there (I only did one shortened tour in '71...). As he told me, "We're killing ten of them for every one of ours they kill - and at that rate - we'll quit before they do..." He was exactly right.

Back on topic, his first tour in '65 was in civilian clothes, stationed in Saigon, his second tour in '69 was in uniform behind the wire at Cam Ranh Bay. On his first tour he brought an old 38 snubby that had a break action top release (I never knew the make...) as a hideout piece and extra piece of mind... When I arrived there in '71 I did see a variety of weapons being carried by folks that made a point of not identifying themselves... I always knew when they were spooks since the ones I saw were carrying Uzis... Not exactly covert since they stood out like a sore thumb... My extra piece (bought with a case of LRRPs rations) was an old beaten up riot gun - a Stevens if memory serves. I had my Dad send me a few missing parts and it was up and running. I had it as a defensive weapon for when I was in a jeep by myself, along with a musette bag with all the buckshot shells it would hold... Good thing I never needed it since I was pretty ignorant of how to use it properly way back then (and a whole lot younger as well...). It was only years later after using a shotgun on the street as a young cop that I made a point of learning everything I could about shotgun work at close quarters - but that's another story...

entropy said:

The down side to carrying a Python over there is you would be relegated to shooting the very anemic 130 FMJ .38 Spl. ammo in it. (At least if one were following regulations.) I remember reading an account of a S&W 39 being carried over there also.

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The suppressed SOF "Hushpuppy" pistols were modified M39s. Im sure there were a few regular ones floating around too.

An old friend of mine served there when they were having M16 jamming problems he told his father about their problems and his father sent him a Python.

I did two tours in Nam as a Marine combat photographer. Marines were not issued Colt Pythons as far as I know. I did see Marines carry them on occasion, but they were personal firearms and not issued. I do recall some Marine and Navy pilots carrying them instead of M1911s or issued S&W revolvers. Of course there were a lot of Marines in Nam over the years, so maybe at some time when I was not there Pythons were issued, but I doubt it.

I knew a guy that served in the Army in Vietnam when I was in the Navy. He was one of these guys that wanted to try each service. Anyway, he was a smaller guy and he was in forward recon but he also did some tunnel rat duty. I think that was what made him volunteer for forward recon. Anyway I do recall he said he used a revolver the first time he went into a tunnel and that was the last time he did. He didn’t go into great detail but he did say you don’t want to have to reload a revolver with muddy hands. He carried a 1911 after that. He didn’t mention what kind of revolver he had or if he did I don’t remember.

I wouldn't doubt it at all. Back then the Python hadn't reached Deity status yet and was at that time just a very good revolver. One writer in the Backwoodsman magazine said he carried a S&W model 15 that the guys were always trying to swap him out of for the 1911s they owned.

And best of all was in one of the Guns and Ammo annuals there was a soldier that had a 444 Marlin lever action he called his "Bunker Buster". Apparently he went missing in the jungle and was never seen again.

The story I have heard about early 1970s Viet Ban is that concerned families back home would send soldiers stationed there personal defense weapons. Since the Colt Python in .357 was considered one of the best available at the time, I am not surprised to read scuttlebutt that they were there.

But it was not a standardized general issue service weapon.

Armored farmer said:

I was told by a vet that he was allowed a personal sidearm. He said he had a .25acp that he took to Vietnam.

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Interesting choice.

I was there in 1969 and saw a lot of non-issue weapons, but never a Colt Python. A lot of S&W revolvers and even a Walther P-38 carried by Pilot's. The gun's from home certainly weren't rare, but ammunition wasn't plentiful for the non-issue guns. 9 MM was hard to get and anything other than .45 and .38 Special was impossible. Truth was if you were Infantry you were already carrying so much stuff a pistol and ammunition would probably be sold or traded off rather than carried. I do remember a Company Commander who carried a Swedish "K" 9 MM sub machine gun and a S&W M39 that he carefully removed from view whenever the Battalion Commander was around.

In Colonel Charles Askins book “unrepentant sinner” he talks about going to Vietnam early, when it was only advisers, and dropping a VC with a S&W 29 44magnum

Terry G said:

I was there in 1969 and saw a lot of non-issue weapons, but never a Colt Python. A lot of S&W revolvers and even a Walther P-38 carried by Pilot's. The gun's from home certainly weren't rare, but ammunition wasn't plentiful for the non-issue guns. 9 MM was hard to get and anything other than .45 and .38 Special was impossible. Truth was if you were Infantry you were already carrying so much stuff a pistol and ammunition would probably be sold or traded off rather than carried. I do remember a Company Commander who carried a Swedish "K" 9 MM sub machine gun and a S&W M39 that he carefully removed from view whenever the Battalion Commander was around.

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Right on! In addition to all the gear grunts carried I had to lug about 20 pounds of camera gear. That is why I opted to only carry the M1911 rather than a M14 on my 1st tour our a M16 on my second.

DustyGmt said:

Interesting choice.

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Fwiw, he was artillery.

Plenty of contemporary tales of pilots "upgrading" the .38spl revolvers they were issued with local purchase .357 revolvers.
The point above about Pythons, then, being "just another revolver" is apt, too.