I am not at all surprised by this NEW KING COBRA. They had 90% of what they needed to produce already in production. KING COBRA is a great brand name and it differentiates the KING COBRA from the "lesser" COBRA, which is an expensive, heavy .38 Special. I had a 3 inch COLT SF-VI and sold it because it did not fit my needs. It was too big and heavy for pocket carry and I prefer a 4 inch barrel for holster carry. It was a much better gun to shoot +P ammo than a S&W J-frame or even my COLT Viper.
By the way, VIPER was already taken by a very nice alloy framed 4 inch .38 Special. Great to carry, but kicks hard with + P ammo.
RUGER did the same thing with the SP101. They brought it out in .38 Special and later on in .357 magnum. A 3 inch .357 magnum may sell well and in this market, RUGER is really the only competitor and it is a 5 shot. I don't count CHARTER ARMS as I rarely see their .357 magnums in gun stores and they probably cannot compete on the quality, finish area.
It is certainly a step up over a 2 inch .38 Special in stopping power. I would prefer a 4 inch, but many disagree. This is really a play for a larger part of the concealed carry market and if it holds up, it is not a bad attempt.
I would also ask, would this gun sell well to woman and small framed males who would like a powerful, compact revolver? One of the selling points of the original COBRA was that it was smaller than the S&W K-frame and thus easier to hold and shoot for smaller statured shooters. My wife once worked for the U.S. MARSHALLS and she had to qualify. She could not shoot a K-frame, but the J-frame and COLT Police Positive were fine for her.
The PYTHON will probably never make a comeback, except as a limited production, very high priced product like the Single Action Army which the COLT website is pricing at $1799.00. COLT would probably make all the PYTHONS you wanted, if you would be willing to pay $2000.00 a gun!
It was built on the old style of action, that was labor intensive to assemble and thus expensive. The original KING COBRA was meant to be a possible PYTHON replacement and a straight on competitor with the S&W 686 for the police market. That market no longer exists. The only other buyers would be collectors, revolver competition shooters and handgun hunters and they all seem to be going for larger calibers.
I would buy a "real" KING COBRA" if it was priced competitively with a S&W L-frame or RUGER GP-100 and was nicely made, but then RUGER will probably be cheaper and very strong, well made and I can get a really nice trigger with the CHAMPION MATCH. I could also buy a used S&W 586 and have it worked on for a reasonable fee. So the question is could COLT compete with those well oiled machines? Maybe, probably not.
So they are looking for markets without competition or at least minimum competition where they have something to offer without competition like a 6 shot .357 magnum, which makes sense.
Just my opinion,
Jim
