Colt Cobra

[NickA]

I went to visit my FFL buddy and he has a nickel plated Colt Cobra and some pimptastic gold plated 1911 parts out on his bench. Turns out a customer had him send the gun and parts off to be refinished, never came back for them and come to find out he’s passed away. The Cobra is the old style with unshrouded ejector rod; it has some pitting on one side of the barrel (under the nickel plate) and the nickel plating isn’t the greatest. Also the finish guy somehow missed the cylinder crane and cylinder latch so they’re still blue. Other than that it’s mechanically fine. My buddy offered it to me for a stupid low price and I’ve got it on loan to test it out. I’ve got a 642 so I don’t NEED it, but it would be a cool second snubby and an interesting companion for my Python.
So a few questions- anyone else own/carry a Cobra or Detective Special?
Recommend any good grips? For some reason I’m thinking grips are harder to find for the old style Colts.
What would you do about the finish? I’m not crazy about nickel and since it’s not original I’m guessing any collector value is shot anyway. I could live with it but mainly hate to have the two mismatched parts.

[Tom Givens]

There were 2 generations of Cobra's prior to the 1973 revamp with the shrouded ejector rod.

First generation Cobra's have a full length grip frame. Better stocks are very hard to find for them.

Second generation guns are the most common, and have the same grip frame as the post-1973 guns. There are many options for them. My suggestion is Secret Service stocks from Eagle Grips. They are great for double-action shooting but are still compact for concealment.

Nickel plate can be removed, but it will leave the parts slightly under-sized. You could have it stripped and re-nickeled, but it won't be stupid cheap any more.

[SecondsCount]

My wife has a Detective Special that as you can see by the picture has been pimped a little with the grips and plated trigger and hammer. She doesn't carry it since she started carrying a 1911 and wants me to sell it but I find it to be a cool little gun and take it out once in a while, just for fun.

http://home.comcast.net/~bdkirk11/guns/colt38small.jpg

[Tom Givens]

SecondsCount- That's a neat old gun. A little trivia, in case you don't know:

That is a first generation Detective Special. Note the long grip frame, the narrow front sight, and slightly shorter ejector rod. The 2nd generation guns (Dick Specials and Cobras) have wider, more visible front sights, a longer ejector rod, and the short grip frame. That dates this gun's build time to prior to about 1955.

Back when this gun was built, the gold plated trigger and hammer were not done to pimp the gun. The gold plating was smoother than the underlying steel, and was a quick fix action job for better double-action shooting.

[WDW]

I used to own a 2nd gen Cobra. I sold it and regret it. Anyhow, the pachmyr grips for it are pretty decent and make it a little more concealable and give it a little more textured grip.

[JHC]

FWIW, I've owned three Detective Specials. Two bought new, one used. One of the new and the used one went out of time within about 1000-1500 rounds of DA dry fire and live fire. The other new I carried but shot sparingly. They all had wonderful smooth actions. These D frames shared lockwork.

[Tamara]

I'll second the Eagles if it's a short-frame.

It's been so long since I've owned a Colt revolver that when a friend handed me a Police Positive he was considering purchasing and asked what I thought about the timing, I put the fingertips of my off-hand against the cylinder to apply drag as I started to slowly thumb the hammer back... and literally jumped and got a startled look on my face when the cylinder started turning in the wrong direction. For some reason my friend found this highly amusing.

[SecondsCount]

SecondsCount- That's a neat old gun. A little trivia, in case you don't know:

That is a first generation Detective Special. Note the long grip frame, the narrow front sight, and slightly shorter ejector rod. The 2nd generation guns (Dick Specials and Cobras) have wider, more visible front sights, a longer ejector rod, and the short grip frame. That dates this gun's build time to prior to about 1955.

Back when this gun was built, the gold plated trigger and hammer were not done to pimp the gun. The gold plating was smoother than the underlying steel, and was a quick fix action job for better double-action shooting.

Thanks Tom for the information. For what we have in the gun we will hold on to it. Once in a while her lady friends will want to try a revolver and she will bring it to the range for them to shoot.

[NickA]

thanks everyone, interesting stuff. From the serial # and the sights looks like this one is '66 or so and short frame.
I'm liking the Eagle grips,they would give it a cool new / old look as well as being very functional.
Mr. Givens- thanks for the info, esp. on the refinishing. I'd love to have the Colt royal blue on it but that ain't happening.
Tamara- thanks for chiming in, and love your blog even though it makes me look up words and stuff:o
It'll likely be months before my buddy remembers to ask me if i want to keep this thing so i've got time to think about it, but if it shoots good I'll likely keep it.

[NickA]

Ah, one other question- with a little effort it will fit into my j-frame holster but looks like it would stretch it out eventually. Would a holster for the Colt work ok with a j-frame or are they just not compatible?

[TCinVA]

A Colt Cobra in good shape at a low price from someone who is looking to just be rid of it ASAP is something I'd jump at. I have something of a fetish for collecting good revolvers. I have a nickel plated S&W model 27 in beautiful condition. I've never even fired the revolver...but it sure is pretty.

[Tamara]

Ah, one other question- with a little effort it will fit into my j-frame holster but looks like it would stretch it out eventually. Would a holster for the Colt work ok with a j-frame or are they just not compatible?

A lot of mass-market leather holsters (Galco/Bianchi/DeSantis) are advertised as fitting both (Colt D-frames and Smith I/J-frames.)

If it's a really tightly molded leather holster that relies on tension around the cylinder to retain your heater, then I could see where it might get a little sloppy with a J after a lot of use with the Cobra.


Tamara- thanks for chiming in, and love your blog...

Thanks! :)

[NickA]

Update- and it ain't good. Fired the Cobra at the end of a range session Saturday. After about the 3rd shot I noticed something fluttering past my eyes, thought it was stray paper from the target or a leaf or something, turns out it was nickel plating. When I lowered the gun I first noticed the specks of blood on my hands, then the peeled back plating on the cylinder. Doesn't look like it's exposed metal underneath, more like another layer of nickel. Ammo was factory 130gr WWB so i don't think that's the issue.
I guess it has to be shaving bullets on the forcing cone? Or if the finish is just bad would this happen? I know my buddy ran a cylinder through it and thought it was fine, and it's not out of time that i can tell (but I'm certainly no expert). Anyway I'll get it back to him and figure out what's up.
On the bright side it shoots well, accurate, and should be cheaper now that the finish is jacked up:cool:

[Tom Givens]

It is not that uncommon for old electroplated nickel to blow off the cylinder of a revolver. Gas enters a crack in the finish and burrows underneath the nickel, lifting it off.

[Tamara]

To add to what Tom said, from what I understand, nickeled Colt revos in the late '60s through much of the '70s were electroplated (rather than the more common electroless process used these days) using a pretty thick copper base. While this gave a warm, smooth nickel finish, it was a little fragile, and would flake pretty easily.

Also, the archaic lockwork is more susceptible to going out of time, at least in my experience. When you were firing it, were you shooting with slow DA trigger pulls or gently thumb-cocking the piece, either of which could cause it to not carry up all the way?

[NickA]

Sorry, just got back to this.
Tom-this is not the original finish; it was originally blue. My friend was not surprised it has problems, apparently the refinisher was not the best (and not his choice)
Tamara- IIRC I shot 3 each way. My buddy is a good gunsmith and test fired it also (before I did). He's certain eveything is mechanically fine but I'll definitely have him go over it again.
On the bright side he basically doesn't care if he ever sees it again; fixing the finish and selling it would be almost a wash moneywise, and he's got no $ in it. So it's mine if I want it.
Cheapest fix would be to re-nickle the cylinder only, but i'd love to do something different. Maybe a brushed nickle, hard chrome or even reblue (just not a fan of shiny nickle). Anyone recommend a good refinishing outfit? Colt won't do anything but the cylinder, they don't mess with pulling barrels on alloy frames anymore.

[Al T.]

Nick, I've been pleased with the hard chrome finishes I've gotten from Bob Cogan at Accurate Plating.


http://www.apwcogan.com/

[NickA]

Thanks Al, that name keeps coming up and I'll definitely check them out.

[Tamara]

Last time I was visiting down at Coal Creek Armory, some guy had sent in a Model 28 to get Melonited.

I felt kinda dirty for liking the idea as much as I did.

[NickA]

I felt kinda dirty for liking the idea as much as I did.
I know, huh? I really want to do something you never would have seen from the factory back in the 60's when this one was made- matte nickle, hard chrome, black nickle, Roguard etc.

[Tamara]

Seriously.

I have a 3.5" Model 27-2. Absolutely the coolest carry revolver S&W made, in my opinion. And I'll likely never shoot the thing because it's probably unfired and, worse, it has that beautiful inky-black pre-Bangor Punta bluing... I'd be just sick if that thing got a rusty fingerprint on it. :(

So I want to find one just like it, but a little uglier, get it Melonited, and shoot the snot out of it. :D