New king cobra

[Eddietruett]

What disappointed you about the Cobra?

I've owned a total of 5. First 2 I was able to get early and flipped them to people that were willing to pay way more than retail. I was able to get 2 more after the prices leveled off and decided I would keep them. One was a nice gun to shoot. Decent action and I really can't say anything bad about it, just was nothing special. I really think I had set my expectations too high since I've owned a fair amount of Colts through the years and probably expected a smoother action. There was really nothing wrong with the gun. Pretty much no better or worse than most of today's revolvers. The 2nd one of that pair had one of the worst actions I've ever seen on a revolver. Very heavy DA pull and it almost felt gritty like some of the internal parts may have had rough spots. SA pull while heavier than normal, was nice and crisp. Probably could have been taken apart and smoothed up or would have probably gotten smoother just from use, but I didn't like it at all, so it got flipped and I kept the nicer one. Again, I can't really fault the gun and say anything bad about it, and my disappointment was probably from having too high of expectations up front. With all of the rave about the "New Cobra", I probably was expecting a buttery smooth Python action. I still have the best one of the pair but I hardly ever shoot it. The 5th one I bought recently from a dealer wanting to get rid of some inventory. Charged me $525 OTD and said it was his cost. I thought about just putting it up and hoping the value might go up down the road, but a trade opportunity came along and new one now had a new owner. Since I am a 3" nutcase, I'll probably wind up with one of the new ones and I do have one of the best gunsmiths in the country right down the road who can tune it anyway I want it if its not like I want out of the box.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

3" Night Cobra... mmmm that would be sweet.

 

[10mm Mike]

I've owned a total of 5. First 2 I was able to get early and flipped them to people that were willing to pay way more than retail. I was able to get 2 more after the prices leveled off and decided I would keep them. One was a nice gun to shoot. Decent action and I really can't say anything bad about it, just was nothing special. I really think I had set my expectations too high since I've owned a fair amount of Colts through the years and probably expected a smoother action. There was really nothing wrong with the gun. Pretty much no better or worse than most of today's revolvers. The 2nd one of that pair had one of the worst actions I've ever seen on a revolver. Very heavy DA pull and it almost felt gritty like some of the internal parts may have had rough spots. SA pull while heavier than normal, was nice and crisp. Probably could have been taken apart and smoothed up or would have probably gotten smoother just from use, but I didn't like it at all, so it got flipped and I kept the nicer one. Again, I can't really fault the gun and say anything bad about it, and my disappointment was probably from having too high of expectations up front. With all of the rave about the "New Cobra", I probably was expecting a buttery smooth Python action. I still have the best one of the pair but I hardly ever shoot it. The 5th one I bought recently from a dealer wanting to get rid of some inventory. Charged me $525 OTD and said it was his cost. I thought about just putting it up and hoping the value might go up down the road, but a trade opportunity came along and new one now had a new owner. Since I am a 3" nutcase, I'll probably wind up with one of the new ones and I do have one of the best gunsmiths in the country right down the road who can tune it anyway I want it if its not like I want out of the box.

Oh wow 5 of them! Thanks for the run down. I was worried there might be something wrong with them, or if they were hit or miss like Taurus revolvers. I'm not big on Colt or 38 special revolvers in general so I didn't care much when they reintroduced the Cobra. But, like you I am a sucker for 3" revolvers and got pretty excited when I first saw the new King Cobra and how it was configured. Especially since it seems to be fairly beefy for a compact revolver, weighing about the same as a 3" SP-101. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting too excited only to find that this new line of revolvers isn't very good or already had a reputation for needing to be sent back to the factory for repair.

Madcap - I agree, a 3" Night King Cobra (or King Night Cobra?) would be sweet (minus the bobbed hammer).

 

[Eddietruett]

Oh wow 5 of them! Thanks for the run down. I was worried there might be something wrong with them, or if they were hit or miss like Taurus revolvers. I'm not big on Colt or 38 special revolvers in general so I didn't care much when they reintroduced the Cobra. But, like you I am a sucker for 3" revolvers and got pretty excited when I first saw the new King Cobra and how it was configured. Especially since it seems to be fairly beefy for a compact revolver, weighing about the same as a 3" SP-101. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting too excited only to find that this new line of revolvers isn't very good or already had a reputation for needing to be sent back to the factory for repair.

Madcap - I agree, a 3" Night King Cobra (or King Night Cobra?) would be sweet (minus the bobbed hammer).

No, Sorry if I scared you. I think of the 2 I shot, I just happened to get a bad one and maybe it would work the rough finish out. I probably at some time will pick up a 3 inch, but my main lookout right now is the new 3 inch Kimber with the true hammer. I hate hammerless guns and absolutely love my KS6. The way the action is designed you can basically shot it single action. As far as the Colt, right now before I would spend $800-900 dollars on one, I would buy another Model 65 or 13 in 3 inch.

 

[4thHorseman]

I bought a king cobra a few weeks ago at a gun show.
I believe the revolver is fantastic in action and accuracy. Super accurate. It handles full load 357 magnums very well. It shoots 38’s as if they we 22’s.
Feels great in my hand and the fit of the parts is exceptional to me.
The trigger pull is non stacking and is smooth and easy. It still retains the Colt trigger return tendency to be bit weak however.
It is much better than the Magnum Carry of past years.
The trigger is lengthened as well as the guard to prevent the “knuckle crunch effect” from firing the full load 357’s. It does not sting to fire the full load 357.
It does have the weight or size of the K frame Smith’s.
No sharp edges on it to leave a bloody mess either.
For me, it is a great gun.
To me, Colt really spent the time and effort to make a revolver right.

 

[5-SHOTS]

https://www.colt.com/detail-page/king-cobra-357 Has anybody seen these a 3in 357 I want one couldn’t justify the cobra owning a detective special and a agent already. But this has my interest put me on the list

View attachment 823379

Doesn't look too bad to me at all... A nice pair of Altamont or other quality wood grips, and it should clean up nice IMHO...

It seems to be built like a tank.

 

[Eddietruett]

I bought a king cobra a few weeks ago at a gun show.
I believe the revolver is fantastic in action and accuracy. Super accurate. It handles full load 357 magnums very well. It shoots 38’s as if they we 22’s.
Feels great in my hand and the fit of the parts is exceptional to me.
The trigger pull is non stacking and is smooth and easy. It still retains the Colt trigger return tendency to be bit weak however.
It is much better than the Magnum Carry of past years.
The trigger is lengthened as well as the guard to prevent the “knuckle crunch effect” from firing the full load 357’s. It does not sting to fire the full load 357.
It does have the weight or size of the K frame Smith’s.
No sharp edges on it to leave a bloody mess either.
For me, it is a great gun.
To me, Colt really spent the time and effort to make a revolver right.

I'm super glad to hear the great report. No one loves a 3" barrel revolver more than me, and since I was sort of disappointed in the Cobra, I had my doubts about the King Cobra and should not have without giving it a chance. In all honestly, the Cobra isn't bad, I just had my expectations set too high. I wanted a new stainless gun fitted and smooth like the hand fitted Python of the 50's and 60's and that wasn't going to happen with a $500-600 gun. As soon as the over eager buyers get theirs and the price falls to a reasonable lever, I'll probably wind up with a King.
Thanks for the report

 

[10mm Mike]

I'm super glad to hear the great report. No one loves a 3" barrel revolver more than me, and since I was sort of disappointed in the Cobra, I had my doubts about the King Cobra and should not have without giving it a chance. In all honestly, the Cobra isn't bad, I just had my expectations set too high. I wanted a new stainless gun fitted and smooth like the hand fitted Python of the 50's and 60's and that wasn't going to happen with a $500-600 gun. As soon as the over eager buyers get theirs and the price falls to a reasonable lever, I'll probably wind up with a King.
Thanks for the report

CDNN auctioned one off this weekend on Gun Broker. I believe it went for $1075. I'm really excited for this revolver as well, but I'm not going to pay OVER MSRP like that to get one.

I bought a king cobra a few weeks ago at a gun show.
I believe the revolver is fantastic in action and accuracy. Super accurate. It handles full load 357 magnums very well. It shoots 38’s as if they we 22’s.
Feels great in my hand and the fit of the parts is exceptional to me.
The trigger pull is non stacking and is smooth and easy. It still retains the Colt trigger return tendency to be bit weak however.
It is much better than the Magnum Carry of past years.
The trigger is lengthened as well as the guard to prevent the “knuckle crunch effect” from firing the full load 357’s. It does not sting to fire the full load 357.
It does have the weight or size of the K frame Smith’s.
No sharp edges on it to leave a bloody mess either.
For me, it is a great gun.
To me, Colt really spent the time and effort to make a revolver right.

Is it larger than an SP101? From the pictures that I've seen and based on the weight, it seemed to be pretty close to a 3" SP101

 

[Eddietruett]

CDNN auctioned one off this weekend on Gun Broker. I believe it went for $1075. I'm really excited for this revolver as well, but I'm not going to pay OVER MSRP like that to get one.

I'm sure just like the Cobra the price will drop fast once they hit the market place. I don't think there will be the way over MSRP buyers like the Cobra. I think people went crazy over the Cobra because it had been so long since Colt was in the Revolver Market. Now that they are back in, the excitement won't be nearly as great plus I'm sure a lot of people learned an expensive lesson by paying so much and now the prices have dropped so low. I'm sure a lot of people that bought the Cobra initially stuck them in the safe unfired with "Python" on their mind and I don't see the Cobra ever going up in value like the Python did. The Cobra is just another snub nose revolver, not a top end quality gun like the Python. I'm sure at some time I will end up with a King Cobra just because I can resist a 3" revolver, but my first priority is to get one of the new Kimber DASA with the 3" barrel and a hammer. But like you, I will not pay over MSRP and since I don't see a waiting list on the Kimber like there was on the Cobra, I'll probably convince my buddy that owns a Gun Shop to order me one at cost plus a few bucks for his trouble. As Nice as the Kimber Revolvers are, they are not a stock item at many Gun Shops I go in. They have the name recognition on their autos but not so much on their revolvers

 

[10mm Mike]

I got an email this evening from Sportsmans Outdoor Superstore and in the fine print they mention that they have some new Colt King Cobras. Unfortunately I didn't check my email until a few hours after they sent it, and when I did they were already sold out. They were selling them right at MSRP, $899

https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com/products2.cfm/ID/215985

 

[If1HitU]

Nice link thanks for sharing,it's a higher priced for me right now.

 

[Styx]

Nice link thanks for sharing,it's a higher priced for me right now.

Me too, but it'll probably will be a year before the price comes down into the mid $700s. I'll wait until then or not al all.

 

[Ks5shooter]

I have an original with 6 in barrel,bright stainless finish. Might sell it and buy the new one to shoot,I like a 3in barrel.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Ain't no way I would sell an original bright finish 6" to finance a new one. I'd eat beans for 6 months to come up with the money first.

 

[Joshua M.]

I have 2 more in my shop at $850/ plus tax, and shipping, unless your out of NW Ohio

 

[10mm Mike]

I have 2 more in my shop at $850/ plus tax, and shipping, unless your out of NW Ohio

What do you charge for shipping?

 

[fordtrucks]

Not interested in colt based on some other people’s experience with customer service. Too bad. Have a cobra and like it, just not sure I can trust the company behind it.