Python worth
I have a Colt Python I need help in setting a fair price. I bought the gun new in 1976. It has a 6" bbl, has Elliason rear sight a patridge front sight a smoothe as silk double action pull, great single action letoff, Colt royal blue, looks virually new. I seem to remember something about this being a limited run gun put out by the custom shop at that time but cannot find any reference to it in blue books. I have never seen a Python with a trigger like this! Unfortunately the box sleeve with all the info on it is gone. Anybody care to offer an opinion? Thanks guys!
0
-
Sounds to me like a standard Python. Pythons are noted for
their excellent actions and are very much sought after by
wheel gunners. I will guess the price to be in the $800.+/-
unless in .38 special.0 -
You know what they say about opinions.... Well, I will offer mine, which is worth what you paid for it.
Colt offered an Elliason sight and tuning package and just an Elliason sight package for the Python beginning in the late 1970s. I have an undated announcement (and very basic looking typed sheets) from the Custom Shop to that effect, which I think I got about 1978, but it could have been earlier. (I was not so careful to document things in those days.) The first time the sight and tuning combination package appears on the regular price list is in 1980. It could easily be that the sight and tuning combination package was offered as early as 1976. I know the sight package alone was offered even before that. The sight and tuning package were offered for several years, but have to be very rare in comparison to the total number of Pythons made during that time.
If you bought the sight and tuning package, you should have known it because it added close to $200 to the price of the revolver, which would have been about one-third more. The sight package alone without the tuning added only about $40. A $100 factory letter would confirm.
When the Python FINALLY was introduced with an 8-inch barrel, I ordered a nickel tuned 8-inch Python (Model Number I3681H - the "H" sufix signifies the sight and tuning package - Elliason sights only had an "E" sufix) and paid over $500 wholesale in 1981. As I recall, I had a LONG wait to get the revolver.
From what I see older Pythons bringing on the auction site, you should get in the $800 and up (sometimes way up) range. If you could verify the factory tuning package, I think you could add several hundred more to someone who recognized the rarity of that option.
NEVER GET RID OF A BOX! I regularly see empty boxes bring hundreds of dollars on eBay. I think I may throw away my guns and sell their boxes! (NOT!)
I hope this opinion helps.0 -
Probably one of the best ways to get a price on a gun is to do a search(just punch Python into the search box at the home page) of active auctions here at Gunbroker and see not what people are asking but what people are bidding. 0 -
Here is some more opinion.
In my opinion, a Python with Elliason sights is not just a standard Python, although it may not be a factory-tuned Python. The sight package alone is uncommon, and may add a lot of value to someone who recognizes that.
Searching the auction sight may help learn what regular Pythons are bringing, but I doubt that you will find any with Elliason sights, and I would be very surprised if you found any with a verifiable factory-tuned action.
I agree that Pythons are all very smooth, but the factory-tune was even better. The option came with a warning not to use the gun for self-defense due to concerns about ignition reliability. Mine never misfired, but I suppose a combination of an insensitive primer and cold weather, etc. could cause a problem.0 -
Judge Colt got in here ahead of me with his excellent information. 1978 sounds like the correct date to me for the Colt Custom Shop announcement as I remember my old boss getting the sheet at his store.
It sounds to me as though you have a fine Python Benyjet, but without the box or other documentation it is just another Python. The added features will be loved by SHOOTERS, but you can kiss the idea of getting the big premium a collector would by for a "papered" gun. The $100 factory letter from Colt would confirm what we suspect, but only you can decide if it is worth the cost to you. Without the documentation it is worth the sum of its parts- sights, trigger, and action job. The blued models are by far the more popular, although I just love the look of those nickled vent ribbed barrels!
The Judge is correct in that you should never toss away those boxes. In the most extreme case my old boss had an origianl box for a 3-1/2"
Colt "Root". He spent a lifetime trying to find a pistol in the codition worthy of this like new box. He never did. When he died one of his collector buddies- if there are any true buddies among serious collectors, paid $5000 for the box. He too is still looking for a suitable pistol to put in it.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!"
Mark T. Christian0 -
The Judge is the best but I must state that I have a Python from 1975
"Royal Blue" and it was not factory ordered. It came with the Elliason
sight. Have the box, etc. Judge is correct about boxes but I will not throw my Colt's away due to the missing boxes. Yup, boxes on ebarf seem to sell for outrageous prices, if the schills are not bidding the item up for the seller. The factory letter is dependent upon you.
Sometimes I think Colt is only in the business of selling letters. 1010 -
Another clarifying opinion:
The Elliason rear sight was a "regular production option" shown on the price lists from at least the early 1970s. (I did not dig back before that to verify.) The factory-tuned action was a Custom Shop- only item. Therefore, it was not really rare to find a "regular production" Python with an Elliason rear sight. I always tried to get them that way for stock, but they are still uncommon when compared to the standard rear sight configuration.
That Root box for $5,000 is quite a story! I can understand the problem because I have never seen a mint Root, but I am surprised that a box would bring so much. I have heard of fairly nice Single Action boxes selling for less.
As I watch the boxes sell on eBay, it seems the Colt Match Target, Python and Government Model boxes bring the most accordingly, although I paid plenty for a near-mint Colt "357" box, and still felt I got a bargain. (It had target and papers, etc..) It is the only "357" box I have ever seen, and I have been looking for decades. For those who may not know, the "357" was the true forerunner of the Python. It was a premium revolver that can best be described as an Officers Model in .357 Magnum chambering. When the Python came out and the Trooper was chamered in .357 Magnum, the "357" was dropped from the line.0 -
Another clarifying opinion:
The Elliason rear sight was a "regular production option" shown on the price lists from at least the early 1970s. (I did not dig back before that to verify.) The factory-tuned action was a Custom Shop- only item. Therefore, it was not really rare to find a "regular production" Python with an Elliason rear sight. I always tried to get them that way for stock, but they are still uncommon when compared to the standard rear sight configuration.
That Root box for $5,000 is quite a story! I can understand the problem because I have never seen a mint Root, but I am surprised that a box would bring so much. I have heard of fairly nice Single Action boxes selling for less.
As I watch the boxes sell on eBay, it seems the Colt Match Target, Python and Government Model boxes bring the most accordingly, although I paid plenty for a near-mint Colt "357" box, and still felt I got a bargain. (It had target and papers, etc..) It is the only "357" box I have ever seen, and I have been looking for decades. For those who may not know, the "357" was the true forerunner of the Python. It was a premium revolver that can best be described as an Officers Model in .357 Magnum chambering. When the Python came out and the Trooper was chamered in .357 Magnum, the "357" was dropped from the line.0 -
Another clarifying opinion:
The Elliason rear sight was a "regular production option" shown on the price lists from at least the early 1970s. (I did not dig back before that to verify.) The factory-tuned action was a Custom Shop- only item. Therefore, it was not really rare to find a "regular production" Python with an Elliason rear sight. I always tried to get them that way for stock, but they are still uncommon when compared to the standard rear sight configuration.
That Root box for $5,000 is quite a story! I can understand the problem because I have never seen a mint Root, but I am surprised that a box would bring so much. I have heard of fairly nice Single Action boxes selling for less.
As I watch the boxes sell on eBay, it seems the Colt Match Target, Python and Government Model boxes bring the most accordingly, although I paid plenty for a near-mint Colt "357" box, and still felt I got a bargain. (It had target and papers, etc..) It is the only "357" box I have ever seen, and I have been looking for decades. For those who may not know, the "357" was the true forerunner of the Python. It was a premium revolver that can best be described as an Officers Model in .357 Magnum chambering. When the Python came out and the Trooper was chamered in .357 Magnum, the "357" was dropped from the line.0 -
Judge, my mistake on the Root box. I checked the auction records on my late bosses collection. It reads: Original Colt Root box, in exceelent condition, purple velveteen interior showing only the slightest wear where the gun rested. Exterior in very good to excellent condition. For a 3-1/2" barreled Root. The hammer price at the auction was $2700 plus a 10% buyers premium, plus 7-1/2% sales tax. Totlal price would be $3172.50. Much less than the $5000 which I mentioned in my first post. I am aware of the collector who purchased the box and when I ran into him at an auction a few years back he says he is still searching for the perfect Root. I'll try to more pricise when I mention prices from now on as you clearly know your Colt's. I should have learned more while I had such a wise collector as a boss.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!"
Mark T. Christian0 -
Hey, thanks guys! Judge, do you happen to have the number for the Colt research you were talking about, I am sure this is a factory tuned action. I have owned a number of pythons and nothing compares to this one. Yeah, the box....live and learn...I think it got ripped up during one of my many moves and just got tossed. 0 -
benyjet: I do not believe Colt will do telephone searches for Pythons, but I may be wrong. If you are looking for a mailing address, just go on the Colt website at
http://www.colt.com/colt/html/a2_coltfirearms.html
and select "historicial services." There you can learn how to secure the letter. If you do that, please let us know what it says.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
12 comments