Python action variability

[Hawk]

In two otherwise identical 6" blue Pythons, only one has a (relatively) loud "CLICK" about 2/3 of the way through the DA trigger pull.

Peering at the thing from the side, one notes the CLICK corresponds to the bolt springing up from the frame into the watchacallit (leade?).

The other Colt has a little snick at what looks to be the same position of trigger travel / cylinder rotation, but I'm no expert in such things.

Is the variance normal enough that I can safely ignore it or is it indicative of something that needs addressed? My trigger-OCD isn't so bad as I couldn't easily ignore it if it's harmless.

 

[Steve C]

This sounds to me like one of those things that falls into the category of a "difference that makes no difference is no difference at all". Unless the cylinder on one of them is out of time or not locking up I wouldn't worry about it. If it really bothers you have a gunsmith check the timing out with a timing rod.

 

[Old Fuff]

A small coil spring pops the bolt up when it's released. If that spring is on the strong side the bolt rubs on the cylinder and you may feel a little roughness in the trigger pull between the time the bolt is released, and when it drops into the notch in the cylinder. On the good side that slight pressure acts as a brake on the cylinder, slowing it so it doesn't get ahead of the hand. But some don't like the feel, and assemblers were known to shorten the spring...

Also the tail on the bolt is (or was) individually fitted, and how it was fitted could make the difference between a quick, clean break (the click you hear) or a more gradual release when the hammer is slowly cocked back. In any case if it bothered you either could be changed by a Colt-wise gunsmith.

All of this presumes that the revolvers are correctly timed.

Do keep in mind that all Pythons had hand-fitted actions, but the experience and skill of those doing the work wasn't always the same. Even so, Colt always picked the best prople they had to do the Python work.

 

[Hawk]

Thanks. I'm over it - just didn't want to be messing it up.

At it's worse, it's better than the stainless version I had. Actually, the local 'smith did a pretty decent job on it but it had incurred my (admittedly irrational) enmity and it got traded. The two blue versions should scratch the Python itch in perpetuity. I'm usually circumspect about buying discontinued product that can only be repaired by people with 9 month waiting lists but I just had to see what everybody was talking about.

Python #1, with the stealth bolt spring, has shown me what all the rave reviews were about. I definitely feel more educated than before this flirtation with revolvers started.

 

[JNewell]

Colt QC can be very uneven. For example, Pythons made during the strike during the 1980s can be really 'off.' On the other hand, done right, there's nothing better than the Pythons that came out of the Custom Shop.

 

[JNewell]

Colt QC can be very uneven. For example, Pythons made during the strike during the 1980s can be really 'off.' On the other hand, done right, there's nothing better than the Pythons that came out of the Custom Shop.

 

[Hawk]

They are indeed, for lack of a better description, "uneven".

Thing is, my sample size is small (three, at its peak) and there's no current production to compare the remaining two against. Comparing a small series of used product against one another doesn't justify any conclusions. One can't even be certain one or the other hadn't been "smithed".

Well, there's one conclusion: none have actually been "bad" - there have simply been varying degrees of "ok" and "nice". The fact that they differ from each other is perhaps unsurprising - I've a S&W 57-nodash and a later model that each have their own "feel" as it were. I gather the Python production run was rather long - 1955 through a couple of years ago. I guess it'd be bordering on miraculous if there weren't differences. Being hand fitted would only exacerbate inconsistencies - a "Monday morning Paul" Python conceivably being quite different from a "Thursday afternoon Sue" Python even on those shipped in the same week of the same year.

At any rate, I'm making good use of the advice about there being nothing wrong with the bolt's operation. Shooting it is great fun and I can't hear the click with ear protection in place anyway. Sure is pretty, too. It even has wood grips that fit well. For reasons I've never been clear on, Pythons seemed to suffer more than most from ill-fitted wood grips - a fate not shared by my modest (and common) 6" blued example.