Well, our friends at Lipsey’s, Tyler Gun Works (TGW), and Colt are at it again. A stop at the Lipsey’s booth at SHOT 2024 revealed multiple excellent handgun options available to us. One of several on display was the classy Lipsey’s Exclusive 2.5-inch Colt Python with holly grips and TGW niter blue PVD accents. “PVD” stands for Physical Vapor Deposition. In short, it’s a hard, chemical, abrasion, and corrosion-resistant coating.
This elegant-looking sixgun is bound to make the day of many astute pistoleros. It comes in a high-polished stainless-steel finish that is offset by a niter blue PVD trigger, hammer, rear sight elevation screw, and side plate screws. The American holly stocks are almost indistinguishable from ivory in look and feel. The stocks fit the grip frame perfectly and have the Rampant Colt medallion countersunk at the top of each panel.
The double-action (DA) pull on the Python is sufficiently smooth, and the single-action (SA) pull breaks crisp at about 5 pounds on my trigger scale. Frankly, I would have guessed the SA trigger pull to be less. The clean break of pressing the trigger and releasing it from the hammer sear really makes it feel lighter than it actually measures.
Shortly after the SHOT Show, the Gunsite Irregulars convened at Gunsite Academy (gunsite.com) for some bi-annual fellowship that is occasionally interrupted by the pleasant roar of gunfire and the aromatic fragrance of burning gunpowder. TGW was one of the industry guests who brought a table full of excellent revolvers and lever-actions to show off and shoot. As luck would have it, the slick little Python was in the herd, so plans were made to run it through the paces to see how it performed.
The high desert of Arizona is not exempt from winter, and we were treated to some drizzle, freezing rain and finally to 3-4 inches of nice snow during our visit that made for some interesting range sessions. During the rainy day, we wisely shot from under cover of the shed, stretching our guns out a bit to 25 yards on steel plates. For me, the sights were hitting a little high on the Python, and the rear sight was screwed all the way down, so a six o’clock hold on the plate kept my shots in the game. Once the temperatures got colder and the snow fell, we continued with our normal range activities by shooting the camo silhouette paper targets from various distances and interweaving some games into the day, like shoot-offs between one another on steel and five shots at five yards under five seconds on playing cards.
Somewhere in there I experienced an occasional light strike on a primer, but I am writing that off as the fault of an assortment of old, reloaded ammo we were shooting since I have not experienced it while firing several brands of factory ammunition. Happenings like that always drive home the notion that we must run several hundred rounds of the ammunition we intend to carry through our guns, particularly defensive and hunting guns, to ensure 100% reliability, or at least as close as we can get it.
Bobby Tyler graciously allowed me to hold onto the Colt for some additional shooting. Back home to sunny and warmer skies in west Texas, I headed to the range with the Python to shoot a few groups with ammunition from Buffalo Bore, Fiocchi, Remington, and Winchester. As you see from the chart, the ammunition performed respectably in the Colt, and the group sizes averaged under two inches, 1.79 to be exact.
These groups were fired from my Ransom Multi Cal Steady Rest at 12 yards. This handy rest removes most human error to show what the gun is capable of. The shooter is still holding the gun, aligning the sights, and pressing the trigger, but it’s all done from this good, steady rest. Ransom International does make rests that will eliminate any and all human error if one desires or needs such a shooting rest.
After shooting groups on paper, the steel torso plates at 50 yards rang rather consistently with carefully placed SA hits and a few DA hits for good measure from a standing, two-hand hold.
Overall, this is a really nice revolver and one that will retain and gain value over time. If this were my gun, I would swap out the front sight, which is easily done. There are several options for after-market sights. I do like orange sights, but this particular light-colored orange insert washes out for my eyes, meaning it gets fuzzy, and I’m unable to get a sharp focus on the top edge of the front sight. Part (or all) of that is due to me being what the experts call “middle-aged”, whatever in hell that is. Not quite being to the stage of needing glasses to see the front sight, I do have to modify some of them to get a crisp sight picture either by changing sights or adding bright red, orange, or green paint, usually by way of a Birchwood Casey Super Bright Touch-up Sight Pen set I bought.
With the shooting review complete and the article submitted, I guess it’s time I do the right thing and return Lipsey’s Colt Python to its rightful owner, but it sure is going to be hard to do!
