A local dealer has a consignment gun...serial # KO9738. It has with it a beat up styrofoam box with the faux-wood grain cardboard sleeve. Looks like the cylinder has been turned but the gun is 98-99% and lettering is sharp with wood also 98-99%. Would like to get an idea what year the Python was manufactured, and a realistic range of values. I do not see the 8" version of the Python very often, and do not know in total about how many were made. I live in the northern Indiana area. No paperwork with the box as far as I know. I handled the gun; it looks genuine to me.
Year of Manufacture for 8" Python
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No, I didn't; I'd really like to know what the Colt collectors and aficionados are seeing in the marketplace, in regard to what 8" Pythons fitting my description are selling for. The seller has his price---a high one, in my opinion. I just wonder what the MARKET says in regard to the SELLING price, not the asking price.
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KO9738 was made in 1980.
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Based on my Gunbroker "research"... $2,500 seems like a fair market price
Completed auctions vary from $1,800-$3,200
Thank you, Nate...the range of prices is interesting. I've seen 2 Pythons, both 6" blued all-original models about 97-98%, sell locally for about $1,500-$1,600 in the last 3 months. Neither had boxes or paperwork. I know there were fewer 8" models made, but I would not have thought the extra 2" would command such a substantially higher price.
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It all depends on what "local" is for you. Gunbroker, like mentioned in many other threads, covers a broader spectrum of possible buyers as compared to anyone's local market. So a 98-99% 6" Blue may bring $1,600 locally, the same gun may bring $500 more due to the larger market on the internet. A lot of variables anyway you look at it. But I believe a lot of the gentlemen on this forum would agree when I say, If you like it (and can afford it) buy it for YOU, not for the "fair market value". And if you buy it, and don't like it, you can always post it for sale in the forum classifieds
It's all about being as informed a buyer as I can be; economically the "principle of substitution" states that an informed buyer will not pay more for an object than he/she can find a suitable replacement for elsewhere in the same condition. Really, the question I have to answer for myself is, are the extra 2" in the barrel worth the extra $600 (approx.) that this 8" will cost, ie about $2,300 I believe, compared to a 6" Python in comparable condition which can be had in my locale for between $1,600-$1,750.....I do intend to shoot whatever I buy, so paying extra for the proverbial "safe queen" seems a waste of money, at least for me. But I certainly appreciate getting your perspective on what these guns are selling for....thank you.
Update ! As of November 12.....I phoned the dealer who accepted this 8" Python on consignment to see if it was still available.. meanwhile, I had traveled with some buddies to hunt pheasants and sharptail grouse on a South Dakota Indian reservation. On the way we stopped at several gun shops, and at the Scheel's All Sports store in Iowa City I found a really nice, mint (blue) 6" Python with a beat up box; the condition of that gun and box were about like the 8" Python package I've been considering....and Scheel's price on the 6" was $2,500 which I will NOT pay...so, upon my return home I decided to call the dealer with the 8"--he still has it, and the owner, after having a $2,300 price tag on it for 8 weeks without selling it, has agreed to drop the price to $1,800. I asked the dealer to set it back until Friday. I'll take another look, and probably will buy at that price. Is there any feature about the 8" Python that I should look for to determine or establish its originality? Thanks for any advice...
I did buy this 8" Python yesterday for $1,800 plus the 7% tax my state collects. The gun is beautiful. I tried the trigger before buying and it was SWEET !!! I believe it may have been fired but it's been so well taken care of that it is really hard to tell. Glad I waited to buy this one. I'm not expert at posting pictures but will post some when my daughter gets here to help me next week.
here are couple of pics of my 8 in. python. the gun has an unfluted cylinder from the factory. I sold this gun back in the '80s when I was in the business and it showed up this way from acusport one of the dist. that I was using. box had no printing or writing on the end label whatsoever.
That is a fine looking 8" Python, Perazzi...the unfluted cylinder shows the gun off very advantageously. The grips are distinctive and very well figured! I see the Colt medallion; were those grips on the gun when you got it, or did you have them custom-made? I was holding mine and I can see what you mean by nose-heavy...the catalog from 1980 that I have, says the 8" weighs 48 oz. and i believe it, but that could enhance accuracy once the shooter gets used to the weight. Did you ever try .38 spl. 148 gr. target wadcutters in yours?
the grips are from forum member kurac and are circassian walnut. I shoot wadcutters about 75% of the time. if you can hold it, 1 hole at 25yds is possible. I don't have a pic of the bottom of the grips,but the grain goes all the way though and matches on the bottom.
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Congrats on the new Python wolfchief!
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