A Closer Look at the Colt Python

The Colt Python was perhaps a high-water mark of sorts when it came to 20th Century combat wheelguns and is wildly popular with collectors today.

First introduced in 1955– and to this day one of the few hand-fitted modern revolvers to be factory produced for the commercial market– the beefy .357 Magnum-caliber six-shooter was described by Colt as, “A finer gun than you actually need,” and its list of standard features set it apart from many of its pencil-barrel contemporaries.

Featuring a full underlug with a shrouded ejector rod, ventilated rib barrel, and adjustable sights, Pythons are distinctive and quickly identified at even a quick glance. The first catalog price on the revolver was $125 — about three weeks pay at a time when the price of a gallon of gasoline was 23 cents. However, if you picked up one back then at that price, it was money well spent!