New Colt King Cobra

[FrankB]

My King Cobra is is at Colt having a new hammer installed. The tip of the hammer spur broke, probably because of a slight drop onto carpet. They’ve had it for two weeks, and told me it will be another 10-14 days before I see it. It’s a nice revolver, and my wife absolutely loves it. She’s not a big revolver person, mostly because she’s a mag dumper. My specimen was finished very nicely, and much better than earlier examples I’ve seen.

This holster is nearly perfect: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0823L43BD...roduct_details

@CZ Man HKS 10-A speed loaders work perfectly with the factory stocks.

[gtmtnbiker98]

'DS' loaders from HKS will work as well. I'm on my second King Cobra, foolishly trading the first one. Couldn't buy the second one fast enough after that trade. One of my favorite handguns.

[Zeke38]

CZ Man, I have a Night Cobra and just purchased a King Cobra 3" Monday. Holsters that I found that works for the KC is a "Simply Rugged" pancake that was for a 3" SP101. However other 3" holsters for the SP and the Kimber K6s do not fit as they are boned to the individual weapons and the trigger guard on the KC defies the holster designs for tight fitting rigs for other makes.

I'm using an old "Lobo Gunleather" 1st generation pancake for a 3" K frame and it fits very nicely. The old "Lobo" rig is not tightly boned to the outline of the K frame.

Speedloaders that I am using are the HKS DS series that I have available for the Night Cobra. Was able to shoot a few rounds of 38-357 in a impromptu shooting and the KC seemed to prefer the 125 Mags. These are midrange 357s at 1108 fps out of my Kimber K6s 3".

Will keep you posted, lousy weather keeps a photo op at bay.

[CZ Man]

This holster is nearly perfect: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0823L43BD...roduct_details

@CZ Man HKS 10-A speed loaders work perfectly with the factory stocks.

That's good to hear!

I already have plenty of HKS 10-A loaders. Nice to know I won't need to stock up on another type.

[CZ Man]

Anyone have recommendations on an AIWB holster?

[Zeke38]

I'm using a Kramer IWB for a Ruger SP 3" and fits awfully close and securely. Good draw stroke and excellent concealment.

[Salamander]

I took the King Cobra to the range today, mostly this was about testing various different reloads but I've started shooting this revolver more in 2021 and am liking it more and more. So here's an update.

Mine was an early example, picked up in August 2019. It had two of the early reported minor issues, both were really easy fixes. The sideplate was ever so slightly out of alignment; it turned out this isn't a poor fit issue, it's a tightening screws too quickly at the factory issue. I loosened the screws... actually took them out, put a dab of blue locktite on each, and put them back; then pressed up on the sideplate with one finger while while tightening down the screws. Done that way, the fit is flawless.

The other issue was the infamous knurled rod. At first mine was fine. Maybe 100 rounds in, it started to stick when punching out the empty casings. Three minutes, literally, with a small file taking the points off the back half of the knurling, and it's been perfect ever since.

There's been so much whining on the internet about those two things, and most of those folks spent more time typing their complaints than it took me to fix both of them (and the knurled rod was allegedly fixed on later manufactured examples, although I haven't checked).

I now have about 450 rounds through the revolver, 164 of those today. Except for one raised primer, which is certainly not Colt's fault, it's run flawlessly. The lockup is solid. One of the more impressive things is that POI = very close to POA for almost every load I've tried, including 38 special from 125 JHP through 148 HBWC and 158 LSWC; 357 magnum from mild to wild; and today, some 38 Short Colt loaded to 9mm standard pressure levels.

One note about the magnums: At the high end, I launched some 165gr Cutting Edge Solids over H-110, and the recoil felt surprisingly manageable, soaked up well by the rubber grips. That's deceptive, now a few hours later I can feel it in my wrist. Be careful with heavy loads, I only shot 18 of them and sure wouldn't want to do 50. It's still a 28 oz revolver. Those will get loaded when in bear country, and hopefully will never need to be fired again now that they've been tested.

I'm about one range trip away from being comfortable carrying this little gem, and it's probably going to become my standard for longer backcountry hikes on rugged terrain where weight matters. It conceals nicely in a Simply Rugged pancake holster, and HKS DS speedloaders load more smoothly than HKS 10s.

I've purchased four new or almost new revolvers over the past 5-10 years (and a number of older ones). Both S&W's needed a fair bit of work out of the box (see the current thread on the M&P 340, mine isn't quite as bad as his, but it does have some of the same issues plus a couple different ones). Rugers just don't work for me, they just don't fit my hands, and both recent ones needed trigger work. One is already gone, the other is going soon. This Colt is the only new revolver I've purchased in a long time that needed absolutely no major work out of the box, just the few minutes of minor touch up mentioned above. Fit and finish is good, none of the hack jobs that are characteristic of certain other brands of new revolvers. The trigger is excellent, I need to go back to 1970s-vintage S&W to find triggers I like as much. No internal lock. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the sights, wish they were just a little higher profile. I can shoot it as accurately as my compact semiautos out to about 15 yards, if not quite as quickly; beyond that the sights become a limitation at least for older eyes. At 25 yards I was able to stay on an eight-inch plate with all loads today but it took more effort than it should.

[CZ Man]

Took out my new King Cobra for the first time this weekend and put about 125 rounds through it to break it in.

Shot to POA with several brands of 130gr 38 Spl FMJ, Rem 125 gr +P 38 Spl SJHP, as well as with 357 Buffalo Bore short barrel low recoil low flash 125 gr JHP's. The Critical Defense 357 FTX and Remington 357 125 gr SJHP's were fairly close as well. The Blazer 158 gr loads were hitting high at 25 yards.

I also put a few rounds through a couple of Clear Ballistic Gel block to get a rough idea with some of the defensive loads, and was pleased to see the mild recoiling Buffalo Bore expanded well and penetrated deeply.

Overall I like it. The trigger is great, the factory grip fit my hands well, the HKS 10A speed loaders seemed to work just fine for me too. I've still got to get a holster for this, but it may become my companion for hikes where 4 legged critters are a concern.

So far none of the issues I've heard of from the early models have shown up. I'll need to put a few more rounds through this, but my first impression is that Colt came out with a real winner here.

[FrankB]

My wife decided that she needs her own King Cobra, so we’re expecting another one to be delivered to Sportsman’s Warehouse on December 7. The light trigger, along with the smaller size, had her monopolizing mine last week at the range. I’ve set aside my 686+ revolvers after buying the King Cobra.

[Duelist]

I coon-fingered and dry fired a new King Cobra at the revolver round up. Very nice! I could see me getting one someday.