2019 Colt King Cobra Review

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cogun4hire

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Well I finally got around to shooting my new King Cobra.

I will give my thoughts based off of my experience having recently shot a .357 LCR (sub-2 inch), SP101 and a 4 Inch GP-100.

The King Cobra feels very solid in the hand. I wear a size “L” glove, and the King Cobra is JUST big enough to feel full size. I would not want to go any smaller than the 3-finger groove rubber grip that is supplied. The cylinder is marginally wider than a 5-shot J-Frame, not really noticeable to the naked eye. Since I will be carrying strong side OWB, this was a no brainer to get a gun this size (like the K6S). Trigger is butter as others have raved about, but it is easy to “short stroke” it. This is likely due to 80% of my handgun shooting being out of Glock’s, vs DA revolvers.

Shooting. Shooting .38 hand loads (standard pressure 158’s) is amazing. Big difference from the snappy recoil of a 15oz J-frame. Not punishing at all. Full house, factory 125gr .357 magnum loads are certainly stout, but surprisingly manageable. I could place 6 round “rapid” fires all within the “A” zone on an IDPA target at 10 yards with no issue. My groups are tighter with the heavier GP100, but thats not a surprise to me.

Single action at 25 yards is where this gun really shined. Nailing an 8 inch gong with .357 and the stock brass bead site left me consistently 5-6/6 rounds on target. Very impressed here for a small-medium, 3 inch barrel revolver.

Overall this gun is quality and you get what you pay for. I will likely leave the grip/front site as is, and carry it once in a while when im feeling EXTRA American, outside of my normal G19/G43 semiauto’s.

Is this gun worth the extra 300 or so dollars over an SP101? That is up to you to decide. I think they are both tanks, both handle stout loads well and both work as they should. What sold me on the King Cobra was the 6th round and the nostalgia. Plain and simple. Please free to ask any questions about my first experience shooting/handling it.

I included a picture of it next to my GP100 for size comparison.
 

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Well I finally got around to shooting my new King Cobra.

I will give my thoughts based off of my experience having recently shot a .357 LCR (sub-2 inch), SP101 and a 4 Inch GP-100.

The King Cobra feels very solid in the hand. I wear a size “L” glove, and the King Cobra is JUST big enough to feel full size. I would not want to go any smaller than the 3-finger groove rubber grip that is supplied. The cylinder is marginally wider than a 5-shot J-Frame, not really noticeable to the naked eye. Since I will be carrying strong side OWB, this was a no brainer to get a gun this size (like the K6S). Trigger is butter as others have raved about, but it is easy to “short stroke” it. This is likely due to 80% of my handgun shooting being out of Glock’s, vs DA revolvers.

Shooting. Shooting .38 hand loads (standard pressure 158’s) is amazing. Big difference from the snappy recoil of a 15oz J-frame. Not punishing at all. Full house, factory 125gr .357 magnum loads are certainly stout, but surprisingly manageable. I could place 6 round “rapid” fires all within the “A” zone on an IDPA target at 10 yards with no issue. My groups are tighter with the heavier GP100, but thats not a surprise to me.

Single action at 25 yards is where this gun really shined. Nailing an 8 inch gong with .357 and the stock brass bead site left me consistently 5-6/6 rounds on target. Very impressed here for a small-medium, 3 inch barrel revolver.

Overall this gun is quality and you get what you pay for. I will likely leave the grip/front site as is, and carry it once in a while when im feeling EXTRA American, outside of my normal G19/G43 semiauto’s.

Is this gun worth the extra 300 or so dollars over an SP101? That is up to you to decide. I think they are both tanks, both handle stout loads well and both work as they should. What sold me on the King Cobra was the 6th round and the nostalgia. Plain and simple. Please free to ask any questions about my first experience shooting/handling it.

I included a picture of it next to my GP100 for size comparison.


Thanks for the review. Good info and confirms my suspicions that it’s a good gun. Would love to see one in person.

I have a 2017 Cobra that I really like. I have the same issue with short stroking the trigger.

I don’t seem to have that problem on my LCR’s though. It’s between an LCR(x), Glock 26, and a sig p365 every day for me.
 
I have an issue short stroking the trigger on my Night Cobra. Doesn’t happen with any of my other revolvers. Some guns just don’t fit some folk, I guess. Glad you’re enjoying the King Cobra.
 
Also, when cleaning the gun, I noticed the bottom of the top strap, near the forcing cone there are little cuts in the metal. At first I thought it was serious flame cutting/design error but they are all evenly spaced apart. Has anyone else seen this before? This is my first colt.
 
I just saw my fav LEO-oriented store near me running an ad for the KC for roughly $825 (I think). Sadly, they don't do layaway or I'd plunk money down on one.

I'm still hankering for a .327 5" GP-100, but I may have to go for the KC to pair up with my Cobra.

Thanks for the write up!

Stay safe.
 
Is this gun worth the extra 300 or so dollars over an SP101? That is up to you to decide. I think they are both tanks, both handle stout loads well and both work as they should. What sold me on the King Cobra was the 6th round and the nostalgia.

The exquisite da trigger pull made the extra money well worth it for me. I suspect that the light and smooth trigger pull is likely the reason some people are having issues with "short-stroking" it.

Six-round capacity in a five-round sized cylinder (for comparison's sake: Smith J-frame, 1.305; original Cobra, 1.397; Smith K-frame, 1.447), makes the only 1/10" larger difference between the 6-shot Cobra and the 5-shot Smith J-frame a worthwhile compromise for me.

In terms of "nostalgia", I think the all steel, new Cobra should have been named "Detective Special". It's my hope that Colt will offer an aluminum alloy variant, chambered in .38 Special, in the very near future. Such a variant would once again reign as the perfect concealed carry for self-defense revolver like its original, aluminum Cobra ancestor was. Maybe they could call it "Agent". :thumbup:
 
mid/coastal South Carolina.
I found the only one in AZ by making phone calls, the store that had it is one that does not sell over the web. If there are any gun stores within driving distance of you that don't sell on the web, a phone call can't hurt. I had to pay $969 but I feel it was money well spent.
 
I found the only one in AZ by making phone calls, the store that had it is one that does not sell over the web. If there are any gun stores within driving distance of you that don't sell on the web, a phone call can't hurt. I had to pay $969 but I feel it was money well spent.
Thanks.
 
Shot mine for the first time last week. No surprises. Superb, fantastic, sublime, outstanding, fabulous trigger. Managed the 125 grain fast-movers well, tamed the 158-grainers. With .38 158 gr semi-wadcutters, a pussy cat and a tack-driver.

OP, good review, matched my results. Worth 300 bucks more than the SP-101? Heck, yeah.
zzzcolts.jpg
 
Shot mine for the first time last week. No surprises. Superb, fantastic, sublime, outstanding, fabulous trigger. Managed the 125 grain fast-movers well, tamed the 158-grainers. With .38 158 gr semi-wadcutters, a pussy cat and a tack-driver.

OP, good review, matched my results. Worth 300 bucks more than the SP-101? Heck, yeah.
View attachment 842539

Well I answered my question by calling Colt.

It sounds like the "cuts" above the forcing cone are "run out" from the barrel thread installation. Old Dog, do you notice this on yours as well? I have about 5-6 cuts exposed, just barely passing (rearward) of the forcing cone. Interesting.

Also, I would say if anyone can get one of these for 850.00 or less, I would jump on it. my gun stores (Denver area) are struggling to get any in at all, let alone mark one below MSRP.
 
Well I answered my question by calling Colt.

It sounds like the "cuts" above the forcing cone are "run out" from the barrel thread installation. Old Dog, do you notice this on yours as well? I have about 5-6 cuts exposed, just barely passing (rearward) of the forcing cone. Interesting.
Yep, see below -- didn't clean the gun after its first outing, and I didn't notice these cuts before, even though I'd inspected the piece closely prior to purchase. I've got a couple of the lines. Not a big deal to me, given the gun's performance, purely cosmetic. Even some full-blown flame cutting on a couple of my K-frame Smiths never got worse and has no affect on performance.

And now I'm seeing these Colts show up in the local shops finally, all at full MSRP. Hmm.
zzzcoltcuts.jpg
 
The threads on the top strap shouldn’t be too concerning. I’ve seen them on Rugers all the time. Just from threading the frame.
 
I like what I'm hearing about this new Colt. A Det Spcl sized .357 beefed up in the right places to handle the hotter stuff would pair so well with my 3" Det Spcl.

Thanks for the review.
 
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