the Pythons. They were all nickel finish, since this was required for his secret processes. Maybe as many as a hundred, or so had been sold to an eager market. . I looked back at Bubba with a whole cloud of question marks circling over my head. He was grinning from ear to ear, and said the he had "developed a couple of things", but didn't want to spill the beans until he had explored his options with the patent office. The Python was priced way out of my league, but local peace officers, and well-heeled gun nuts had already formed a long waiting list, and Bubba was gearing up to concentrate on cranking them out.
I changed jobs, and moved, and lost touch with Bubba, his shop, and the Python. A number of years later, I noticed that the shop had closed, and Bubba had stopped being a regular at local gun shows. Then one year, I set up at a local show next to a fellow who had been a regular at Bubba's, and had even worked for him part-time for awhile. I inquired about Bubba, and he said he had been cleaned out in a divorce, and had moved off. Simply curious, I asked if he knew about the Python project, and with a roll of his eyes, he told me the following tale.
Bubba had cranked out a fair number these. All was going well until one gent had a malfunction of some sort with his. Instead of bringing it to Bubba, he sent it to Colt for warranty repair! The scene at Colt can only be imagined. The repair dept. gets this Python, and immediately calls upstairs, complaining bitterly that it would be nice if you guys would inform us when you release a new product, since after all, we have to fix the darned things. Upstairs would then asked the man what he had been drinking for lunch, since there was no such thing as a .41 Mag Python.
end part 2

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Of the Troops & For the Troops