In the world of famous firearms, the name Colt ranks highly. People use the term Colt .45, and you have to ask which one, the Single-Action Army or the M1911? Both are famous enough to be THE Colt .45; the gun of all guns. Colt has produced plenty of famous guns, including an entire line of famous revolvers known as the Colt Snake Guns. The Snake guns are a series of revolvers that Colt famously produced and canceled and has only recently begun making a comeback.
So what are the Colt snake guns? How many were there? How many are back? All great questions that we’ll be sure to answer. To start, let’s tackle the first question.
Colt made seven Snake guns, and the Seven Deadly Snakes use the name of real snakes, but there isn’t always much of a relation to a snake. They seemed famously random. With that said, let’s break them down.
The Colt Python
The most famous snake gun is undoubtedly the Colt Python. It’s the Rolls Royce of Colt revolvers, and to many collectors, the finest revolver ever made. This includes firearm experts and prolific firearms instructors alike, including Ian Hogg and Jeff Cooper. The Colt Python is chambered in the hard-hitting .357 Magnum cartridge and holds six shots of the mighty Magnum caliber.
The Python was introduced in 1955 as Colt’s top-of-the-line revolver. It featured an extremely nice trigger and a very robust frame and crane. One of the defining features of the Python was how the cylinder locked when the hammer fell until it struck the firing pin. The gun was renowned for its accuracy and workmanship.
The Colt Python’s ventilated rib and full underlug barrel give it a distinct appearance. It’s a natural in film and TV, with shows like The Walking Dead propelling it to new levels of fame. Further, the Python has seen lots of use by police agencies nationwide, and Marines assigned to the personal security detail of the ambassador in Vietnam reportedly carried the weapon in the 1970s. The Python is currently back in production.
The Colt Anaconda
Anacondas are big snakes, so it makes sense that the Anaconda is the big-bore snake gun model. The Anaconda is most famously a .44 Magnum gun, but Colt also briefly offered a variant chambered in .45 Colt. The Anaconda series competed directly with S&W and the Model 29, and Colt proclaimed the Anaconda to be the most accurate .44 Magnum on the market. Although early Anacondas had a poor reputation for accuracy, it was quickly resolved.
The Colt Anaconda was offered in 4-, 6-, and 8-inch barrel options and only came in stainless steel. The Anaconda series was marketed to hunters and sport shooters, and likely found a home in many Colt collector’s homes. Much like the Python, it sported a ventilated rib and adjustable sights.
Colt brought the Anaconda back into production in 2021.
The Colt Cobra
Released in 1950, the Cobra was the first snake gun model ever in production and was appropriately the first snake gun Colt brought back in 2017. The Cobra used an aluminum frame and a short-barreled double-action design — a snub gun, if you will. The Colt Cobra held six shots and was intended for concealed carry and plain clothes police use.
Built around the iconic D-sized frame, the Cobra and the Detective are basically the same gun, but the Cobra uses a lighter aluminum frame. The Cobra came in .38 Special, .32 Colt New police, .22LR, and .38 S&W. The little gun varied in barrel lengths with the 2-inch being the most common. However, 3- and 5-inch models existed, though they’re not as common.
The Colt King Cobra
The Colt King Cobra was the sequel to the original Cobra and premiered in 1986. The King Cobra took a healthy dose of influence from the Python series. These guns came in nearly every barrel length between 2 and 8 inches. The Python chambered the .357 Magnum cartridge and was based on the Trooper MK V rather than the original Cobra.
The King Cobra is a medium-frame, six-shot, double-action revolver. Across the top, the gun wears a solid rib, distinguishing it from the Python. Like the Python, it also features a full-length lug under the barrel. The Python came in the famed Colt blued finish or a stainless steel design. At the time, it was a little cheaper than the Python but offered many of the same features. The King Cobra was rereleased as the .357 variant of the new Colt Cobra. Colt also produced a new King Cobra in .22LR with a 10-shot cylinder.
The Colt Diamondback
Colt’s success with the Snake Guns, particularly the Python, led them to expand into the diamondback in 1966. The Diamondback was considered the poor man’s Python as it was a scaled-down version that lacked the refinement and custom work of the original Python. The Diamondback featured adjustable sights, a ventilated rib, and a full underlug.
Colt built the Diamondback on the D frame, which was the same frame as the Colt Detective Special and Colt Cobra. The Diamondback came in two very different calibers. The guns were released as a .22LR and a .38 Special. There was no .357 variant.
Colt produced the weapon in 2.5-, 4-, and 6-inch barreled varieties. Colt has not brought back the Diamondback, so the closest you’ll get is the King Cobra in .22LR.
The Colt Viper
The Colt Viper is a rare model of the Colt Cobra featuring a 4-inch barrel. It retained the six-shot cylinder and compact D-frame, competing with guns like the S&W Model 10 for the police market. Colt introduced the Viper in 1977 and only produced the gun for a single year. With poor sales being the excuse, they quickly killed the Viper line, which has made it a treasured collector’s item.
The Colt Boa
The rarest of the Colt guns is the Colt Boa, another attempt by Colt to make a budget-minded Python alternative that would be easier and quicker to produce. In relation to the Python, the name Boa makes a lot of sense since Boas and Pythons are pretty similar.
The Boa featured the full lug barrel and ventilated rib across the top. It was also a .357 Magnum revolver but it lacked the hand tuning and fancy features of the Python. Colt used the Trooper Mk V frame, which used machined parts instead of hand fitting. The gun was meant to be a catalog item, but Colt changed their mind.
Instead, they produced only 600 guns with a 6-inch barrel and 600 guns with a 4-inch barrel. It’s the rarest of the Snake guns, with one fetching a staggering $41,125 at auction. From the very beginning of the Boa’s life, it was a collector’s item, and Colt likely made a fortune selling Troopers at Python prices.
Seven Deadly Snakes
I doubt we’ll see all of the snake guns make a return with the modern Colt company. I would love to see the snake guns brought back to their former glory, but maybe Colt could innovate a bit and give us a new snake gun. How about the Colt Black Mamba, an optics and light-ready revolver? Or the Colt Rattler, a 9mm revolver? A man can dream, right? Do you have a favorite snake gun? If so, share yours below!
