Colt Python's past..........

[BobWright]

My gunsmith has taken in a Colt Python, used but in excellent shape. It's in the original box, the brown wood graind affair, with the purchaser's receipt.

The receipt is dated 1966, and lists the Python, a scope, one box of .357 Magnum cartridges, and three boxes of .38 Specials. The total cost, including sales tax: $164.44.


Bob Wright

 

[4v50 Gary]

Gold was $35 an ounce back then. That's like four and one half ounces of gold, or $6,000 in today's Federal Reserve Notes.

 

[huntsman]

Ok so I'd offer him $200.00 for just the gun

 

[Dframe]

How quickly we forget the change in our monitary situation. I can remember vividly when a local dealer had brand new Colt Single Action Armys on the shelf for $209

 

[mgmorden]

Gold was $35 an ounce back then. That's like four and one half ounces of gold, or $6,000 in today's Federal Reserve Notes.

Very good comparison. Different goods inflate at different rates, and guns are no different, but everything is subject to inflation.

Its amusing to look at such prices but think about this: median family income in the US in 1965 was $6,882 annually. In 2012 (most recent year I could find without much digging) it was $51,017.

http://www2.census.gov/prod2/popscan/p60-049.pdf (1965 data)
https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-245.pdf (2012 data)

So adjusted to be about the same chunk of the average man's paycheck, the price would become $1,219.

 

[pendennis]

Personally, I think that HUNTSMAN is a cheapskate. I'll offer $300, out the door.

 

[PJSprog]

There's a post elsewhere here where someone saw one in a (Bass Pro, I think?) shop for $3K. The Python is an excellent revolver ... but, seriously?

 

[Paul7]

Someone on another forum in CA (higher prices of course) said their LGS sold a couple Pythons fast for $2,100, not NIB.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

How long did it take to make $164 in 1966?

 

[J-Bar]

How long did it take to make $164 in 1966?

I graduated from the University of Colorado with an engineering degree in 1967, and my first job in industry paid $7500 a year, and that was a decent salary.

So figure that was about $3.75 an hour...

$164 would be about 44 hours, a week's wages, not figuring taxes of course.

 

[4v50 Gary]

$3.75 an hour. Minimum wage was $1.25 back then so you were making three times the amount a burger flipper, grocery bagger, service station attendant was making.

At $3.75, it would take about 1 1/2 weeks if there were no other expenses other than taxes to buy that Python.

 

[788Ham]

I'll go $325 OTD ! Keep the scope.

 

[stu1ritter]

I bought a new Python in 1959 for $125. As a young GI, that was expensive.
Stu

 

[Longhorn 76]

$125 here, too.

 

[Dframe]

I bought a used one back in the late 80s for $325. Figured I got a bargain

 

[primalmu]

That works out to just shy of $1200 when corrected for inflation according to this website: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

 

[Old Fuff]

Colt’s introductory price in 1956 was set at $125.00, MSRP. I bought one, but most of the purchase was covered by trade-in’s rather then cash. It came in a black pre-war style box, which could indeed have been pre-war stock. You had a choice between .38 Special or .45 Colt and barrel lengths of either 5 ½ or 7 ½ inches. Finish was color case-hardened frame and the balance “royal” blued.

Readers may or may not find this interesting, but I hope they will really notice what’s happened to the value and purchasing power of their paper dollars.

 

[benzy2]

I have much more buying power today with my paper dollars (and electronic ones) than in 1956, that is for certain.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Dframe - I bought my first one around 1984-85 at $325 and spent another $25 for a new hammer. I bought the second one for $399 (plus tax) and that was in the early '90s. Considering inflation, the second one was cheaper than the first one. Nowadays I can't afford them.

 

[MIL-DOT]

We had three very clean Pythons pop up on my local Armslist about a week+ ago, selling for $1900 to $2500, IIRC. I just checked, and they are ALL gone .

 

[BobWright]

Hope readers will realize Old Fuff is referring to a Colt Single Action Army, not a Python:

Colt’s introductory price in 1956 was set at $125.00, MSRP. I bought one, but most of the purchase was covered by trade-in’s rather then cash. It came in a black pre-war style box, which could indeed have been pre-war stock. You had a choice between .38 Special or .45 Colt and barrel lengths of either 5 ½ or 7 ½ inches. Finish was color case-hardened frame and the balance “royal” blued.

Readers may or may not find this interesting, but I hope they will really notice what’s happened to the value and purchasing power of their paper dollars.

Bob Wright

 

[Old Fuff]

Um... Oh me!!

Well it was early, I hadn't had any coffee yet, and I am getting old...

However the Python was introduced at about the same time (1955) and for the same price ($125.00).

Such a choice to make...

 

[Ky Larry]

I paid $750 OTD in 2007. No box or papers, just a blued,6' Snake in NIB condition. It goes to the range every trip. Serious factor.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Here's the MSRP list from 89/90. The price listed is a good amount more than you could usually buy one for. That year, I bought a $471 MSRP listed bright King Cobra for $335 with no haggling.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=134249&d=1295273690

 

[JohnBT]

My father bought a new 6" blue Python in Richmond the end of 1990 for $599.

A shop near his home - 100 miles from me - wanted $849 for the same model. That list says $729, so Python prices were all over the map even back then.