"You're almost scaring me off of colt revolvers!"
Sorry, this holds for ALL guns, no matter who made them.
The top of quality for all American made guns was the 1930's. It was during this time that S&W and Colt turned out the finest quality pistols of all time.
Since then, it's been pretty much downhill for quality of workmanship, fit, and finish.
With that said, I've also seen junky S&W's made in the 30's and really fine guns made under Bangor Punta and even Lear-Sigler.
"Something of a flop in the marketplace"????
The Colt Anaconda was far from a flop.
It was one of Colt's best selling guns, and was the only DA revolver other than the Python that Colt kept after the 2000 discontinuance.
It's very possible the strongest .44 Magnum revolver ever made, due to Colt's high quality forged and heat treated frames and cylinders.
The Colt design was basically an up-sized King Cobra, and is stronger than the S&W "N" frame guns, due to the more massive frame and thicker cylinder.
The point to all this is, you can't judge a gun based on just the year made.
Your chances of getting a truly bad Python are really fairly low due to the Python being basically a true custom-made, hand built gun.
The Python you got from Colt was basically the revolver version of the custom 1911 you get from makers like Wilson, Clark, or any of the other top 1911 custom shops.
It's truly the worlds finest production DA revolver of all time, and is the Ferrari of the revolver world.
If you appreciate the finer things in life, and would like to own a legendary American firearm from the most famous and collectible gun company in history....buy yourself a Python.
You'll have the pleasure of owning something few people do, and which will never be again, since Colt will no longer be making Pythons OR Anacondas.
If you ever get bored sometime, ask and I'll tell you WHY the Python was the best DA revolver of all time, why it was the most accurate DA revolver ever made, and why it cost so much.