Colt Brings Back the Python - Page 5

flatbutt · 06-24-2020, 06:53 AM

The 586 sure looks good too. Looks like I'll start my shopping with S&W. Thanks much for the tips! I'll keep you posted.

BTW, if anyone is interested, I filed my purchase permit application yesterday. The countdown begins today.

flipper35 · flipper35's Garage

We have a 28-2. Not pretty but shoots very well either way you use the trigger.

tabs · 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatbutt

The 586 sure looks good too. Looks like I'll start my shopping with S&W. Thanks much for the tips! I'll keep you posted.

BTW, if anyone is interested, I filed my purchase permit application yesterday. The countdown begins today.

So it is settled yur getting a 686...4. 6 or 8 3/8 Barrel is your only decision.

Smith started making them in 1982, the SN sequence started with AAA xxxx ostensibly going to ZZZ xxxx. My preference is to buy one of the earlier ones. They can readily be found all day long on Proxibid which host basically all the major auction houses in the USA (even NIB)...The pricing is within a small range no matter the auction location nor time of day. If you understand the price structure on Gun Broker or a retail site, you can save your self some money by buying at auction...roughly $100 after all is said in done. But you have to know the line in the sand and not go over it at auction.

I have the 4 and the 8...the 8 is a sweet shooter with 38's.

If ya want a bigger frame Smith there is the no frills Model 28 or Highway Patrolman...and the deluxe Model 27 or 357 Magnum... If you are going to go that route the 27-2 or 28-2 are the way to go.. They have Pinned Barrels and Recessed cylinders which Smith discontinued doing in 1982 to cut cost.

You can buy a cheap new foreign car for what a pre war model 27 aka " Registered Magnum"will bring...

Jeff Higgins · 06-24-2020, 08:21 AM

Those are fantastic revolvers, flipper35. An absolute joy to shoot. They are the biggest S&W frame size, their "N" frame, originally meant for the .44 Special and .45 Colt, with the .44 mag added later. Their heft is what makes them so nice to shoot. Not so nice to carry, however, which is what led to the development of the smaller "K" framed Model 19.

The idea was that LEO carries their guns far more than they shoot their guns. A full sized "N" frame is a big gun, and pretty cumbersome to carry all day, getting in and out of a car and such. They figured they practice with .38 Specials anyway, doing the vast majority of their shooting that way, so why did they need this big old heavy thing just because it could be shot all the time with .357's?

Bill Jordan was a Border Patrol officer in the 1950's, and a noted exhibition shooter. He approached S&W with the proposal that they produce a lighter duty gun that could be fired with .357 ammo, at least as much as duty might ever demand, but would be shot otherwise with .38 Special.

Carl Hellstrom, then president of S&W, agreed that it was a grand idea. Metallurgy and heat treating had by then advanced to the stage where they no longer required the mass of the "N" frame to contain the pressures of the .357 mag. Thus was born the Model 19, built on their smaller "K" frame, formerly reserved fo the .38 Special and .22 rimfire.

Alas, civilian shooters (at least some of them) seem to like to play with the .357 cartridge. The Model 19 soon developed a reputation for cracking forcing cones under a steady diet of those loads. S&W's answer was the "L" frame, very slightly bigger, which eliminated that problem.

A lot of us think the "problem" with the Model 19 is vastly overblown. Mine has many thousands of rounds of full-house .357 magnums through it with no signs of trouble. My load, however, consists of a 150 grain cast "Keith" style bullet over either 2400 or 296. The problems seem to arise with the use of very light 110-125 grain jacketed bullet loads, which seem to flame cut much more severely.

To make a long story short, you would be fine with either an "K" or an "L" frame. See if you can get your hands on an example of both and see which one you like. Handguns are a very personal thing...