I have the poor man's Python......
Depends on what you want to do with it. The Pythons were considered a bit more accurate, the Smiths had better DA triggers.
The Pythons are laser bored sighted. To find out which is more accurate, you'd have to put them in Ransom rests and test them. Sadly, no one does that anymore. And most testers only put five shots in the test guns, which is stupid. Each chamber of a revolver has to be tested because each has a throat, and I've seen Taurus revolvers (Model 66) where the chambers were just holes. Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Some competition guns years ago had the least accurate chambers marked to give the shooters an edge in competitive events. I'd love to see some accuracy tests between S&W 686s and Pyhons.
I'm not a s&w hater but I've had a terrible ride with their revolvers , scared me off of them probably forever.
Sounds like there's a few stories there. Care to share?
If I could hand pick the gun, checking for QC slip ups, I'd take a modern 4" 5/686 over both a new amd vintage python. The money saved would buy me a first class action job, grips and a few other custom touches from a gunsmith. The Colts are beautiful, but the Smith L frames are work horses. Multiple tests have shown the new S&Ws to be mechanically superior to the old ones, despite the cosmetic challenges.
I think the S&Ws are beautiful, myself. But when one removes the factors of cost and investment, and everything else. Just the gun you'll live and die with, and be buried with. Kind of like, if you survive as asteroid strike that wipes out most human life on Earth. You're in a cave wish 4,000 rounds of .357 ammo and your choice of a Python or a 686. Which would you choose? Many would pick Rugers, so we have to eliminate them from the equation. It's an either/or choice. Python or 686. Factory action only.
I’m fortunate to have both. My 6” Python was tuned by the late Reeves Jungkind and I can barely describe the feel of pulling the trigger ... in DA or SA. My 4” royal blue Python is stock from Colt. I wish I had had Reeves work that one as well.
I also have a 6” 686-4. It’s got a fine action out of the box, but it’s no Python. It’s different. Rumor is that it’s more “robust” than the Colt. I don’t know, and I’m not sure it matters at day's end. If you have to “lean” on your 357, get a Ruger GP100. (Got 2 of those too, and they are the ones I lean on).
Yeah...I'd opt for a Security-Six, myself, but I get the idea. Still, if you could only choose between a S&W 686 and a Python, no Rugers, which would it be?
Quality wise, I’d give the nod to the Python. Accuracy wise, I’d have to give the nod again to the Python, if by a slim margin.
Both are fine revolvers. Both are easily capable of accuracy beyond my skills.
So Python it is...if it's a doomsday pistol?
Durability wise, I’d probably give the nod to the Smith, as it’s a more “modern” design having come into the scene well after the Python had been established. More folks know how to work on the Smith. Now as for the new Python, I have no real idea with respect to the “newer” lock work wether it’s “better” than the 586/686.
So it's a 586/686 is it? Accuracy or durability? One .357 revolver for the rest of your life. My brother says he'd use a 586 to knock over a gun store so he could get a Ruger.
Colt has had a tough go of it since the early 2000’s by losing government contracts, financial restructuring and low demand of it’s products. Something had to be done to renew interest and the re-invent of the Cobra, King Cobra and now Python is an effort to regain a place in the handgun market. Engineering, machinery and material is expensive and Colt has a reputation to live up to with the success of past products. A Python should be equal to a S&W PC gun and they are trying to prove that with their price point. S&W has lost the craftsmen, exhibited poor QC and the dreaded lock has cost them an unknown amount of customers. Revolvers are no longer accepted by law enforcement as the handgun market leans toward plastic autos. It is a tough business when you sell products one at a time instead of purchase orders for many. It is much more involved then a 686 verses a Python. Hopefully, the 2020 Python will live up to it’s name.
The Python is said to have a small hand/pawl, which wears quickly and causes the gun to go out of time. Don't know if the 2020 model has that problem. Anyone shot it enough to tell? I hear they begin to head south at about 2,000 or so rounds.