Apparently, rumor is that Colt will be coming out with the new PYTHON, and it will be revealed at SHOT Show in January 2020!
One would guess that the price for the Python will be somewhat reasonable since, unlike the older ones for so many years, there will now be a new supply of them coming on the market. (This will most likely have a pretty significant impact on the prices of the older ones as well. Glad I sold mine several years ago!)
An issue that is bound to come up is that of whether or not the "NEW" Python will be as good as the "OLD" Python. Here is my take on the matter:
Back when the Pythons were produced by Colt in the "good old days," technology was expensive and labor was cheap. Today, the opposite is true.
Back then, the machines and tooling were able to produce parts to general specifications, but there was no real reason to invest huge dollars in more advanced machinery since you had trained (and, relatively speaking, cheap) craftsmen to hand fit the machined parts and make sure the tolerances were "up to spec" for a particular firearm. Plus, the technology was not advanced enough to automate the process of complex parts manufacturing and to significantly improve the tolerances over what you already had.
Today, we have machines that can create parts with tolerances that will fit, pretty much right off the assembly line, as good or better than many of the hand crafted parts of yesteryear. There may be some polishing to be done on a revolver like the Python, even after the parts come off the line, but it will take NOWHERE NEAR as much hand fitting as it once did.
Again, technology is cheap and labor is expensive these days! It isn't that craftsmen couldn't be trained these days. Rather, it is that our technology has made such labor and training obsolete!
So, when you hear someone tell you that the NEW Python won't be nearly as good because there was much less hand fitting involved in the new one, just remember that the older Pythons were made at a time when labor was cheap and the industry couldn't afford and didn't have the computerized machinery capable of what we can do today!
Just my $.02 worth!
Looking forward to seeing the new Pythons!
Vanguard.45
One would guess that the price for the Python will be somewhat reasonable since, unlike the older ones for so many years, there will now be a new supply of them coming on the market. (This will most likely have a pretty significant impact on the prices of the older ones as well. Glad I sold mine several years ago!)
An issue that is bound to come up is that of whether or not the "NEW" Python will be as good as the "OLD" Python. Here is my take on the matter:
Back when the Pythons were produced by Colt in the "good old days," technology was expensive and labor was cheap. Today, the opposite is true.
Back then, the machines and tooling were able to produce parts to general specifications, but there was no real reason to invest huge dollars in more advanced machinery since you had trained (and, relatively speaking, cheap) craftsmen to hand fit the machined parts and make sure the tolerances were "up to spec" for a particular firearm. Plus, the technology was not advanced enough to automate the process of complex parts manufacturing and to significantly improve the tolerances over what you already had.
Today, we have machines that can create parts with tolerances that will fit, pretty much right off the assembly line, as good or better than many of the hand crafted parts of yesteryear. There may be some polishing to be done on a revolver like the Python, even after the parts come off the line, but it will take NOWHERE NEAR as much hand fitting as it once did.
Again, technology is cheap and labor is expensive these days! It isn't that craftsmen couldn't be trained these days. Rather, it is that our technology has made such labor and training obsolete!
So, when you hear someone tell you that the NEW Python won't be nearly as good because there was much less hand fitting involved in the new one, just remember that the older Pythons were made at a time when labor was cheap and the industry couldn't afford and didn't have the computerized machinery capable of what we can do today!
Just my $.02 worth!
Looking forward to seeing the new Pythons!
Vanguard.45
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