hammer for a colt python

[06inferno]

lol I'm leaning it towards sending it in and having Colt do it. I read it has a limited lifetime warranty and that has to be covered. Are you looking for the broken piece or the whole thing?

[D.R.E.]

lol I'm leaning it towards sending it in and having Colt do it. I read it has a limited lifetime warranty and that has to be covered. Are you looking for the broken piece or the whole thing?

You should call colt and verify that warrenty thing. I'd actually be a bit surprised (pleasantly). Their number is 800.962.2658 and they are three hours ahead of us.

Getting colt to do the work is a good idea. An hour of shop time is $85 and they can do a hell of a lot in an hour, union work rules notwithstanding. (Though it seems that their screw up rate is around 10% to 20% lately from the small sample I have.) If you do send it back, I'd highly recommend getting them to do an action job. You won't believe the difference it makes in the gun. Stock pythons are nice. Tuned pythons are sublime.


I was looking for the hammer rather than the broken piece. I was doing some double action only guns and wanted to avoid cutting the spur off of a good hammer.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

[06inferno]

I'll call Colt and see if it's covered. I'm also watching the auction link you sent me. If Colt does cover it and they do the work I'll ask for the broken hammer back. If they don't do the work I'll grab the one from the auction. either way I should be able to get you the hammer. Thanks for all the info.

[dfletcher]

I'll call Colt and see if it's covered. I'm also watching the auction link you sent me. If Colt does cover it and they do the work I'll ask for the broken hammer back. If they don't do the work I'll grab the one from the auction. either way I should be able to get you the hammer. Thanks for all the info.

Don't forget to factor in shipping both ways if you go with Colt, and (most likely) gunsmith fitting if you get the part off GB.

I think shipping will run about $80.00 total.

The Python hammer on GB will certainly fit, but Colt's usually require a bit of fitting to ensure proper timing & lock up - especially getting the cylinder bolt to drop down & pop up on time with the hand moving the cylinder. If the hand moves the cylinder before the rebound bar pushes up on the dogleg of the cylinder bolt, the cylinder will be pushed against the bolt while it's still in place. You'll feel some hesitation if it's slight, definite resistance if it's significant. The Colt internals are very much interdependant, changing one part usually effects the function of another.

You could get lucky & the part function properly with no fitting. But since Pythons weer hand finished, just be prepared for some work to be done. Be certain whoever does the work knows what they're doing - you don't want them to file the heck out of the hand just to get the cylinder to turn, then end up with a lousy lock up. Maybe someone here can recommend a good gunsmith who's worked on Colt revolvers. I think there's a fellow posting some Colt Python work in the Gunsmithing section.

[D.R.E.]

I'll call Colt and see if it's covered. I'm also watching the auction link you sent me. If Colt does cover it and they do the work I'll ask for the broken hammer back. If they don't do the work I'll grab the one from the auction. either way I should be able to get you the hammer. Thanks for all the info.

Yeah, I'm really curious about whether they do repairs that late.

If not I am just about to order two hammers so you can have one of those for cost if the GB one falls through.

I can put it in for you: *typically* doesn't take that long (just some polish and adjusting the hammer strut). Of course if there's another problem as well, they can interfere leading to more work.

Keep us updated!

[D.R.E.]

Don't forget to factor in shipping both ways if you go with Colt, and (most likely) gunsmith fitting if you get the part off GB.

I think shipping will run about $80.00 total.

Excellent point. Plus send the pistol yourself! Otherwise it has to go back to the originating FFL and they will have to do a DROS. (New rules. Stupid rules.) It'll also be a few months.

A good thing is that there is often something else wrong with old colts, so they can fix that too.

The Python hammer on GB will certainly fit, but Colt's usually require a bit of fitting to ensure proper timing & lock up - especially getting the cylinder bolt to drop down & pop up on time with the hand moving the cylinder.

Yeah, definitely you can't expect to drop it in and have it "just work". But typically it's a matter of getting the hammer strut adjusted so the hammer drops in the same position in DA as in SA. (Of course, if you change one thing and then have to change 10 others it's not a huge surprise.)

Have you found any place where a new hammer had a noticable impact on bolt pickup? I've only seen that when some bubba filed down the toe of the hammer as his unique way of lowering the rebound lever. (He also filed down the underside of the trigger sear!)

Maybe someone here can recommend a good gunsmith who's worked on Colt revolvers. I think there's a fellow posting some Colt Python work in the Gunsmithing section.

That'd be me

If he's going to mail it, Colt seems like a good choice. If he can drive down to LA there is a python smith there that I've seen recs for (Alan Tanaka) or if he can drive up to Jack Huntington I've seen recs for him too. (Though never used either.) If he's willing to mail and doesn't want to wait, Frank Glenn in AZ has fast turnaround and does great work. (He built Enos' revolvers and a bunch for Leatham.)

I can also fit it w/o too much trouble most likely.

[dfletcher]

Have you found any place where a new hammer had a noticable impact on bolt pickup? I've only seen that when some bubba filed down the toe of the hammer as his unique way of lowering the rebound lever. (He also filed down the underside of the trigger sear!)

That'd be me

I can also fit it w/o too much trouble most likely.

I haven't, but I'm only talented enough to risk minor fiddling with my own guns so I wouldn't say my experience is all that extensive. Replacing a tired hands on New Service and small parts on the other older Colts, smoothing is about as far as my abilities (and limitations) will take me. I thought mentioning the bolt was worthwhile, more theoretical than practical probably, because of the interaction between the trigger and hammer.

[06inferno]

I called Colt and said they would look at and see if it's covered under the warranty. I'm leaning towards sending it in.

[Sud Afrika]

I'm also in need of a Colt Python stainless steel hammer assembly. I dropped the revolver and the tang broke off the hammer. I didn't think to keep the tang to weld it back on. I live in South Africa so getting the thing will be a little complicated.

[TripleThreat]

I got a colt python 357 model 19

Sum Ting Wong.

[cannon]

Pythons are old so just send it in for repairs and pay the bill.

Make sure you have a Python though. It will be roll marked on the barrel.