Introduced in 1990, the
Colt Anaconda is a large
frameIn firearms terminology, the receiver is the part of a firearm that houses the operating parts. The receiver usually contains the bolt carrier group, trigger group, and magazine port. In most handguns, the receiver, or frame, holds the magazine well or rotary magazine as well as the trigger mechanism...
double-action
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
featuring a full length under-barrel ejection-rod lug and six
roundA cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
cylinderIn firearms terminology, the Cylinder refers to the cylindrical, rotating part of a revolver containing multiple cartridge chambers. The cylinder revolves around a central axis in the revolver to bring each individual chamber into alignment with the barrel for firing...
,
designed-Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...
and
producedManufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
by the
Colt's Manufacturing CompanyColt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer, whose first predecessor corporation was founded in 1836 by Sam Colt. Colt is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century...
. Chambered for the powerful
.44 MagnumThe .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles...
and
.45 ColtThe .45 Colt cartridge is a handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It began as a black powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver, but is offered as a magnum level handgun hunting round in modern usage. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1873 and served as the...
centerfireA centerfire cartridge is a cartridge with a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. Unlike rimfire cartridges, the primer is a separate and replaceable component....
ammunitionAmmunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
cartridgesA cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
, the Anaconda marked the
Hartford, ConnecticutHartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
firm’s first foray into the popular large-
boreThe gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the diameter of the barrel. Gauge is determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the firearm, and is expressed as the multiplicative inverse of the sphere's weight as a fraction of a pound . Thus...
Magnum
pistolWhen distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
marketMarketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
.
Development
Built on a new and heavier ‘AA’ frame, the Anaconda was brought out to compete with .44 Magnum contemporaries such as the Smith & Wesson Model 29, the
Sturm, Ruger & Co.Sturm, Ruger & Company, Incorporated is a Southport, Connecticut-based firearm manufacturing company, better known by the shortened name Ruger. Sturm, Ruger produces bolt-action, semi-automatic, full-automatic, and single-shot rifles, shotguns, semi-automatic pistols, and single- and double-action...
RedhawkThe Ruger Redhawk is a double/single action large frame revolver that was first introduced in 1979 by Sturm, Ruger & Company. Made from high grade steel, it is available with either a blued or stainless steel finish. The Redhawk is reinforced to handle extra stress, making it very popular for use...
and
BlackhawkThe Ruger Blackhawk is a 6-shot or 8-shot, single-action revolver manufactured by Sturm, Ruger. It is produced in a variety of finishes, calibers, and barrel lengths.-History:In the early 1950s, Westerns were popular in movies and television...
, and the
Dan Wesson FirearmsDan Wesson Firearms , part of the CZ corporate group, is a manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Kansas City, Kansas, and the customer service and manufacturing plant is located in Norwich, New York...
Model 44. Considering that many of these models had been marketed and sold for fully 35 years upon its introduction, the Anaconda was a very late entry into the large-bore
handgunA handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
market. Unlike most other pistols introduced in the 1980s and 1990s, the Anaconda was never offered with a carbon steel
bluedBluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. True gun bluing is an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface...
finish, but was available only in
stainless steelIn metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
. When originally introduced Anacondas were plagued with poor accuracy, but changes to the
barrelsA gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity....
quickly corrected the problems to the point that Colt billed its new pistol as among the most accurate .44 Magnum revolvers in production. Anaconda revolvers were primarily marketed for sport
enthusiastA Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
shooters and hunters, as they are too large for
law enforcementThe police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
use by small-framed men and female officers or concealed-carry.
Colt firearms announced the discontinuation of the Anaconda and many other double-action revolver models in October 1999, although made-to-order limited production versions of the gun continued to be available from the Colt custom gun shop until approximately 2003.
Features
Originally chambered for the .44 Magnum cartridge, in 1993 the Anaconda began to be offered in
.45 ColtThe .45 Colt cartridge is a handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It began as a black powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver, but is offered as a magnum level handgun hunting round in modern usage. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1873 and served as the...
as well. With its fit and finish and resembling an upsized
King CobraFirst introduced in 1986, the Colt King Cobra is a medium frame double-action revolver featuring a six round cylinder which was designed and produced by the Colt's Manufacturing Company and marketed to law enforcement agencies and civilian firearms enthusiasts...
married to a ventilated-rib barrel reminiscent of the
Python'sThe Colt Python is a .357 Magnum caliber revolver formerly manufactured by Colt's Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut. It is sometimes referred to as a "Combat Magnum". It was first introduced in 1955, the same year as Smith & Wesson's M29 .44 Magnum. The now discontinued Colt Python...
. Initially marketed with a satin brushed stainless finish, a highly-polished mirror-like option known as "Ultimate Stainless" was cataloged for a time through the Colt Custom Shop. Anacondas came equipped with four, six, or eight inch barrels,
neopreneNeoprene or polychloroprene is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene. Neoprene in general has good chemical stability, and maintains flexibility over a wide temperature range...
syntheticSynthetic fibers are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve on naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. In general, synthetic fibers are created by forcing, usually through extrusion, fiber forming materials through holes into the air, forming a thread...
rubberNatural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
finger-grooved
combat-styleCombat pistol shooting is a modern martial art that focuses on the use of the handgun as a defensive weapon for self defense, or for military and police use...
gripsOn a firearm or other tool, the pistol grip is that portion of the mechanism that is held by the hand and orients the hand in a forward, vertical orientation, similar to the position one would take with a conventional pistol such as the M1911....
with
nickelNickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
colored 'Rampant Colt' medallions, large target type
hammersthumb|150px|Hammer with an integral [[firing pin]] on a [[S&W Model 13]] revolver The hammer of a firearm was given its name for both resemblance and functional similarity to the common tool...
and triggers, as well as open iron sights with a red insert front and fully adjustable white outline rear. Some models were factory drilled and tapped for
telescopic sightA telescopic sight, commonly called a scope, is a sighting device that is based on an optical refracting telescope. They are equipped with some form of graphic image pattern mounted in an optically appropriate position in their optical system to give an accurate aiming point...
mounting, while others shipped with
recoilRecoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
reducing Mag-na-ported barrels. The trigger actions on these guns are rated as very high-quality, and the heavy-duty solid construction and weight tends to absorb recoil, making the Anaconda relatively easy to shoot with heavy loads.
Kodiak
Introduced in 1993, the Kodiak was similar to the Anaconda in that it was constructed entirely of stainless steel, but offered the additional features of a recoil-reducing factory magna-ported barrel and unfluted cylinder.
There were 2000 Kodiaks made as a special run of Anacondas, breaking away from their long history of naming revolvers after snakes. A special run of 1000 King Cobras was made about the same time, having the same Magna-Ported barrel and unfluted cylinder and were called the Grizzly. There was an uncataloged 5" barrel version of the Anaconda, with reportedly less than 150 made. These 5" versions command very high prices when they are encountered.
Accuracy Results
The following results were achieved firing five shot groups with a
red dot sightA red dot sight is a common classification for a type of non-magnifying reflector sight for firearms that gives the user an aimpoint in the form of an illuminated red dot...
-mounted Anaconda at 25 yards.
| Ammunition |
Group size |
| Black Hills 240 grain JHP |
1½ inches |
| Black Hills 300 grain JHP |
1⅜ inches |
| CCI Lawman 240 grain JHP |
1¼ inches |
| Cor-Bon 260 grain JHP |
1¾ inches |
| Federal 180 grain JHP |
2⅜ inches |
| Federal 220 grain FMJ |
1⅜ inches |
| Federal 240 grain JHP |
1¼ inches |
| Federal 250 grain FMJ |
1½ inches |
| Hornady 240 grain XTP handload Handloading or reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling the individual components , rather than purchasing completely assembled, factory-loaded cartridges...
(25 grains WW 296 powder) |
1⅛ inches |
Sierra 240 grain JHP handload
(25 grains WW 296) |
1¾ inches |
External links