![]() ![]() I was assigned an article on one of the new “Ultimate Pythons” and requested one with the 2½-inch barrel. However, in 1984 Colt introduced their “Ultimate Stainless” (AKA “Bright Stainless” finish, which looked like nickel but lasted like stainless. I’d always liked nickeled Pythons, but I’d owned some nickeled guns in the past that tended to show wear more than blued guns. Thompson installed Ajax Grips stags and Tyler T-grips on both of his Ultimate Stainless Pythons. (Firearms News photo) Right side view of four-inch Ultimate Stainless Python. Nevertheless, a few years after finishing the book, I traded the Python for something, but I don’t remember what. ![]() Most of all, the Python was a handsome revolver and one that felt good in the hands. Akin to the S&W Combat Magnum (AKA M19), the Python was built on a medium rather than a large frame as with the S&W Models 27 or 28. The sight wasn’t as large as that of the Manurhin MR73, but I felt it would be hard on the lining of a jacket. The sights were good, but the rear sight was squared off and could impede a draw from beneath a jacket. Its single action trigger pull was excellent, but the double action pull left a lot to be desired. I found it accurate with a comfortable oversize grip. French flic (cop) films often feature the Python, including the Yve Montand film Police Python 357 (right). ![]() Note, the “Ultimate, Bright Stainless Steel” Python is the most expensive. Catalog page listing various desirable Colt revolvers (left) including the King Cobra, Anaconda, and Python. I used part of my advance for doing the book to purchase a blued, four-inch Python. Obviously, one of mine had to be the Colt Python. The plan was that I would do my pick of the 25 best modern American combat handguns and Rene would do his pick of the best 25 from the rest of the world. Then, in 1985 or 1986, I agreed to co-author a book titled Great Combat Handguns with Rene Smeets, editor of AMI, the premier Belgian gun magazine. I shot the Python a couple of times over the next few years, and admittedly admired the ones I shot but I didn’t buy one. In addition to feeling comfortable with heavier hand loads in the Model 28, it had a better double action pull. It was a good revolver, but as soon as I found a S&W Model 28 “Highway Patrolman,” built on the larger N-frame, I replaced the Colt. 357 for about $60, which was built on the same medium Colt E-frame as the Python. However, the Python, selling for $135 at the time, was out of my price range. 357 Magnum revolver in the late 1960s, I was aware of the Python from reading Shooter’s Bible cover-to-cover multiple times. Firing Federal 158-grain Hydra-Shoks offhand at 25-yards the Python recoils with full power magnum loads but is not uncomfortable. (Firearms News photo) Exposure in this popular TV series inflated prices for used Pythons, as the revolver was out of production, and arguably helped bring back the Python in 2020 in its current incarnation. He’s even seen concocting handloads for it! The Python was discontinued in 2005 after being produced for 50 years, but it became iconic once again in the hands of Deputy Rick Grimes of The Walking Dead who used a six-inch Python. ![]() French flic (cop) films often featured the Python, most noticeably, in the hands of Yves Montand in the eponymous Police Python. I gave her a short tutorial on the Python’s “aura,” but I don’t remember if she used it in the review. A 2.5-inch-barreled “Ultimate Python” in its DeSantis Thumb Break Scabbard. Louis Post Dispatch her press pass got us in to see it for free. I saw this film with a girlfriend who was a movie reviewer for the St. Motorcycle cop “Big John” Wintergreen played by Robert Blake uses both blued and nickeled Pythons in Electra Glide in Blue. Among film appearances that stand out for me are the python-using motorcycle cops/death squad in Magnum Force, John Wayne in McQ, and Burt Reynolds in Sharkey’s Machine among others. As with many firearms (i.e., Dirty Harry’s Model 29), it has acted as a signal on screen that its users were the real deal. It had, and has, a lot of sex appeal and style. The Colt Python, from its introduction in 1955, has always been one of the classic modern handguns. ![]()
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