I just don't get it. I like the Python but the prices are so stupid I just can't understand any of it. If it so beloved then why in the hell does Colt not just bring it back??? They are sucking for sales. It seems logical that such a winner and sought after gun they could probably sell them retail for around $1500 and they would fly off the shelf. Either Colt is one of the worst run gun companies or they have really stupid management.

1. The skilled people who fitted them are long retired.

2. The time to build them as they were labor intensive kills profits.

3. I doubt all the tooling still exists.

Pretty much this. There was a lot of hand fitting that went into one. That's from the parts, to the finish. Colt employee's went on several decades ago. The company went on building guns without them for a bit. There was no one to do the hand fit on the Python, nor to do the royal blue finish.

So there are some Pythons floating around out there that mechanically looks like a Python, but with a parked finish and shitty built job. I forget what they are called, but not Python.


It is conceivable they will bring back other guns. They may have one even called the Python, but it won't be a real one.  It will be a cnc machined gun that will probably be built well, and shoot well, but it won't be a Python.

I don't get the stupid high prices either. I have owned three Pythons since 2000. I never paid more than $600 for any of them.

If it wasn't for the Walking Dead TV show, you would probably still them for under $1500 all day.

That show surely had some good influence the bump but they were already in cult status after they stopped making them.  Some people opine it's the boomers with disposable income buying up the "great" stuff from their youth that they couldn't afford back then.  I have a 1961 4" royal blue but I like the S&W triggers better.   Different stackup and my preference.   I don't think one is better than the other design wise, just different.

Colt quit making them because people quit buying them.  For all the blathering the Python generates, i don't know a soul that owns one.  I don't know anyone that is even remotely interested in owning one.  If you watch gunbroker there's typically 300 to 400 Pythons for sale.  Most of them just sit there.  

In the highly unlikely event Colt resumes production, expect to pay well north of $2k.  Retail on the last ones Colt built was around $1,500 as I recall.

Colts have become for collectors only.  If you actually want a revolver to shoot and shoot alot your stuck with S&W or Ruger.  If I had a Colt Python I would sell it and buy three S&W's and reloading components.

As I understand it Colt won't work on Pythons anymore since they don't have parts and skilled workers.  They are referring people to a few name gunsmiths.

No parts, no machines to make them, so they'd need to design from the ground up. They'd need to train new folks to fit these new revolvers. They may do something similar, they've got the Cobra afterall, but who knows.

I worked at a shop when they introduced the Python Elite, all those guys that said Colt should make a new Python then bitched and moaned about the price and quality and everything else. They sold like crap, though now they're pretty expensive too.

Ignoring everything they'd need to get a Python up and rolling, look at the Single Action Army. They DO make them, they have parts, they have machines. They can sell all they can make, but they don't have the capacity to make enough of them for the market. If they can't increase production on a current product to meet the demand, adding a new product will have some corners cut.

You are thinking of a Peacekeeper,  but that was a matte finish MKV, not a Python

I am old enough to remember when the Python was in production and this is s true statement.  They were and are good guns that were very nicely finished but they are not really the holy grail that many make them out to be.  I would be very surprised if Colt restarted Python production.

Get yourself a Korth or a Manurhin MR73, and you'll hear yourself say, "Colt what?"

People quit buying them with the advent of the "crunchenticker".  People suddenly, due to media rags, felt under-gunned unless they had 15 rounds or more.

The drop in demand was almost entirely due to hype.

Colt could easily sell 10,000 Pythons at $3500 a copy, but there is nobody to build them.

There are people paying $2500 for a Glick, but they don't require anything more than a CNC operator.

I'm pretty sure they just shut down the power to that section of the plant and put tarps over all the equipment.  Rumor has it there's half finished parts literally sitting on the machines.