Colt Python .357 Magnum 6″ Royal Blue Double Action Revolver, Circa 1980–89
SOLD FOR: $1,702.00
LSB#: LSB250824GS018
Make: Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company
Model: Python
Serial Number: LA5710
Year of Manufacture: Circa 1980–1989 (Ref: Blue Book of Gun Values; Gun Collectors Club; Colt Forum archival data) Modern
Caliber: .357 Magnum / .38 Special
Action Type: Double Action / Single Action Revolver with Six-Shot Fluted Cylinder
Markings: The left side of the barrel is marked “PYTHON .357 * / * .357 MAGNUM CTG *”. The right side of the barrel is marked “COLT’S PT. F.A. MFG. CO. HARTFORD, CONN. U.S.A”. The crane cut is marked “LA5710,” and the same number is stamped on the inside of the crane. The Elliason rear sight is marked “ELLIASON R.”. The Colt rampant horse medallions are inlaid in both grip panels.
Barrel Length: 6 Inches
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a serrated ramp blade integral to the ventilated rib. The rear sight is a fully adjustable Elliason square-notch sight, dovetailed and screw-secured to the topstrap.
Stock Configuration & Condition: The grips are factory checkered walnut target stocks with gold Colt medallions. The wood is deep walnut with crisp checkering, showing only light handling marks. The fit is tight and even, showcasing Colt’s old-world hand-fitting. The grips rate in Fine-Excellent condition.
Type of Finish: Colt Royal Blue
Finish Originality: Original
Bore Condition: The bore is bright and the rifling is sharp. There is no visible erosion. In this writer’s opinion, the bore rates 10/10.
Overall Condition: This revolver retains approximately 97% of its original finish. The deep Colt Royal Blue remains reflective and rich, with light edge wear at the muzzle, minor thinning on the front sight, and an extremely faint drag line on the cylinder. The screw heads are sharp and undisturbed. The top rib remains clean and crisp, the serrations unpolished and correct. Overall, this Python is in Fine-Excellent condition, showing careful use and exceptional preservation.
Mechanics: The action functions correctly in both single and double action. Lock-up is tight, timing is proper, and the trigger pull remains glass-smooth — an exemplar of Colt’s hand-fitted action work. We did not fire this revolver. As with all used firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance requirements.
Box, Paperwork & Accessories: None included.
Our Assessment:
The Colt Python is not just a revolver — it’s the symbol of Colt’s mastery at the height of American craftsmanship. Introduced in 1955, the Python was the company’s flagship .357 Magnum, assembled by Colt’s most skilled gunsmiths on the “I-Frame.” Every example was hand-polished, hand-fit, and tuned to a level of mechanical refinement that bordered on the bespoke. The result was a revolver so smooth, so balanced, that shooters quickly began calling it “the Rolls-Royce of revolvers.” By the time this example, serial LA5710, was produced in the 1980s, the model had already earned its legendary reputation — a final echo of the old Hartford perfection before computerization changed the factory floor forever.
The .357 Magnum cartridge itself was born out of the 1930s demand for more power — a cartridge that could punch through car doors, steel panels, and the uncertainty of Depression-era America. Phil Sharpe and Elmer Keith’s collaboration with Smith & Wesson gave birth to a round that blended raw authority with precision. The Python, chambered for it, refined that brute power into an art form. With its 6-inch barrel and full underlug, it balanced perfectly in the hand, and that deep Colt blue finish shimmered like oil on water under sunlight. On a law enforcement range in the early Reagan years, or holstered by a detective who preferred quality over cost, this gun would have drawn admiring glances before the first shot was ever fired.
Imagine that scene: the smell of Hoppe’s No. 9, brass glinting on the asphalt of a police range, the late-afternoon sun reflecting in the mirror-polished Royal Blue finish. The cylinder clicks home with that unmistakable Colt sound — tight, confident, precise. In that moment, you’re holding a piece of the last generation of truly hand-crafted American revolvers, a time when one craftsman’s file work meant the difference between ordinary and immortal.
Collectors recognize the 1980s Python series as the bridge between Colt’s golden years and the modern age — still hand-fit, Royal Blued, but produced in smaller numbers as the revolver era waned. Today, that makes surviving examples like this one increasingly rare, and their desirability continues to climb. Whether displayed as the crown jewel of a Colt collection or admired for its mechanical excellence, this LA-prefix Python remains a work of art in steel — both a weapon and a memory of American precision that will never be duplicated.
KF
