Colt Cobra

Man did I find a gem today! Was at a local GS, not specifically looking to buy a firearm, just some lead bullets to reload my ,357. I was looking at some revolvers this guy had on a table, I spotted this Colt Cobra, .38 spl. 4" bbl, when I saw he wanted $550 for it, I about flipped. The owner let me look at it, even let me use his bore light, the bbl. is almost pristine, it needed cleaning, evidently shot and put away. We haggled a bit, he wouldn't tell me his lowest price for it, so I offered $400 OTD, hmmm, he'd think about it. I came back about 15 min. later, waved the 4 Franklin's in his face, he took it. The serial # is 710**, which I understand is about 1957, its the very light framed revolver, the grips are absolutely pristine, not one ding in them. One small wear spot on the LFT of the barrel, at the crown, holster wear. There isn't a drag line on the cylinder anywhere, after cleaning and applying some Gun Butter, the cylinder crane and the cylinder latch slide into place so smoothly, the SA trigger is also very, very smooth. I am anxious to get to the range with this, I know +P's are more than likely out of the question of shooting, don't want to hose up this great find!

Just thought I'd give a holler about this new to me find, any Colt guy's think this is a good deal?

You done good! I recently bought one myself,but in kinda rough condition. Hard to beat them 6 shot D frame Colts!!

Congratulations, sounds like you got a good deal. Got any pics?

Sidder,

I'll try to get some posted, not quite sure how, will work on it.

FM12,
This one isn't quite the finish of my Python, but I've been kind of looking around for another Colt, when I saw this one, like my wife, I snagged it ! Ha

Pics or it didn't happen :)

good find. my colt cobra is a beauty (ugly, but tight). i probably ruined its collector value by bobbing the hammer spur; i'm gonna 'ruin' it a bit more with a t-grip here soon, and a good rebluing after i get my hunting rifle situation sorted out. beautiful guns. i'll never sell.

+P is definitely out, aluminum frame, thin cylander walls, all that. mine shoots to poa at 25 yards with 158gr standard pressure loads. (mine's a snubby).

ENJOY!

A Colt Cobra is the only D-frame Colt I'm missing~! :( :uhoh:

I own three Colt Dick Specials [one pristine, 2" factory nickle], two
2"blued models, and a late 1972 (or very early 1973) Colt Agent. Enjoy-

A Colt Cobra is the only D-frame Colt I'm missing~!


Diamondback, police positive, Viper, agent, Magnum carry…

Guillermo,

You being the Colt guru, is shooting +P rounds in this model going to hurt it any? I've read years back the +P rounds of today are the same as the regular rounds, power wise, is this true? I'm not wanting to shoot +P+ rounds in this, just wondering if any rounds up to 900 fps are going to adversely affect this piece? I trust your knowledge in this regard, thanks in advance!

I thought a 4" Cobra was the Viper? Anyone know the difference?

Colt doesn't recommend any +P in pre-72 models. I don't shoot them out of mine.

788Ham,

In my opinion, 900 ft sec with a 125 grain projectile is a mild load.

Of course it is your gun and spare parts are more scarce than colt gunsmiths...YMMV

I consider "+P" to be a regular ammo

Colt doesn't recommend any +P in pre-72 models

that is right...Colt does not recommend shooting pre-1972 ammo out of a pre-72 revolver either.

So what does it say when they do not recommend the ammo the gun came with?

When your gun was made, the Colt catalogs did not recommend high-speed ammo in the cobra or agent. The high speed ammo back then appeared to be more stout than today's plus P. It was ok in the detective special and police positive special (steel frame). In the late seveties, Colts D frame owners manual stated the limited use of plus P in the cobra, agent and viper was allowed but after 1000 rounds the revolver should be returned for inspection. I have never seen Colt make a written recommendation to a pre-72 or post 72 d frame. My agent was made in 1962 and it has fired 30-40 rounds of plus P remington 110 grain JHP ammo with no known issues. I shoot it more often than that but with standard ammo.

regular ammo was the same pressure as the "+P" of today.

I picked one (a 22 Cobra) up a few months ago, but it was no $400. You did good.

Check this out!! This is my new favorite revolver!! :D

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=642131

Guillermo,

Thanks for the info on the ammo, I was hoping you'd come along and get in on this! I appreciate your knowledge and opinions. I bought some ammo today, 825 fps 135 gr., plus I am going to reload these when mty, but will stay in this area of fps, I've got an SP 101 .357 I can shoot the faster loads in, want to keep this Cobra functioning for a long time yet. Thanks guys for your input, 22-rimfire, hope you're as pleased with yours as I am with mine!

$400 bucks was a great price!!!

enjoy your "new" toy

I was looking thru a LGS awhile back and saw this with $350 on it!!! I thought to myself, "It must be shot all to pieces or the timing is bad for it to be priced that low."

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg40/finfanatic88/Guns/Colt-ds-right-small.jpg

But no, it was in very good shape, and still had good lock up and timing.

I offered $300, and got it OTD for $325 (IIRC - it was two years ago).

This is the most accurate snub I own.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg40/finfanatic88/Guns/Colt-ds-target2.jpg

That's at 7 yards as fast as I could pull the trigger and keep the front sight on the target.

So, you will occasionally stumble on a great deal on a Colt revolver.

I like the Detective Special. I purposely bought a shooter about a year ago. It is near perfert EXCEPT for a major storage mark on the bluing. Somehow, I never bought one before. Guess my eyes were always glued on Diamondbacks. My Cobra's are all 22's and are part of my Colt 22 collection.