gripper, in reality, the King Cobra's pawl ( hand ) , employs a leaf spring . I traded for a NIB KC many moons ago and this spring went bad after less than 100 rounds. A new spring from Colt went sour soon later. When bad, it caused timing problems . Needless to say, I changed platforms. I really hated it doing that because I really liked the looks, feel, and shooting results it gave. In talking to other KC owners from then to now, there are many others who experienced the same problem, while many other owners never had an issue ( or at least were unaware of it ) . McNightmare, I wish you the very best of luck with yours.