Perhaps Colt is missing out

Portaledgepete · Feb 14, 2015

I have been thinking about this for while. Why doesn't Colt release a The Walking Dead Rick Grimes Special Edition Python? It seems to me that the current prices and general customer desire for Pythons coupled with the incredible popularity of the show would make for a slam dunk sales success. Start up cost for the tooling would probably be significant but they'd make it back, just like any other special edition pistol. The customer base would be larger due to the crossover interest. I'm sure that somebody over there as thought of this, right?

Charger · Feb 14, 2015

From what I understand is all the tooling and craftsman are gone to make such a high quality firearm when they gave up making firearms for the public.
Making guns for the government was just mass production.
I had one and sold it before they took such a big jump in price.
Now my son watches Walking Dead and asked to to get one.
Sorry not at today's prices.
The python looks and bluing is the best I have ever seen.
The trigger is very good but have felt other guns with trigger jobs to be just as good.

Doc In UPlace · Feb 14, 2015

Charger makes some good points. It could be that they can't make them like that anymore.
For me the 50's blued Pythons are the top of the revolver game. They are deservedly astronomical in price.

Portaledgepete · Feb 14, 2015

If Colt no longer has the ability to make such firearms, is it just a matter of time or will their government contracts keep them going? Obviously somebody in America has the ability to make a firearm like those. Is it just to cost prohibitive for Colt the tool back up and get the skilled people to do it? To me it seems like that's about the only way to rescue the brand from a certain end.

DieselScout · Feb 14, 2015

Portaledgepete said:
If Colt no longer has the ability to make such firearms, is it just a matter of time or will their government contracts keep them going? Obviously somebody in America has the ability to make a firearm like those. Is it just to cost prohibitive for Colt the tool back up and get the skilled people to do it? To me it seems like that's about the only way to rescue the brand from a certain end.

What contract does Colt still have? FNH has won the M4 co tract taking from Colt. The only thing I can think of is the Marine CQBP 1911. Is there anything else?

Charger · Feb 14, 2015

Colt is now back into the civilian market.
They have a cult like following so they will always be around.
It is a very complex revolver to make if someone did try and make one it would very expensive.

pdxjazz · Feb 15, 2015

It's not beyond the realm of possibility. Dan Wesson is proof of that with their model 715 they currently produce. Strange thing about that one though, it has an interchangeable barrel yet DW only offers it in a 6". They really need to make some barrels available in different lengths, maybe even a complete "pistol pack" with some nice wood grips included.

Sstrand · Feb 15, 2015

Charger
Have you seen the price of a Wilson Combat or an Ed Brown???

sheldon

Sabertooth · Feb 15, 2015

Dan Wesson used the sell the pistols in a wood box an it came with a 4", 6", 8', barrel. My brother in law bought one around 1978.
Colt was never big on building wheel guns, an did not promote them like S&W did, nor did they do the testing an research S&W did.
My dad had a Python an I have a Trooper MK3. Booth are very nice guns.

fireninja13 · Feb 17, 2015

According to the lore, the highly skilled craftsmen who could make a weapon like the Python are all pretty much gone, leastwise in the USA. Colt and S&W both transitioned into Metal Injection Molding the internal lockwork of their revolvers by the 90s, to save the high labor costs of hand fitting the parts. That hand fitting was the work of a skilled craftsman filing the little pieces to make a perfect fit -- every gun was a fitted custom piece. That is why the triggers on the vintage Colts and Smiths are so excellent compared to the modern stuff. S&W's Custom Shop still does fancy high end revolvers, but they are not cheap, and frankly with the use of MIM parts and the frame lock, there isn't much even from the custom shop that I find very exciting.

In this day and age you can still get Python (or supposedly better!!!) quality craftsmanship, but it would be coming from Korth in Germany. They are made from incredibly hard tool steel with tolerances so tight it is more art than gunsmithing. And, they are so expensive that the website doesn't even list prices -- it is one of those "if you have to ask you can't afford it" situations. Used Korth revolvers start at about $4000: http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=korth

jrprich · Feb 17, 2015

Sabertooth said:
Colt was never big on building wheel guns, and did not promote them like S&W did, nor did they do the testing and research S&W did.

Look at the history of handguns made by Colt since it started, most were wheel guns. But they left the mass market revolver market in the late 90s. Now only the Single Action Army and New Frontier remain and they sell out as fast as they hit the market
IMHO, Their pre-war revolvers are some of the finest revolvers made. As to the Python, most revolver makers have tried to copy or surpass the design and quality of the Python, most failed.
I agree with the "lore" that the skill required to hand fit such a revolver is no longer available in a quantity to make them again at a profit. Even if they did, would the market buy new Pythons at the prices required to make them a profitable product? Much of the demand for vintage Pythons is due to the fact that there is a limited quantity available.