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One of the most surprising announcements of 2021 in the firearms industry has gun owners shocked and delighted with the news that Colt is bringing back their Colt Anaconda in 44 Magnum! It is surprising for a lot of different reasons, but we at TFB want to point out before we get ahead of ourselves that maybe – just maybe – we believed this wheelgun back into existence.
Last September, we posted a thought-provoking piece posturing that Colt could potentially be bringing back the Anaconda (we did not have any insider information, by the way). We doubled down on that complete guess in the early part of December last year when we attempted to predict new revolver models for 2021 (still waiting for Taurus to announce that Raging Hunter 10mm).
- September 23rd, 2020: Wheelgun Wednesday: Will 2021 be the Rebirth of the Colt Anaconda?
- December 9th, 2020: Wheelgun Wednesday: (Potentially) NEW Revolvers to Debut in 2021
Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum 8″ – MSRP $1,499
What slowly dashed my hopes of the Colt Anaconda actually coming back anytime soon was when CZ ended up purchasing Colt. No disrespect to CZ whatsoever either. We then wrote on February 17th of how we authentically believed the future was brighter for revolver lovers with Colt in CZ’s hands. It is just that you typically do not see new product releases during a transition of ownership.
- January 11th, 2021: BREAKING: CZ In Negotiations For Colt Acquisition
- February 12th, 2021: BREAKING: CZ Acquires Colt Holding Company
- February 15th, 2021: CZ BUYS COLT: An Exclusive Interview With Lubomír Kovařík – President CZG
- February 17th, 2021: Industry Titans Join Forces! CZ Bought Colt Firearms
- February 17th, 2021: Wheelgun Wednesday: CZ Improves the Outlook on Revolvers
Then, with a little over 1 week before April Fool’s Day, Colt announced on their Facebook page on a Monday morning while we were all still groggy from the weekend with a few simple words: “Back By Popular Demand.” Nothing more had to be said because this is the revolver we have all been waiting for! You could have just as easily said The King is HERE and everyone would have known that the Colt Anaconda was back.
- March 22nd, 2021: Colt To Bring Back the Anaconda
- March 22nd, 2021: A Legend has Returned! The Colt Anaconda 44 Magnum is Back
Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum 6″ – MSRP $1,499
History of the colt anaconda
Historically speaking, the Colt Anaconda has not been gone from public circulation that long. The last time that Colt produced an Anaconda was in 2006 which is a mere 15 years ago. This is the same time that Colt decided to quit producing the much more sought-after Python yet people have been clamoring ever since for more Pythons.
- Anaconda (1st Edition): 1990
- Anaconda (Standard): 1990 – 1999
- Anaconda Hunter: 1991 – 1993
- Anaconda Custom Ported: 1992 – 1993, 1995 – 1996, 2002 – 2003
- Anaconda Camo: 1996
- Anaconda (Custom Shop): 2002 – 2006
- Anaconda (CZ produced): 2021 – ?
When Colt was in what some shooters would call their prime for revolver manufacturing in the late ’90s and early 2000s they had a complete portfolio of cartridges. From the small yet stout Cobra series in .38 Special up to the thunderous Colt Anaconda in .44 Magnum, it only made sense to cover the gamut of available cartridges to please firearm owners.
With Colt making this recent resurgence to bring back all of their Snake Guns, the writing was on the wall that the Colt Anaconda was imminent. They once again started out small with the Cobra series. Some people stated those initial Cobra revolvers did not have the same feel and mystique as the original ones, but they were still damn fine wheelguns (this essentially got Colt’s feet wet again). Then, they stepped it up a bit with the re-introduction of the Colt King Cobra Target. This was a gorgeous new offering that we reviewed HERE. Next came one of the most romanticized revolvers in cinema and the most collectible model in the former Colt line-up: the Colt Python. This really got people excited and everyone thought the journey of reproducing revolvers was complete. All of the true Colt loyalists knew that there was one left though… the Colt Anaconda!
modern features for modern times
One new feature that people might have glossed over with the new Colt Anaconda is that it is drilled and tapped from the factory. Not to make it sound like this is a thought from a million years ago, but back-in-the-day handgun scopes were a fairly popular add-on; albeit, you had to pay a gunsmith to typically achieve that. Nowadays, miniature red dots (Ex. Leupold Delta Point Pro (DPP), Trijicon RMR, etc) are all the rage and I am one of those people on that bandwagon. I would love to top off one of these new Colt Anacondas with a Leupold DPP and go hunting with it!
With the explosive growth of holster availability and manufacturers being more willing to do custom projects, it wouldn’t be too difficult to get a cross-chest holster made for this either. If you could get your paws on one of these new Colt Anacondas what would you do? Put an optic on it? Take it with you salmon fishing? Wax fondly about the original ones while binge watching The Walking Dead? As always, let us know all of your thoughts in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.
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