First Python Purchase--Updated Grip Pics

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't spend the time and money putting original stocks on a shooter grade gun if you're just looking to sell/trade. Experts correct me if I'm wrong, but in today's market, you can make more by selling the correct grips and the gun separately on a shooter, without box etc... Which is what I suspect some shops are doing...

Someone who tracks Gunbroker more closely than I do can verify this, but I see shooter grade Pythons going for the same ballpark, regardless of the grips. I would say that condition, age, and good pictures are more important, IMHO

I'd stay away from the advice on Armslist, you'll get honest feedback and knowledge here on the forum... Armslist is a veritable cornucopia of characters, with the majority trending towards the unscrupulous side. Tire kickers, swindlers, and silver tongued con-men heavily outweigh the honest folk. I use that site for the selling tool that it is, but I'm wary every step of the way.

Trading is your best option IMHO. I've never had much luck selling a gun to turn around and buy another, most often I find myself on the short end of the stick by the time I've spent gas and haggling of prices, I either end up with a handful of cash and the gun I'm looking to buy is nowhere in sight/already sold, or a handful of cash that falls short of the price of the gun I'm looking to buy. To use an overused expression "A Python in the hand is worth two that I'm bidding for on Gunbroker"

You'll get a lot of offers to sell your Python or trade it for something else, and very few offers to trade for what you want, but the trades that you're looking for can happen every once in a while... Hope this helps

My strategy would be to keep the one you have and save up and buy the one you want... then decide if you want to sell the remaining Python when you have two in hand... I still can't bring myself to sell any of the ones I have (I'm sure others have the same "problem")...

Just a quick update. Brought the gun to work to show some of the guys and had it in my car. I was near a local gun shop after an appointment and decided to stop in. Brought the gun inside and decided to see what they would give me for it. Surly older gentleman behind the counter kind of perked up when I opened the case and quickly went back to looking uninterested. He pulled out the ole Blue Book of Gun Values and opened it to the Colt section. After inspecting my gun for a few minutes he grumbled, "I can give you four for it.......". Then I was the one who perked up, thinking he may have really liked it and meant four thousand. Wrong. His offer was four hundred as my gun was in "rough shape" and "didn't have the original grips or box". Fighting the urge to snatch him by the neck (I was in uniform and on duty) I thanked him for his time and left the store.

My question is, how can these guys sleep at night? What if I was some widow or someone's kid who had inherited Husband's/Dad's gun? I know my Python isn't worth $5000, but, $400? Come on.