Today among the gun industry’s most highly sought-after commendations, the Golden Bullseye Awards were created 23 years ago as a way for the American Rifleman editors to publicly acknowledge those recent firearm and shooting product introductions that offered our readers exceptional innovation, performance and value.
“The Golden Bullseye Awards are our way of honoring those companies that introduced products of remarkable utility, innovation and simple excellence to shooters and hunters during the past year,“ said Mike Sanford, deputy executive director of NRA Media. “We congratulate the winners, and we are confident that shooters and hunters will receive this year‘s winning products with enthusiasm.”
2025 Handgun Of The Year: Colt Blued Python
There’s something to be said for a gorgeous blue finish, and Colt’s was regarded as the industry’s finest for a long time. So, when the Python was resurrected back in 2020 in the form of a pair of polished stainless-steel models, some revolver aficionados were disappointed that no blued carbon-steel versions accompanied them.
And while it wasn’t until this past year that Colt would give these fans what they had been yearning for, according to contributor Kevin McPherson in his story “The Return Of The Blued Python,” it was worth the wait. Of course, Colt didn’t just bring back the old Python, it strengthened and simplified its most classic “snake” gun, and the new blued variants also take advantage of all of these enhancements.
So, what did our author think of the new finish? “The finish on the blue Python exceeded my expectations—it was deep and flawless—the polishing was executed to a level not often seen on a mass-produced gun,” McPherson raved.
Colt's latest blued snake gun even made it to the bench of American Rifleman TV with host and NRA Media Editorial Director Mark A. Keefe, IV, in a three-minute Rifleman Review segment. Keefe thoroughly covered the gun's details and exclaimed, "The lines of this gun are just simply fantastic." He further stated, "This is a lovely rendition of the modern Colt Python and one I was waiting for all along."
For giving the people what they wanted, an enhanced, accurate and extremely handsome new rendition of an iconic revolver, we selected the Colt Blued Python as our Handgun Of The Year. colt.com
