Secret to Python's accuracy?

[twoblink]

My friend has a Python that is very very accurate; he's had it for a long time, fired well over 10K rounds through it.. The DA is smoother then a baby's butt. I think it's the trigger; but he tells me it's the barrel; that there is something different about how they did the Python's barrel that makes is super accurate.

Is this true? If so, what's the secret sauce?

 

[Jim Watson]

Well, certainly the trigger pull helps practical accuracy, but the quality of the barrel determines mechanical accuracy.

Older Colts had tighter barrels than S&W or Ruger, groove diameters as small as .354" or .355" instead of .357" - .358." I don't know how long they kept to those dimensions, but my '70s Python is small. Colt uses a 1 turn in 14" rifling twist instead of the 1 in 18.5" of S&W; some target shooters use that or even faster twist barrels for the long hollowbase wadcutters. I have read that Python barrels are slightly tapered, which was common practice in the old scheutzen rifle barrels. I have not had mine out of the gun to check that. And finally, Python barrels were very well made. I don't know if their current custom shop thousand dollar guns are as good as their older standard models.

 

[Old Fuff]

Jim’s explanation concerning Colt’s older barrels is correct. Another reason is the way the hand in the Python locks the cylinder when the trigger is fully pulled. To work correctly the lockwork must be carefully fitted, and this was the case with Python revolvers made some years ago. People sometimes comment on how expensive there Colt’s were (and are). This is one reason.

 

[10-Ring]

Good triggers go a long way in improving a shooter's performance, but the barrel is the key. In the Python's case, it's just sooo cool that you're not allowed to shoot it poorly

 

[dfariswheel]

The Python's accuracy is legendary with good reason...they are.

First Colt simply built an extremely high quality revolver. Good workmanship shows up on target.

Colt's barrels were always famous for high quality materials and workmanship. The Python barrel has a tapered bore and had the legendary, mysterious "Silver ball" treatment.
All this means an extremely smooth barrel, with near-perfect rifling.

Colt's action depends on perfect lock-up with perfect chamber/barrel alignment. At the instant the Colt hammer drops, the cylinder is locked tight, the bullet is in perfect alignment with the bore, and enters the forcing cone well centered and without distortion.

All other revolvers use a "looser" action that allows the cylinder to be loose at the instant the hammer drops. This allows the bullet to align itself with the bore.
This means that the bullet isn't perfectly aligned when it enters the forcing cone, and this very slightly distorts the bullet, which slightly degrades accuracy.

One expert believed that S&W's older pinned barrel actually contributed to less than Python accuracy on older S&W revolvers.
He stated that S&W's pinned barrels didn't require as tight a screw-up fit to the frame, and the barrels were free to flex slightly under firing stress.
Colt's crush fitted barrels don't flex due to the tight fit.

Whatever the reasons, the Colt has a reputation for top-of-the-heap accuracy that's actually more truth than hype.
Although quality MAY have degraded in the last 10 years or so, before that any test of revolver accuracy always found the Python at the top of the list.

Last month the NRA American Rifleman did a tour of the Colt plant. The author stated that the Pythons he saw on the line were the best he had ever seen.
Time will tell.

 

[Blueduck]

he's had it for a long time, fired well over 10K rounds through it

Maybe this explains the excellent accuracy better than the slightly choked bbl or faster twist rate

 

[Jim Watson]

"The Python barrel has a tapered bore and had the legendary, mysterious "Silver ball" treatment."

I have heard of this with no detail. Is it supposed to be like the old Parker Hale Ball Burnishing technique in which a hardened ball was pushed through the barrel to smooth the tops of the lands? If so, I don't see how you could do that in a tapered bore.

"One expert believed that S&W's older pinned barrel actually contributed to less than Python accuracy on older S&W revolvers.
He stated that S&W's pinned barrels didn't require as tight a screw-up fit to the frame, and the barrels were free to flex slightly under firing stress.
Colt's crush fitted barrels don't flex due to the tight fit."

On the other hand, there are reports that later S&Ws and all vintage Rugers with very tight barrels are subject to torque constrictions under the threads. Near the breech, this is very bad for accuracy and there are shops honing and reaming them out. Never heard of a Colt screwed in that tight, and the ones I have seen rebarrelled were not exactly crush fitted.

To get back to Twoblink's friend, the source of accuracy depends a lot on the type of shooting and the standards used. A bullseye shooter needs extreme mechanical accuracy from a good barrel and bullet. For fast shooting like IDPA, I would rather have a fine DA and a mediocre barrel than the reverse. A PPC shooter needs both, and I shot that with a Python before the L-Smiths and improvements in trigger jobs undercut the Colt advantage in Distinguished division.

 

[dfariswheel]

People who have been allowed to see the"silver ball" treatment say a silver ball is forced down the bore with a press.

The one person I talked to who had actually seen the process,
said that after the ball was pressed through, the bore had
what he called "A weird, brilliant mirror-shine unlike anything he had ever seen inside a gun barrel".

Colt refuses to say just WHAT the ball is made of, but reports say it DOESN'T look like lead or anything else people are familiar with.

The taper of the bore isn't so much that whatever the ball is made of, it will still go through.

I too have seen a number of post-pinned S&W barrels with constricted bores in the thread area. I've never seen it in a Colt.

Colt barrels are "crush fitted", but perhaps a better term might be "interference fit". The barrel is screwed in until the shoulder is "crushed" against the frame, but this sounds much more aggressive than it actually is.

Somehow, I don't think we'll ever see the like of the Python again.

 

[Blueduck]

Now I'm not saying the Pythons are not genereally very accurate revolvers BUT if you check the bullseye record books you'll find the voodoo from the "silver balls" most often seemed to fall off before reaching the firingline versus S/W's

 

[Standing Wolf]

One good way to improve a Python's accuracy is to have its muzzle crowned; another is to have the front sight replaced with a Patridge sight.

 

[twoblink]

First, I've seen everything in my friends hands to be accurate. (Something about shooting often for 20 years that makes you accurate... )

That said, the Python was accurate... even in MY hands!

Can I get similar accuracy from a Ruger GP100 6"??

 

[stans]

Can I get similar accuracy from a Ruger GP100 6"??

Yes, if you have one with properly sized chambers and chamber throats, good lock up, properly indexing cylinder, proper bore diameter and finish, and a good trigger. I have stainless GP-100 that is very accurate, capable of far more than I am!

 

[diyj98]

The Pythons I've owned have all been accurate, but really no more accurate than a couple Dan Wessons I had. The Python is a very nice pistol, but I honestly can't see the prices some folks are paying for them now.

 

[stans]

I agree that they are overpriced. A little over three years ago I bought a six inch blue for $425 and an eight inch blue for $450, both were 95% or better in finish. Here lately you can't seem to touch a decent Python for less than $600. I think the Python's trigger is nice, but a well tuned Smith trigger is at least as nice.

 

[Standing Wolf]

The Python has been coasting along on its reputation a long time. Current production Pythons aren't up to the standards set—and upheld—from the 1950s through the 1980s and early 1990s.

 

[twoblink]

The Ruger's catalog says that the barrel and cylinder lockup is locked in the front and the back. I assume by the tone, that they mean most of the wheel guns that are not Rugers, are only locked in one place? I would think the "stoutness" of the Rugers would therefore add to the accuracy?

I have an SP101, that is not bad; very accurate with 38Spl SWC.

 

[stans]

With light loads, like 38 Special, front lock up is probably not as important for either durability or accuracy. With heavy loads, the front lock up has some benefits. Another revolver that has a locking point at the front of the cylinder is the Dan Wesson.

 

[diyj98]

Stans,

I sold two blue Pythons about five years ago for $400.00. Both were very nice guns. I sold a NIB bright stainless steel Python for $600 along the same time. With current prices, I won't be owning anymore.