Anyone get a new Python?

First topic message reminder :

I'm curious if anyone has ponied up the cash for a new Python yet to test out. The prices are dropping to where you can almost get one for MSRP. I thought of getting one polished by Patriot Polishing as a bit of a show piece but would shoot it occasionally.

This is Mike Heffron of Heffron Precision.  A customer just put me in touch with this forum so I joined.  Because this thread concerns the New Python, I thought I'd throw a few bits out there.  Regarding accuracy, I have tested several in my RR.  I have found hbwc loads (when you find the ideal one) can group close to a half-inch at 25 yards.  I have also found that the new Python barrels are excellent, made using the same broached rifling as the old Pythons.  The one thing they don't do is lapping.  Do any of you remember the "Silver Ball" they used to push through the Python barrel?  Some say it's fact, some say it's an urban legend.  In the late 1980s I worked for a retired Colt employee who worked on the revolver line.  His last several years were spent putting Pythons together.  He assured me that the "lapping ball" was not legend, it was a fact.  He even supplied me with the "recipe".  He was a rather cranky old fart, a German immigrant (he came here after the war) that had seen a great deal in his lifetime.  His brother lived in Iowa after he retired from Colt, so my employer followed suit after his own retirement.  We have started offering the "Magic Ball" bore lap.  It certainly does help with leading and fowling plus LONG range grouping does tighten up a little.  When I say long-range, I'm talking 75-100 yards.  

The old Pythons were highly accurate revolvers and the New Pythons are a little better yet.  The chamber-to-chamber consistency in both size and spacing is unrivaled in my experience.  Regarding trigger pull, we test with weights as opposed to spring load or digital gauges.  When I say "It has a 2.5 # trigger pull", I want that determined by the laws of gravity and mass, not by spring-temper.  We offer three different trigger/action tuning packages for the New Python.  We also tune and repair 'Smiths and 'Dans.  We currently offer a dedicated Distinguished Revolver tune for the New Python, with one on the way for S&W K and L frame revolvers.  Hundreds of revolvers go through here each year.  Since we began tuning New Pythons, we have crossed the 700 point and we're approaching 800 New Pythons tuned as this is written.  Unfortunately, for the connoisseur, virtually all domestic double-action revolvers need some tuning out of the box.  The good news is that the materials and specs within these revolvers are the best ever.  Once a skilled "human touch" has been applied, they're very difficult to equal, let alone surpass.

Thank you for welcoming me to your forum.  I'm looking forward to the learning and the friendships provided by such internet neighborhoods.  You can read more about the New Python and other firearms by visiting our website.

Welcome to the forum Mike! 

I am excited to get my Python back from Heffron (almost shipped today: 02/02/2022 but the 23rd will do haha!)

I'll post my impressions after Mike's work, but I am sure they will be good.  The pistol is a real treat to shoot, and with 357 it feels like 38's. The extra weight pays off when shooting full load Magnums.  But, like others the SA was a bit disappointing @ 5.5#  I could easily have lived with it but I snagged a good old Smith 28-2 for a bargain price, and WOW, it's SA trigger was SO much better than the stock 'CA DROP' Colt that I had to send it to Mike.  We're lucky to have him focusing on revolvers! 

I am pleased to have paid MSRP for my 6" last spring, and with prices returning to that (or soon maybe street prices below MSRP???) it's a no brainer (buy one, shoot it, then send to Mike and see what a difference a good 'smith can make!)

-Kevin

Hi Mike.
I've been looking at your website recently and have a couple questions some of our members may be interested in.  In regards to your precision accuracy tuning.  It sounds like you indicate bore centerline and recut crowns and forcing cones?  What style of forcing cone are you cutting?  5 deg, 11 deg or Taylor Throat?  If I'm shooting a .358" dia lead bullet are you able to recut the cylinder throats to .3590-.3595"?  Thank you.

Just a little update. Trigger is amazing but be prepared to use Federal primers, maybe Winchester. Seems 100% with Federal in DA, CCI will give you issues in DA. Glad I've got a tricked out Python finally, not quite the mystique of the old ones but built to the hilt wirh quality and the trigger is butter.

zanemoseley wrote:So is an action job like this legal for distinguished? No new parts, just tuning factory parts. Would make a way better revolver for the task than my 14-4.

"Except for stocks and the honing of the sear or sear notch to make a more crisp trigger, and maintain a 2 1/2 lb. minimum trigger pull, no external or internal modification may be made to the revolver as manufactured and sold by the factory of origin. No parts may be removed from the revolver, either externally or internally, nor may any part be added, with the exception of milling the cylinder to accommodate moon clips."

Is there more to an action job than honing the sear and sear notch?  Possibly.  

Would anyone file a protest had they shot next to you on the line?  Probably not, if anything they should ask you who did your work.  

Would a challenge or protest even be successful?  Even if you had post-race-tech NASCAR quality officials, highly unlikely.  

I've always found this part of the rule book to be unnecessarily specific and exclusionary, which is sad considering the attendance at most DR matches. You're already severely limited on the type of ammunition used (with no way of enforcing bullet weight), we should be opening the options for revolver competitors, not limiting them.

zanemoseley wrote:........Sounds like Mike from Hefron Precision has the best action job going. If I bought one it would go straight there as well as possibly a professional polish job. Everything else sounds pretty on point with them but you can get $2+ in one in a hurry if you tune them. Here's some info from Mike off another board.


When I execute our PRECISION ACTION & TRIGGER TUNING on any revolver, we have fixtures to keep the honing and polishing square. The single-action sear does require a change of geometry to acquire a crisp 3lb pull. A jig is used to arrive at the starting point, but the finishing touches are more or less done by feel. While these revolvers are certainly more simple than the old ones, they still are not "Ruger-Easy" or "Smith & Wesson-Easy". They still offer a certain set of complexities due to the V mainspring, the rebound lever, and the "Bank Vault Lockup". Incorrect sear profiling will result in the revolver being out of time.

Our tuned NEW Pythons have a crisp SA pull of 2.75-3.25 lbs, a slick-cycle 8.75-9.0 lbs DA pull, and a very quick trigger return. Rapid DA firing is much easier once the tuning is complete. During cocking the action or during DA firing OR during the trigger return cycle you will not encounter a single "rough spot". The revolver's function in its entirety is slippery-smooth. Even though Colt does polish key parts within the action, our tuning reduces the mechanism's overall friction by a significant extent.

We did not arrive at this point by accident. When the NEW Python was introduced we acquired one and went to work creating a specific set of tuning techniques for it. I personally tune the revolvers. I have tuned and repaired Colt Double-Action revolvers for over 30 years. I will be honest here, when it comes to that work I have a specific way that I want it done. I am a control freak/micro-manager so it's best if I do it. My guys do the machine-work. I stay at the bench. No gun will leave here until it's something I would own myself. That's the best response I can provide.

I have developed a specific method of profiling the mainspring. I built tooling to do so. When a Python is tuned here, it will have the trigger pulls I mentioned AND it will smack the crap out of a magnum primer! Lightening springs is NOT an option as I see it. We are approaching 200 tuned NEW Pythons. I am happy to say that we have the best NEW Python Action and Trigger Tuning on the market.

Not sure if I want to even reply.  I had a few long talks with Mike at Hefron Precision, and I have no doubts, if I had a new Python, he is the (only) one I would deal with.  He seem to know everything worth knowing, and he is highly recommended in the Colt forums.

My problem is in sending in my brother's gun to work on.  My brother has tremors, and knowing that, Mike would prefer not to work on his Python.  My brother refuses to fire the gun at all until it is "fixed", but the only solution I found was Hefron Precision, and that's not going to happen - and it makes me wonder if I should help my brother get the gun improved at all.  It is frustrating even talking to him, as he refuses to fire it until it is "right".  

My Python, the old model, shoots as well as any gun I own that I can shoot with.  I love it.  Using Hickok45's saying, it is certainly "one of the last guns I would ever sell".

Meanwhile, back at this thread, I hope I can find someone who can improve the trigger pull, even if they can't get it down to three pounds.  A lot of shooters have to deal with tremors, and while I'm sure it degrades the possible scores, I've never yet had someone discussing how light the trigger can be for a person with that issue.

Talk to Frank Glenn.  He does good work, and I am quite satisfied with the trigger job he did on my Officers Model Match.

http://glenncustom.com/