Will Colt Ever Make Python Again?

In a fairly recent issue of American Rifleman there was an interview with Colt CEO Lt. General William Keys who stated that he intends to bring back double action revolvers in the future. Whether or not they bring back the snakes or do something entirely new is anyones guess. Either way is fine by me, we can never have too many available revolvers on the market.

If & when Colt does bring out a DA, it'll be built to compete with Smiths, Rugers, and Tauri.
It will not a be a $2000 high-end steel revolver in a market that won't support one.

That'll mean something more like the MKV guns, and MIM parts.
It's just the reality of true demand (not gun forum interest) and production costs.

People refuse to give up hope on the Python, but it's a dead issue with Colt.
They won't even order new parts to service existing Pythons.
They're out of hands, the most vulnerable wear part, right now.
Denis

The Python will never happen other than potentially a custom shop offering.

When Colt was making the Python, not enough people were buying them at the selling price to make it profitable for them. So, what has changed to make that venture profitable now?

See Post 25.
Colt can't afford to make them as a regular production item.
Why would you think they could make money off small numbers through the custom shop?

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in startup costs to bring out a new revolver that wouldn't sell more than a few hundred a year, with demand tapering off once the initial interest faded?

Making a limited number only through the custom shop would do nothing but lose BIG money for them.
Denis

the Python will be re-introduced immediately after the New Detective Special, New Official Police, and New-New Service.

When Colt was making the Python, not enough people were buying them at the selling price to make it profitable for them. So, what has changed to make that venture profitable now?

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Colt can't afford to make them as a regular production item.

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Exactly!

Buy a used one.

I'm not so sure it's just the "premium revolver" market. I think it's because the Python is such a limited offering. All our custom revolversmith's are backlogged at least a year, if not two or three. USFA, Freedom Arms and Colt sell all the single actions they can build. So well-heeled buyers are out there. The difference is the Python can be chambered in anything you want as long as it's a .357Mag. Blued, nickel or stainless. Four barrel lengths. Those are your options. With premium single actions, chamberings run the gamut from the .17's to the .500's. Even the SAA platform can be chambered in a broad range of cartridges including the .22LR, .22Mag, .32H&R, .327Fed, .32-20, .38Spl, .357Mag, .38-40, .41Spl, .41Mag, .44-40, .44Spl and .45Colt. That covers a lot of ground and a lot of interests. Move up to the large frame guns and chamberings range up to the .500's. The Python will only ever be a .357Mag, a cartridge that lots of folks have little interest in. In premium single actions, finishes vary almost as widely not to mention barrel lengths, contours and profiles. A feller could spend his lifetime trying to obtain all the configurations his heart desires. Buy one or two Pythons and you're pretty much set........boring.

So in my opinion, it's not the premium revolver market that's limited, it's the Python market that's limited.

I've had the sme recurring Python dream on and off for years now....

Maybe a cosmetically similar pistol to the Python with modern, easier to manufacturer internals? Like and Anaconda, or similar.

CajunBass said:

If Colt was able by some miracle of modern manufacturing, manufacture, and sell a revolver, EXACTLY like the old Python, and sell it let's say, they average price of a Python today, they probably couldn't give them away.

The Python world would quickly divide into "old" and "new" Pythons. The price of the "old" ones would go further out of the roof. The "new" ones would sit on shelves. Internet forums would be full of posts telling us how the "new" ones aren't as good as the "old" ones. Magazine articles would tell us they're better. Any flaw someone found in one, would become a problem for all.

Most people would look at them and say "I'll just get a Glock."

Don't forget. They didn't sell a LOT of them back in the day. Most people looked at the price and bought a Trooper, or a Smith & Wesson...or a Taurus.

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That sums it up.

It didn't sell well when it was available, it would sell worse now.

On the other hand, given some of Colt's marketing decisions, I guess we can't say never after all....

Maybe a cosmetically similar pistol to the Python with modern, easier to manufacturer internals? Like and Anaconda, or similar.

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King Cobra???

4v50 Gary said:

No. The skill level to build a 19th Century design requiring extensive hand fitting is beyond the price point of the current consumers.

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Fixed that for you a bit.....

Manufacturing as an art isn't dead, it's just more expensive than today's made in China buyers will pay.

I have to agree with Elmer. Most consumers just aren't willing to pay for quality any more.

Even if they did, it would be doubtful whether only but a few could afford them.

I think it MIGHT be possible they would bring back the DS or similar because of the CCW side of things and that is the one major area keeping revolvers in the mainstream

The last 3 GS in the Denver area, hasn't had a Python on the table anywhere! Those that have them must be "safe queening" them, I sure haven't seen any! If I saw a nice one on the table, I'd have to inquire seriously, price might be higher than I'd want, but I'd grab it!

I agree, bringing back the Detective special and perhaps the Magnum Carry is more likely because of the conceal carry movement, than bringing back the Python.

The DS suffers from the same problems as the Python, just to a lesser extent.
How many units do you think Colt could sell at a price point that'd float at least two Smith snubs?
No V-Spring action will return.

If Colt does a new snub, it'll be a newer action along the lines of the DSII.
MIM parts, utilitarian finish, and so on.
Denis

As mentioned before, too few people care about a quality revolver for a manufacturer to produce one.

If Colt were to get into the double action it would be MIM, CNC like Taurus and S&W makes.

That would be like a Honda Fit labeled as a Duesenberg

If they could produce the magnum carry with the slick action it has , it would be head and shoulders above anything else they or anyone has produced yet in a self protection carry revolver. Of all the carry guns I have, nothing compares with the slick, powerful Colt Magnum carry. I am a farmer not a marketing expert on guns. That said, if Colt is going to produce a carry gun again in 357 magnum or 38 sp that would be the place to start.

I hope not because it make my Custom 6" Ni from their shop more valuable.

Let's face it, as good as they are , they still could not sell them to make enough profit to sustain production. I think in retrospect , they have gone the way of the Dodo bird and the Python.

Most consumers just aren't willing to pay for quality any more.

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Uh...huh..So that must explain why Wilson Combat waiting time is going on 24 months for a Supergrade. Les Baer is at 24+ weeks for anything ordered from him, Pistol Dynamics is at 36+ months, I'm at 24 months for a Bob Marvel gun, Joe Chambers is quoting end of 2014 for guns ordered today...

Yeah, consumers aren't willing to pay for quality - thank goodness for that. Just think what the wait times would be if more people were interested in high-quality, expensive guns!

I toured the Colt factory in 1984. Pythons were built in a separate room in the middle of the factory by four gunsmiths. Every gun was hand fitted just like a high-end 1911. My guess is that if they built the same gun today, it would be in the $3-$4K range. Not as much as a Korth, but certainly way more than a Smith.

You have to understand that when I toured the factory, the newest machine tools were probably 30 years old, and the CNC machines were crude retrofits of old machinery. Lots of the internal parts were stamped from roll steel, deburred, and then heat treated to the appropriate hardness.

The manufacturing was crude and relied on the gunsmiths to hand fit every single part on the gun. They had small bins of parts in front of them and they would pick-and-choose parts, trial fit them, try another part, trial fit it, etc. - and when the tolerance stacking was as close as they could get the fit, they would finish the assembly by hand fitting each part.

Now, if they took a totally different approach to the problem of building the Python, and redesigned it so all of the parts could be produced through CNC with minimal hand fitting - then you might be able to get the gun down to the $1500 range.

Comparing a Wilson, as I've noted before, to a Python as far as people's willingness to spend money goes, is apples to cumquats.

1911s are hot, Pythons are not.
That's it in a nutshell, from the marketing angle.
From the production angle, 1911s require much less effort & knowhow to do than a Python.
Simpler fabrication, much simpler assembly & finishing.

Also as noted elsewhere, not even CNC can make a Python affordable to the masses.
Denis