Really? I have never heard of Colt, factory porting Pythons or Anacondas. It just doesn't make sense for Colt to own/rent/buy a magna port machine. Plus, I have NEVER seen a magna-ported Python.
What's the point of magna-porting a Python anyway?

 

Really? I have never heard of Colt, factory porting Pythons or Anacondas. It just doesn't make sense for Colt to own/rent/buy a magna port machine. Plus, I have NEVER seen a magna-ported Python.

During the last couple of years on the Anaconda's, Colt made the DT models (drilled and tapped) -- on the 8" versions, they had the PDT model which was ported, drilled, and tapped. Colt also had the Anaconda Custom Ported model which was an 8" Magnaported snake with Elliason rear sight.

I doubt very much that Colt would invest in a porting machine on their own when they could more easily send off a box of a hundred or so barrels to a porting company (MagNaPort or whoever did Pro Porting) and then just screw the barrels into a frame when they came back.

With the same process of shipping off barrels off for porting and getting them back, many Pythons that were ported came through the custom shop.

 

I'm not sure what the point is, but as soon as I get the letter, I'd be happy to scan a copy. I'd imagine there aren't very many of these out there.

I've seen the shorter barreled versions of python with this type of porting, and I've seen quite a few anacondas (online, not in person), but this is the first 8" python I've found with the factory porting.

 

I've had 2 chances in the past 6 months to buy that factory ported anaconda so I think they are relatively common. The python on the other hand had to be a custom one of a kind. I've seen plenty of ported pythons by other companies but never a factory job. I use to hunt with a realtree anaconda and the barrel is so heavy there is just no need to port either gun in the 8" model. That python looks great though. Good luck with them.

 

According to my collection of Colt catalogs, the "Custom Anaconda" with Magna-Porting, an Elliason rear sight, a polished trigger and Pachmayr rubber stocks first appeared in the 1992/1993 abbreviated catalog. The "Custom Anaconda" was not in the 1994 catalog, but reappeared in the 1995 and 1996 catalogs.

In 1997, 1998 and 1999, the Ported, Drilled and Tapped option appeared for the 4-inch and 6-inch barrel lengths of the .44 Magnum Anaconda, while the Ported, Drilled and Tapped feature was standard on the 8-inch .44 Magnum.

The Anaconda was gone from the 2000 and 2001 catalogs. In 2002 and 2003, the Drilled and Tapped option reappeared for the 4-inch and 6-inch barrel lengths of the .44 Magnum Anaconda, while the Ported, Drilled and Tapped feature was again standard on the 8-inch .44 Magnum.

I therefore conclude that the 8-inch Ported Anaconda (the porting was NOT the Magna-Porting as found on the Custom Anaconda, but rather the rows of round holes on each side of the rib) was made in only 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2003 (only 5 out of the 12 years of Anaconda production). I have no idea how many were made with porting, but, based on how few I see with that feature, I speculate that the number was not very high.

When the Anaconda was introduced in 1990, it was available only with a 6-inch barrel. The 4-inch barrel and 8-inch barrel appeared in 1991. With NO basis other than speculation, I have always believed that Anaconda production tapered off drastically after the first few years because, once the splash of Colt FINALLY building a .44 Magnum (only about 35 years late!) had passed, the market for a Colt .44 Magnum had been largely satisfied.

 

Here is an old article which shows porting ... and a really great price back then.

July, 97 Silhouette -- The Colt’s gun squeezes out a win over a Ruger Super Redhawk in this matchup of Hunter Pistol–ready wheelguns.

 

So, Colt never factory magna-ported Anaconda's or Python's. Colt only drilled holes to simulate magna-porting, but their's was never like the magna-port factory. Plus Colt never sent out A's or P's to magna-port for porting, including barrels.
Colt did their version of recoil-recduction porting in their factory. Not to be confused with magna-porting... Right?

 

Wrong. As I posted above, the "Custom Anaconda" is Magna-Ported. Colt apparently sent out barrels to be ported and then installed them on the "Custom Anaconda."

I do not know if Colt added the series of round holes that replaced the Magna-Port feature, or farmed that out. While the holes look just like they were drilled, I doubt that they were since that would leave a burr in the bore. I suspect the round holes were EDM-made as well, since EDM does not leave a burr. Perhaps Colt had bought an EDM machine by the time the round hole porting came into existence so that the work could be done in-house.

Apparently, there are a few Pythons that came from the factory with Magna-Port barrels factory-installed. A forum member just recently posted about one, but I do not recall who made the post.

 

Respectfully, your Honourable Judgeship, I am correct. Colt never factory magna-ported their barrels. If they sent them out, okay, but that is not factory. It is an accessory or an option.

 

If you want to split that hair, then Colt does not supply FACTORY magazines and stocks with its pistols either. Like the Magna-Port barrels on the "Custom Anaconda," those items are produced outside the Colt factory, as I stated above. Since Colt does not have a forge, then even the frames are not "Colt" by your standards, since the frames are forged outside of the Colt factory.

If Colt gave the "Custom Anaconda" a distinct model number and put it on the prices lists and in the catalogs as a separate model and put it in a Colt box and shipped it to Colt distributors and advertised it as a Colt product and guaranteed it as a Colt product, then it is a "factory" Colt.

 

Could you please post the factory Colt letters of both guns once you get the letters back. These letters may be inclined to educate us all.

John

 

Here's a couple of Custom Shop items ...

 

I posted the letter for the python in another thread, but here's a pic of the details from that letter. I'm not going to get the letter for the Anaconda. It's serial is PDT so I know it's factory done.

Here's the python. By the way, I've decided to list both of these guns on gunbroker. The auctions start tonight.

 

It's serial is PDT so I know it's factory done.

I think you mean the model number suffix, not the serial number. However, I did notice that the Anaconda serial number starts with "AN," not "MM" as other Anacondas I have seen and own. I am assuming that the "AN" serial number prefix probably indicates the gun is from the last batch in 2002-2003, rather than the late 1990s. I have not followed Anacondas closely at all, so if someone knows about the serial number "AN" prefix, please enlighten me.

 

 

Here's the box label for the Anaconda.