Here is an example of his EXCELLENT craftsmanship with a S&W with a Colt Python barrel. If you have one then you have one of the finest competition pistols ever made! Grumpy
Why settle for just a Smith & Wesson or just a Colt when you could have the best of both worlds? That was the question on some shooters’ minds in the 60s and 70s. For several years between the introduction of the Python and the Smith & Wesson 586/686, this mixture made sense, especially in the stiff competition of PPC matches.
The Colt barrels were perceived as more accurate and had a full lug to help tame recoil, but the Smith actions were easier to work on and required less hand-fitting of parts. The obvious answer? Take the barrel off a Python and mount it on a Smith! Thus was born the Smython, or Smolt as it is also known.
This was a procedure that took no small amount of skill to accomplish due to the different threads of the Colt barrels and Smith frames, but when done properly, they were considered the cat’s-meow for competitive revolver shooting.
In the 1970s Tommy Shimoda was a master gunsmith and the armorer for the Honolulu Police Department. He build this Smolt and removed all the Colt markings from the barrel. He then reblued the entire revolver so that the hue of the finish would match and also re-matted the topstrap and barrel rib. He also installed a smooth target trigger and target hammer and did an action job