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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647
Campfire Sage
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OP
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
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I've had this revolver for about fifteen years, but I bought it without the factory original grips. I got a huge bargain on it, even considering the non-original grips, because the gun store had it marked as a Colt Trooper, when it was actually the significantly upgraded cousin of the Trooper, i.e., the Model 357 (similar to labeling an S&W Registered Magnum as a Highway Patrolman), which ended production after 1961. Mine's a last year of production gun. So I got a Colt Model 357 for a Colt Trooper price, and back fifteen years ago Troopers weren't going for all that much. I think I paid like $450.00 for it. Anyway, back then, I figured it would be no great problem finding factory original grips for it online, but in all these years, on the rare occasion a set came up for sale, they were priced higher than what I paid for the gun. Finally, a few days ago, someone at the Fire clued me in on where I could get high quality reproductions of the originals, so I bought them. And since I had the gun out of the safe to put the new grips on it, I figured I'd take it to the range. This gun shoots like a dream. Manipulating it, cocking the hammer, opening and closing the cylinder, puts one in mind of a Swiss bank vault. You can tell they put great care in its manufacture. As to the new grips, I think they look great, and very much like the factory originals, illustrated below (picture found online): I prefer their feel over what I was using for it all these years, i.e., a set of rubber Hogue Monogrips. And that checkering really locks the gun in your grip. Painful, actually, when shooting full house .357 Magnum. Feels like someone is applying a wood file to your hand while shooting it, but no blood was drawn, so that's okay. Here's a fast, offhand, six shot group fired double action at fifteen yards. PS The Python, introduced soon after the Model 357, was merely the Model 357 with a target style barrel featuring a full underlug and ventilated rib. Otherwise, including the level of fit, finish, and hands-on attention at the factory, the two guns are identical.
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,632
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,632 |
Nice!
That's the Python's grandaddy, right?
Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla!
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647
Campfire Sage
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OP
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647 |
Nice!
That's the Python's grandaddy, right? Daddy.
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 11,686
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 11,686 |
That's a beauty, no doubt.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 14,520
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Nov 2015
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,543
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,543 |
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Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 1,414
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 1,414 |
Those grips look right at home. Very nice indeed.
"Their minds are dead" - Carmine Ricca
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647
Campfire Sage
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OP
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647 |
Those grips look right at home. Very nice indeed. Yeah, it's great that someone makes a reproduction.
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 44,275
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 44,275 |
Beautiful piece, and those grips really make the gun look elegant.
Slaves get what they need. Free men get what they want. Rehabilitation is way overrated. Orwell wasn't wrong. GOA member disappointed NRA member 24HCF SEARCH
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488 |
Beautiful piece, and those grips really make the gun look elegant. Yes they do. That gun is a looker for sure. A shooter, too, it looks like.
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,579
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,579 |
Very clean example of that model.
Common misconception but this model wasnt the basis for the Pytbon.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647
Campfire Sage
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OP
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647 |
Very clean example of that model.
Common misconception but this model wasnt the basis for the Pytbon. It might be more correct to say that two premium editions of the .357 Magnum Colt Trooper were introduced at about the same time. One was designed to appeal to cops and the other was designed to appeal to target shooters (on which they installed a target style barrel with a full length underlug and ventilated rib). What Colt discovered, though, was that cops who wanted a luxury edition of the .357 Magnum Trooper were opting for the Python, originally marketed to the target shooter, rather than the Model 357, which resulted in the latter being dropped from their catalog just six years after its introduction (1955-1961). The Trooper and the Python continued in production, but eventually the Trooper, too, was dropped (1969), being replaced by its namesake (The Trooper Mark III), but which, despite its name, had nothing in common with either the Model 357, the Python, or the original Trooper.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,989
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,989 |
My dream gun Hawk, been looking for one for quite a number of years now. I’m so jealous.
“No one in hell can ever say I went to Christ and He rejected me.
C.H. Spurgeon
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647
Campfire Sage
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OP
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647 |
My dream gun Hawk, been looking for one for quite a number of years now. I’m so jealous. They're out there. Here's one, just without the original grips: https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1018965287
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,989
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,989 |
Not bad but if I were to buy one it would need to be in better condition. I should have pulled the trigger on one about 3 to 4 years back for sale at guns international, they were asking $900 or $950 iirc and it sat for a long time without selling too. It didn’t have the original grip either but the bluing was pristine. I kick myself now for not buying it at that price. Now here we are a few years later at $1400 and in significantly much worse condition :-( Some revolvers do not go down in value. :-)
“No one in hell can ever say I went to Christ and He rejected me.
C.H. Spurgeon
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647
Campfire Sage
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OP
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647 |
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Joined: Jan 2010
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Where did you say the grips come from TRH ?
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647
Campfire Sage
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OP
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647 |
Where did you say the grips come from TRH ? www.deerhollowonline.com
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,368
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,368 |
I paid $775 in 2017 for one made in 1954.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.-- Edward John Phelps
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647
Campfire Sage
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OP
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,647 |
I paid $775 in 2017 for one made in 1954. That was a steal.
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