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So you are sayin ya cain't shoot a Python or a S&W Mdl 27...

I have always said buy the best quality you can afford...it pays off in the long run...oh and stay with the best brand names you can afford.

It really is a joke all the nitpicks..ohh the Python will shoot loose, the Smith is that and the Ruger is this...yep they all is junk just go buy a slingshot...oh but the rubber band might break.

When ever are ANYof you going to be REALLY using that gun..it is nice to pretend on the range...
Ohhhh yeah some of you actually hunt..I forgot..Well I like the 505 Gibbs for Bunny Blasting...never even see the critter again...

My choice is the Python, Mdl 27 and then the 686...

Oh yeah Colt modified that 1890's weak lock work in 1908.

The beginings of the 357 was in the early 1930's Gangster era, the police needed a heavier duty revolver to penetrate car bodies. So Smith chambered their 44 frame in 38 so you could hot load them..they called that revolver the 38/44 Heavy Duty and 38/44 Outdoorsman. Then in 1935 the 357 Mag came along and Smith introduced a custom pistol called the 357 Magnum. You could order it anyway ya liked, Smiths thinking was that during the Depression a $75 revolver would limit the number of orders. However they was wrong and 5500 Registered Mags were made before they discontinued the process of registering them with the factory. Aout 1500 pre wars were built after the registration process was dropped.

After the war Smith picked up production once again of the 357 Magnum which eventually became the mdl 27 in about 1959.

Colt during the 1930's to keep up with Smith built a few Shooting Masters Revlovers in 357 and New Services on their big frame. This frame was discontinued at the begining of WW2. It wasn't until 1954 that Colt once again built a 357 magnum revolver and they called it the 357 Magnum the companion guns in 38 and 22LR were called Troopers, which was built on the old 41 caliber frame. However the 357 Mag was short lived with about 15,000 being produced because in 1955 Colt introduced the Python.

The Python sported a vent ribbed barrel and barrel lug to give additional weight to the pistol. Colt basically took the idea of the vent rib from the KIng Sights Company (not in Glendale) that beofre WW2 would customize your revolver (Colt King Super Conversion) with a vent rib which incorporated the front and rear sights, Cockeyed (offset) hammer, fine tuning the actions and putting on a pair of target grips. King built guns for both Smith and Colt (including autos and SA's). Finding a King gun today on a Smith is difficult to do, Colts are much more predominate. The 38 spls usually Colt Officers Models are the easiest, with the 32 S&W and 22LRs being just about impossible to find. I only know of 2 in 32 and one with only King Sights. I know of 3 or 4 in 22LR and one on a 22LR Offical Police frame.