Dilemna: trade gun or no?

[Monkeyleg]

This thought came into my head after reading and replying to a Python thread on the revolver forum.

Despite my best efforts, my gun fund is pretty much non-existant.

I have a 1981 vintage 6" nickel Python that I bought for $895 back in 2003. It's in the box, with some papers. The gunsmith who did the transfer said it definitely appeared unfired.

So, it can fetch $1400 or more on Gunbroker, based upon what I've seen Pythons sell for.

I bought it because I always wanted a nickle Python. I bought it as-NIB because that's what I also wanted. It's just pretty to look at.

For the last few years I've also been hankering for a Springfield M1A. It's not pretty; it's a utilitarian gun, albeit a great one. And one I would definitely shoot.

As I wrote my reply on the Python thread, it hit me that I could sell the Python to get the M1A. In fact, my local shop in the past has let me buy guns at cost (or paid me for my services with guns), so I could get the basic M1A walnut stock model for $1170 plus tax.

The problem is, as most everyone here knows, once you sell a gun it's often hard to get it back. Especially when the price keeps going up. (Like the full-auto AO Thompson I sold for $1800 ten years ago ). And I promised myself a few years ago I'd never sell a gun again.

So, I'd like to ask you, especially those of you who are strapped for cash: what would you do?

 

[CajunBass]

Depends on what I needed the cash for. In this case, to buy another gun, I think I'd hold onto the Python.

 

[DMSHEPARD]

Personally I have never sold a gun and don't plan on starting. As you mentioned, you can't get them back. I am not a Colt fancier, but it sounds like you have a keeper, and probably couldn't get another easily. If the gun you want to buy is readily available I would wait try to buy it later. JMHO of course. EDIT-I am also a bit strapped, my next gun purchase is a looong way away. I now know why the handgun cases are made of glass, it is easier to wipe the drool off.

 

[leadcounsel]

If funds are really tight, I'd sell the Python. Sure, it's a great .357 no doubt about it, but an equally good one can be had for $300 used (Taurus, Ruger, etc.). I love Pythons, but they are a rich mans gun. You don't seem like a rich man from your own description, so unload it and get what you really want.


So, I'd trade it for a .357 of a different make and for either cash or an M1A, if you can. Or just trade for the M1A and then buy a less expensive .357. Work it into the same deal to maximize your buying dollar.


Face it, you could probably buy 3 or 4 reasonably priced handguns for the price of a Python, or get a rifle and a handgun, or an expensive rifle, etc.

 

[Frandy]

I agree with Cajun. As for geting rid of it to get that Springfield, not me. You can get one of those a year from now much, much easier than replacing that Python. I'm not saying they aren't going to be available, but you can't just go to a dealer and order one like the Springfield.

One last point. I'm not a collector, so I don't have guns as investments or to just look at them and say I have one. Maybe you need to decide how important it is to have an object for admiration (or investment) versus something that you will use. My two bits.

Good luck and let us know.

 

[silliman89]

You should do whatever you like. But since you ask for our opinions...

To use someone else's phrase, it sounds as though you like "rich men's guns" but you haven't got the budget for them. I wouldn't have bought the Python myself. I have a used S&W 66-1 that I picked up for $350 last year at a show. But since you have it, obviously wanted it, and are already worried about not being able to replace it, you should keep the Python.

If you haven't got the budget for the new Springfield right now, just get a surplus Garand from the CMP for half the price. That's a fun shooter with the bonus of a little bit of history, and they won't be available forever.

 

[goon]

What do you want?
My interests change.
When that happens I have no problem selling something I no longer use to buy something that will get shot.
Where guns are concerned I tend to have sort of a short attention span.

 

[ArmedBear]

A Python is one of the few guns I'd say not to trade, even if you feel like it. It's not really a gun, anyway, at this point. It's like keeping gold bullion in a safe deposit box.

Don't shoot it; it's true that a good S&W will serve you just as well for a lot less money.

The prices of such guns have gone up tremendously, and I think they'll go up more. Older (1920s, not 1870s even) Colt SAA's are going for ten times that, and more, in that condition.

Even if Colt pulls their heads out and makes Pythons again, Colt will probably charge $2000 and up when they do it. Look at what they charge for "real" SAA's now! I don't have one, but word is (from Gun Tests, who I've never seen lie) that the Colt SAA ain't ready for competition out of the box, either. It's nice, and with some gunsmithing it can be really nice, but the price is just nuts, and $1000 of that price is because it says "Colt" on it.

I'd oil it and keep it in a cool, dry place. Sell it if your kids need shoes, not because you want an M1A.

Just MHO.

 

[GT]

Keep the Python

G

 

[Monkeyleg]

Thanks for all the replies.

I've made the mistake of selling one gun (the Thompson) that skyrocketed in value. Ditto with a NIB Spas 12 folder that I bought for $450.

I also made a concious mistake (is there such a thing?) of selling a NIB Colt SAA .45LC with all of the original papers. It was made in 1956, first year of production after WWII. I bought it for $1850 and sold it for $1850. Last time I checked, that pistol's value went through the roof.

It's not a question of me buying "rich man's guns." I buy the guns I want, which means that I have guns that cost more than some other folks paid for, but are special to me. Quality versus quantity, if you will.

That also means that I don't always recognize the market value of them, until it's too late.

I think the Python is going to stay in the safe.

The gun shop whose site I maintain is due for a complete overhaul. I think a fair exchange would be my time for an M1A.

 

[rangerruck]

you rpython is likely to allways go up in value, the m1a is not.

 

[Monkeyleg]

Just a bit of clarification: for revolvers, I have a S&W 586 that I bought new back around 1982 or so. Had a trigger job done on it, and it's absolutely the best revolver I've ever shot. Cost me $225 or so, plus another few bucks for the trigger job.

That 586 is the least expensive gun I own. Nearly every other one either cost me $1K or more in real dollars or in barter.

The idea of a "rich man's gun" eludes me. I read posts here on THR from regular folks like me who pass on inexpensive guns in order to buy the gun they really want. Sometimes, those folks are talking about HKMP5's or other extremely pricey collectibles.

Thanks to the above replies, the Python is here to stay.

Now, all I have to do is convince my friend that he can increase his internet gun sales by having me do even more work on his website. The cost? Oh, maybe an M1A.

 

[cnyankee]

i have a M1A and it is a great rifle...i would keep the python, have a yard sale and with the money from the yard sale get the M1A and have the best of both worlds...though no tv or funiture.

 

[mljdeckard]

I had a friend growing up who had a 686 and a 6" Python. Both of us felt like the Python was superior in every way. One of my wishes, when I am done with school and I have two cents to rub togther, is to find another 6" Python. (My friend died a few years ago, and left his to his son.) The DA pull was smoother, the angle of the grip was more natural, it just sat in the hand better. I think it was poor marketing on the part of Colt (As well as a prevailing preference for S&W among police,) that allowed the Python to fade into obscurity.

I had an M1A, and I got rid of it. To make a precision rifle of it, you're going to spend some money. You need the current generation scope mount, and some serious glass. (Mine had the Springfield Armory dedicated optics with the reticle graduated out to 1000 yards for 168 gr BTHP ammo, and I wish that I had used Leupold tactical optics instead.) I realized that the stock trigger is too heavy for tactical work, and because the scope sits so high, you will need a stock with a raised comb to shoot it properly, or you will go home with a ding over your eyebrow like I did. If you son't get an adjustable cheek piece, or a custome one, you won't be able to shootit in the correct position. This means a few upgrades, or just springing for the White Feather model or M-21, and you will spend a LOT more than $1200. The other half of my brain kicked in, and reminded me that a Remington 700 VS is simpler, cheaper, doesn't require aftermarket architechture to prevent beating me up, and will out shoot the M1A out of the box. An autoloader isn't much of an advantage if you are shooting it even slower than a bolt gun because you are afraid it will hit you. (If I was to get another .308 autoloader, I would look at a AR-10, probably a DPMS.)

 

[OldSchooler]

The problem is, as most everyone here knows, once you sell a gun it's often hard to get it back. Especially when the price keeps going up. (Like the full-auto AO Thompson I sold for $1800 ten years ago ). And I promised myself a few years ago I'd never sell a gun again.

So you take a lesson hard, huh? Keep the Snake. It's your glory gun and youre right, you'll probably never get it back. And keep it unfired.

As for the M1A. Theres lots of ways to get up scratch. Get a part time job. Sell something else, like that big screen TV or the boat you only use twice a year.

Selling a sweet gun is something you always regret.

 

[progunner1957]

Monkeyleg -

I say keep the Python. I had a pristine 6" blue Python years ago that I stupidly traded away and have regretted it ever since. Once a gun is gone, it's gone.

If you can trade website work to the gunshop for the M1A, I would do that. Even if you have to give them your services and, say, 25% of the M1A purchase price in cash, it's a good deal and makes the M1A more affordable for you - and you still have your Python.

If you had to, you could put the M1A on layaway using your website work as a down payment and pay them the balance later, if they won't go for an even trade. If they are easy to work with, you should be able to make it happen.

This is the 50th anniversary year for the Python and it is out of production -what a sad and ignoble end for the finest revolver ever made. You have a really nice one - I'd keep it, if it were me.

 

[Monkeyleg]

Looks like the Python is getting the votes.

"Sell something else, like that big screen TV or the boat you only use twice a year."

No big screen TV's, boats or other toys like that for me. A 14" in the kitchen is just fine for watching CNN or Fox News. I have a Harley, but it's an '89 with 113,000 miles on it. Paid for long ago.

 

[gezzer]

I hate to say, SELL IT. I have not ever been able to own everything I want if you are not using it sell it and get what you want.

No way can I understand the “I never sell a gun” folk. Unless you are filthy rich why even try.

I hate to say as a gun dealer Pythons draw more money than they have ever been worth , turn of the century mechanics, bad hand ergonomics and grips. The only thing the older ones have going for them is the finish that as of now Colt cannot even match.

Let some collector store it in his safe while you enjoy shooting your new M1A.

Guns are just a commodity unless it has sentimental worth as you departed Grandfather or father owned and USED it.

 

[johnster999]

I say keep the Python. Sell something else.

999

 

[Atticus]

Do you want a gun for shooting or an investment?

 

[rugerfreak]

Keep the Python.

M1A's are nothing special---I had one---dumped it the first day after shooting it---didn't care for it at all. Hate for you to lose your Python just cause you didn't like the Springfield either.

My .308 banger is a DSA FAL---a much nicer weapon than any M1A----strangely enough I do have 2 Mini-14's---just love 'em-----but the M1A did nothing for me.

 

[evan price]

Ahh, safe queens. Not meaning to be offensive here, but IMHO, what the heck is the point of owning something you can't ever use, just sits there and looks pretty? Like those guys that spend $100k on a concourse-grade restoration of a classic muscle car that gets pushed on and off the trailer for shows & that's the only time it turns a tire?

Of course it's your money to spend as you see fit. But IMHO, Cars were meant to be driven. Guns were meant to be shot.

Anecdote: Got a friend who had a Skiff-Craft boat. Made in Ohio. All wood. Very nice boat when done up right. Spent years labor of love restoring it to better than new condition. It sat in his driveway for years and every year he spent lots of time waxing, polishing, and etc. I asked him once, why he never took it out on the water after he spent so much time getting it ready, and he said, Do you know how hard it is to clean it once it's been run in the water?
He looked sheepish after he said this; He sold it a year later.
Anecdote II: Got another friend with a 69 Mustang Fastback, Sports Roof, big block, car has had lots of money dumped in it, it is driven if not daily a least weekly. He once told me what's the point of spending money you can't enjoy.

 

[CSA 357]

take a pic of the python, sell it and get the m1 , all you did with the colt was look at it any way, all my guns are for shootin, *csa*

 

[strange246]

Lots of opinions stated already, I'll throw mine in, it's really a personal choice and decision, no-one can really make your mind up for you, I have a safe queen thats really not terribly valuable except to me and maybe a few other people, a nickel plated Norinco 1911a1 thats NIB and unfired, rather rare as not many nickel ones were imported, is it valuable? Probobly not to most, to me it is because it was my first NIB gun, it's a rare variant of the gun I learned to shoot with (I learned to shoot on my uncle's Blued Rinco 1911) and I also have 2 blue ones that I shoot the snot out of...Getting to my point, I was going to sell my nickel Rinco to fund another gun because it just sits there, I dont shoot it, I could buy something else with the money etc etc etc and after hemming and hawing I couldnt do it...Decide what it means to you and go from there...In my case I saved up for a few months and bought the gun I was going to sell it for anyhow...

 

[Hokkmike]

I'd like to add a little different perspective. First, let me say that I have made many stupid trades and/or sold guns I wish I had back. Having been in the "gun" hobby for more than a few years now I have set on the principle that if I am not going to shoot it then I don't really need it. I have purchased the "best" bolt action rifle, and shot gun I can afford. (rich man's guns?) I am looking for the best pistol I can afford. At this point, largely owing to advice from the pistoleros here on THR, probably a Sig 226. I also have an AR that I really like. The only "cheap" gun in my collection is a Bersa .380 Thunder and it has not let me down. I have friends with 30 or more guns that sit in, in some cases, several gun safes. I'll be content to have, own, and shoot, the few guns I possess. My investment for the future will not be in firearms. I hate dickering and losing money on trades, resales, etc. This would be the only reason that I hesitate to sell the Python. Otherwise, take your time - be sure what is in your heart, and get the guns YOU want. Life is short.