Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns M27 vs. Python?

I'd like to take a poll here at The Campfire.

Assuming same price, same condition and roughly same age, which would you prefer to own and shoot: a 3.5" Smith & Wesson Model 27 or a 4" Colt Python.

Thanks, RS

Python.I own one. Superb sixgun.

Python, simply because its more proportioned to the cartridge/bbl lengths. A 5in 27 would make the choice much more difficult 4 me, but I'd still take the Python.

Both are fine guns.

Python....sold one many years ago to pay wife's medical bills. It had a 22 LR Diamondback little sister!

Ouch!

The wife worth it?

I'd bet you'd do it again in a heartbeat

I guess the job assignment would be the deciding factor for me. For moderate duty the Python is mighty tempting. I�d probably pass on the 3 �� M27, but if it were a 5� inch gun I would be all over the M27. A 5" M27 is the Holy Grail of .357's to my eye. If heavy duty and a lot of shooting strong loads is the job ticket, the M27 is the one. A M27 will shoot a lifetime with no issues. You very likely will be sending your Python to a gunsmith a couple of times for a little fitting and retiming, maybe a part replacement or two in that same lifetime from such heavy usage. I've had two Pythons and several other Colt's with the same style action and while I appreciate the craftsmanship, grace, and accuracy, I wouldn't choose one for a lifetime of heavy shooting chores.

Model 27. Cylinder turns wrong way on Python. Although if it was a real oddball barrel length I might be tempted.

8 shot model 27 (Actually the model 627)

4 inch tube.

BMT

Python, hands down, providing it wasn't going to get a 100 rounds/day of magnum loads through it.

If pure durability is an issue, then the 27.

MM

Both are super classics in their own right but I would take a pre lock/pre mim 586 or 686 in 4" over either one. L frame smith is the perfect platform for the .357 with proven stronger lockwork over the python and capable of shooting a wider variety of bullets over the 27, the lighter cylinder of the L frame over the 27 also causes less wear to the cylinder notches and cylinder stop during double action firing.

But as to the question I like the looks of the 27 better so that would be my choice out of the two.

IMO neither is the best .357. That said, they are both very, very good. The Smith is better but the Python is sexier. I would have to take the Smith for practicality. You are talking either one extremely over-priced Smith though or one very (by today's standards) under-priced Python. Tough to get a Python for under $1000.

The Python is the best quality .357 ever built; I'd take it in a New York minute. 3.5" 27 is one ultra cool revolver though, and I think it's easily the second highest quality .357 out there.

All in all, the "best" .357 would probably be the L frame S&W's, but they just don't have the attention to detail that the Python and 27 have.

Python's got a better, silkier trigger out of the gate, but the action is more delicate. The trigger staks a bit toward letoff. Some people like that. I don't.

Python's definitely better looking in a deadly, martial sort of way, but quality will depend on the era of its manufacture. There was a time in the 80s when Colt simply sucked in everything they did, both in fit and finish. This included the Pythons whose finish did not in any way resemble the royal blue and superb polish given their guns in the 70s.

The Python points better for me than the N-Frame smiths and the hammer is perfectly located for single action target fire.

FOr the same money?

I'd get the 27.

Dan

I have one (python)new in box made in the 70's....the blue looks about an inch thick..I also have another one that I shoot that has had a trigger job...just a great pistol IMO

the m27 is strong but big as a house...

Python in a heartbeat!
Had a 6" Python and a 6" dimondback 22, back in my younger days. I once hit a beer can at 100 yards off-hand with one shot with the Python. Sure wish I still had it!
Virgil B.

This thread needs a commie so I'll volunteer:

I don't like Colt Pythons.

They are too flossy. I have a lot of respect for them, but like the eagle-painted, orange Pontiac Firebird of the '70's, there's such a thing as trying too hard. I remember hearing the Firebird called a "one man, four wheeled carnival".

Nickel Pythons are even worse. They make me want to get a white plastic Garand and join a Parade...

Bring it on, fellas!

Gosh, with same vintage and condition a factor, I would think this would be a divided smith vs python debate. When you added same price into the equation, you would either be getting a steal on the python or honked on the smith hence a one sided decision as anyone would take a steal over a honkin.
dan

Not quite exactly the same point as you are making, but I think most Pythons long ago left the field of working guns, and became commodities to be hoarded and traded. This could also be said of Model 27s to some extent, but I think it applies alot more to Pythons.

While I'm ticking y'all off, I don't like a 3.5" M27 either - it's just wrong. A M27 has to have at least a 4" barrel for that pretty checkering. I wouldn't own one under 6".

The revolver gods mandate a 3.5" should be a M28 - all business.