Colt King Cobra 4 in. Stainless Steel

[jed]

I recently purchased one of these. Sorry no photos to provide.

I am looking for information on how this 357 magnum differs from other
Colt offerings such as the Trooper MK III.

In looking around, I see that the same grips fit the King Cobra and the
Anaconda. Could it be that the frames and lock work or similar??

 

[dfariswheel]

The Colt progression was:
The Colt Trooper Mark III, the "J" frame.
The Colt Trooper Mark V, the "V" frame.
The King Cobra, the "AA" frame.
The Anaconda.

These four guns are the same basic design, with the first three being relatively minor modified versions of each other.

The Aanaconda is just an enlarged version of the first three.
Many parts will interchange.

The big difference here was the difference between the Trooper III and the Trooper V.
The Trooper III used a sintered steel hammer and trigger, a square butt, and had a standard "long action".

The Trooper V used a cast steel hammer and trigger, a redesigned lock work using Colt's first "short action", used a longer mainspring with a different location for the spring's mounting plate, and altered the Mark III's square butt to a rounded butt design, covered by the grips.

The King Cobra is nothing but the Trooper V action with a new design barrel. Everything else is the same.
For some reason Colt gave the King Cobra a new frame designation, the "AA" frame.

The Anaconda is just the Trooper Mark V/King Cobra, enlarged.
Some action parts will interchange, but basically the Anaconda is a King Cobra with a bigger frame, cylinder, and some internals.
The grip size is the same on all three guns.

Trooper Mark V, King Cobra, and Anaconda grips will interchange.

Mark III grips fit ONLY the Mark III guns.

 

[jed]

Thank you. That was an excellent post.

I knew you would know.

Jim

 

[Marshall]

You should love your King Cobra, I love mine, one of my favorite revolvers.

 

[jed]

Marshall

I bought a used looked like it had never been fired Trooper III for an
almost unbelievable price about a year ago. I like this gun immensely.

The King Cobra happened to appear at the same shop. I wasted no time in buying it although the price was a touch high. The shop has an indoor range and gives range time as part of the deal. Also they have a gunsmith backing up their guns. This justifies the higher price.

I took the gun to the range immediately and liked the grip and general feel of this gun. However, The ejector rod kept working itself loose. The gunsmith immediately corrected that. The next day I went back and shot again to confirm that the rod was fixed. This gun is easily one of the very best shooting 357 magnums that I have owned. I suppose a Python is better.

A few weeks ago there was a stainless 4 inch Python there and it was priced pretty close to right but still $150.00 more than the King Cobra.

I like the King Cobra feel somewhat better than the Python. The Python was sold within a 10 day period. This shop somehow manages to get more excellent used Colt pistols than any store I have ever shopped.

 

[GrandmasterB]

Long vs short action?

So which trigger feels better? The Trooper III or the King Cobra? Is one noticably lighter or smoother than the other?

 

[jed]

The King Cobra has the better trigger when compared to the Trooper MK III.

However, either gun feels as smooth or smoother than most of the SW triggers straight from the factory.

Actually comparing the two is like comparing very good to excellent.

I no longer have any SW 357 magnum hand guns.

As always, others may experience different results than I have experienced.

 

[jed]

I failed to mention that I have SW in 44 magnum and 45 Colt which have
extremely good triggers.

I have a 625 which I had some trigger work done by a local smith.
It does not match the triggers of the 629 Classic or the 25-5 Colt.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Thanks, dfariswheel! I knew some of that, but hadn't ever seen all the facts pulled together so succinctly.

 

[dfariswheel]

Thanks Wolf.

The reason for the change of trigger action between the Trooper Mark III and the Trooper Mark V were complaints about the Mark III's trigger.

Most Colt shooters were used to the old Official Police/Python trigger, and didn't like the feel.

Colt changed the hammer/trigger assembly to Colt's first factory short action design, and changed the geometry of the mainspring to give a better feel.

The Trooper Mark V/King Cobra is nothing like the older Colt action, and doesn't "stack", nor is it like the S&W trigger.
Kind of an in between feel.

 

[Marshall]

jed,

I have to agree with your findings as well. A local shop has a Trooper III and it doesn't feel near as good as my King Cobra's trigger. Matter of fact, I don't think the Python's trigger is much better than the King Cobra's, at least from my feel.