Colt Night Cobra American Rifleman Review

[Jared]

Please do post the results!

I made it to the range for some Snubby shooting this morning. I took 4. A Smith 442, a Colt Night Cobra, a Ruger 357 LCR, and a Ruger SP101 Wiley Clapp. I know I originally said I was going to use 148gr Wadcutters, but I ended up using Federal 158gr LRN because I was much better stocked with that ammo. All guns were stock with two minor exceptions. The SP101 has Pachmayr Compac grips, and the LCR has a front sight painted with Testors paint.

If you want to skip to the end, the best scores were turned in with the 357 LCR. The others each suffered one idiosyncrasy or another that hurt their performance noticeably.

The two tests were the HiTS Snubby Super Test and a drill that I cannot remember where I got it from called the Snub 150. The Snub 150 is 5 shots WHO at 3 yards, 5 shots SHO at 5 yards, 5 shots freestyle at 10 yards. The snub 150 was scored on the rings of a B8 bull, as was the HiTS Snubby Super Test.

The way I shot this was simple. Each gun was shot on the Snub 150 then a run of the HiTS Snub Super Test. After each one had been run through, I did a second run of the HiTS Super Test for each one.

A Final note before the scores are posted. I’ve been ridiculously busy the last while and hadn’t fired a live round in 6 months. I’ve barely done any dry fire in that time either. Simply put, the scores I’m about to post are not very good and I’m ware of that. Without further delay, here are the results

Colt Night Cobra
Snub 150: 142
HiTS run 1: 128
HiTS run 2: 128

Ruger 357 LCR
Snub 150: 141
HiTS run 1: 143
HiTS run2: 138

Smith 442
Snub 150: 135
Hits Run 1: 137
HiTS run 2: 128

Sp101WC
Snub 150: 122
HiTS run 1: 126
HiTS run 2: 128

So, as you can see, the only gun that gave me two passing runs on the HiTS Snub Super Test and a somewhat decent score on the Snub 150 was the 357 LCR. I found the 442’s trigger to be problematic. I’ve had this gun quite a while. I have shot it much better than this before, when I was practicing much more regularly. The J frames punish me severely for getting out of practice.

The Night Cobra’s sight hurt it. You see, to level off the tops of the front sight/rear gutter, you lose a bit of the bottom of the white ring around the tritium vial. When I shot the Snub 150, I could bury that sight and manage. However, with time pressure, I ended up seeing the whole ring, which sent shots high. This could easily be corrected with practice. I’m just so used to driving the dot with Beretta auto’s that burying the bottom of the dot was more than I could manage in a single range session.

The WC SP101 is a favorite of mine. It is extremely comfortable to shoot, much more so than the other snubs I shot today. However, it shoots about 5” high with this ammo. I haven’t previously had this issue with this gun. However, I’ve previously used lighter weight ammo in it. Had I had ammo that was hitting closer to POA, This gun may well have turned in the best runs of the day. The overall size of the groups was very good with this one, they were just too damn high.

[sharps54]

Thanks for posting! Have you found any loads that let you “drive the dot” with the Night Cobra or is that particular front / rear combination just poorly executed all together?

[Jared]

Thanks for posting! Have you found any loads that let you “drive the dot” with the Night Cobra or is that particular front / rear combination just poorly executed all together?

This was my first time shooting the Night Cobra, as I've had it about a month. I need to try some of the 125 grn stuff, or the 130 ish grain +P. The Wiley Clapp SP101 has previously given me good results with lighter ammo.

I wish the Nigh Cobra had a deeper trough rear sight to make seeing the whole dot easier when the tops are all lined up. One final Night Cobra note: the factory grips suck. They're G10 with no real texture. Shooting this thing one handed is about like wrestling a greased.......snake. it squirms around more than I'd like. VZ makes grips for these with better texture and they're on my list.

[sharps54]

This was my first time shooting the Night Cobra, as I've had it about a month. I need to try some of the 125 grn stuff, or the 130 ish grain +P. The Wiley Clapp SP101 has previously given me good results with lighter ammo.

I wish the Nigh Cobra had a deeper trough rear sight to make seeing the whole dot easier when the tops are all lined up. One final Night Cobra note: the factory grips suck. They're G10 with no real texture. Shooting this thing one handed is about like wrestling a greased.......snake. it squirms around more than I'd like. VZ makes grips for these with better texture and they're on my list.

I look forward to hearing the results. I have been considering one, or many the new .357, but it sounds like it will take some work to get it ready for prime time. I can’t imagine having to train myself to just see part of the dot for one handgun and I’m not sure how economical it would be to fix that issue.

[Tokarev]

One final Night Cobra note: the factory grips suck. They're G10 with no real texture. Shooting this thing one handed is about like wrestling a greased.......snake. it squirms around more than I'd like. VZ makes grips for these with better texture and they're on my list.

As noted above in the NRA review.


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[Jared]

As noted above in the NRA review.


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I actually didn't read the NRA review before. After you posted that, I went and read it and they did say the exact same thing I did.

[Tokarev]

I actually didn't read the NRA review before. After you posted that, I went and read it and they did say the exact same thing I did.

Maybe Colt will take notice....

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[sharps54]

Maybe Colt will take notice....

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It would be nice. All I want for them to take their base revolver in .357 and copy the features of the Ruger Wiley Clapp models. I’d love a light weight version as well but I’ll settle for the current weight if I get decent sights and grips.

[Jared]

It would be nice. All I want for them to take their base revolver in .357 and copy the features of the Ruger Wiley Clapp models. I’d love a light weight version as well but I’ll settle for the current weight if I get decent sights and grips.

Oh man, if the Night Cobra had the SP 101 Wiley Clapp sights it'd be great. Add those sights and a better set of the VZ grips and you've really got something. Take note that I got my best Snub 150 score with the Colt. It has a very usable trigger. It weighs enough that shooting it isn't painful. It's got the sixth shot.

That's kind of the aggravating thing about the Night Cobra is that for the cost, it shouldn't be a "missed it by that much" proposition, but it is. I like the thing, I really do. I just think it's about two tweaks away from being awesome instead of pretty good.

[sharps54]

We’ll see how the reviews are on the new King Cobra but I’ll either go with it or the standard Cobra where I won’t feel so bad replacing the front sight if needed.