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Dfariswheel · June 16, 2008, 06:48 PM

The big difference is in the hand polishing that Colt did.
Colt always made their own polishing wheels from large wood disks, covered with leather.
They polished the metal with much finer polishing media than anyone else did, and this gave the final finish a deep blue mirror-like shine that was unique to Colt.

While guns like the later Detective Special and Trooper Mark III had a very glossy blue finish, only the Python and Custom Shop special order guns had the "Royal Blue" finish, which was always known inside the factory as "the Python finish".

Happily, Colt STILL can do a Royal Blue Python finish or re-finish on pistols, and even offer re-stamping services for faint or over-polished stamps and Colt logos.
Recent re-finished Colt Pythons have come back looking like the old Pythons of the 1950's with that deep blue mirror look.

June 16, 2008, 06:48 PM	#4
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,478	The big difference is in the hand polishing that Colt did. Colt always made their own polishing wheels from large wood disks, covered with leather. They polished the metal with much finer polishing media than anyone else did, and this gave the final finish a deep blue mirror-like shine that was unique to Colt. While guns like the later Detective Special and Trooper Mark III had a very glossy blue finish, only the Python and Custom Shop special order guns had the "Royal Blue" finish, which was always known inside the factory as "the Python finish". Happily, Colt STILL can do a Royal Blue Python finish or re-finish on pistols, and even offer re-stamping services for faint or over-polished stamps and Colt logos. Recent re-finished Colt Pythons have come back looking like the old Pythons of the 1950's with that deep blue mirror look.