Colt Cobra (pre-1971): drop safe?

There is a device the rebound lever that forces the hammer back out of contact with the primer. it's only deactivated when you pull the trigger all the way back to fire the revolver

One shouldn't make a practice of dropping their handgun.

Lots of DA revolvers have FP's on the nose of the hammer while still being drop-proof. I'm not a Colt expert, and would defer to Sarge, but it is NOT the case that FP-on-hammer=unsafe-to-carry-with-round-under-hammer.

Your revolver has a dedicated hammer block lever, that positively blocks the hammer (firing pin) from contacting the primer unless the trigger is pulled all the way (and held) to the back. It's safe to carry it with all chambers loaded.

Colt D Frames, including your Cobra, have Colt's Positive Hammer Block Safety. It dates to the early 20th Century and where the Colt Police Positive revolver gets its name.

That’s why Colt revolvers we’re preferred by the military in WW II but always in short supply. S&W had to modify the trigger and hammer on the Victory model.

During WWII, revolvers were nothing more than a stop-gap alternative in terms of production availability to the Model 1911 auto. By the time of, and well before, WWII, Smith & Wesson revolvers were every bit as "drop-safe" as Colt revolvers were-and are.

Regarding the last post, if S&W’s were drop safe, why did most of the Victory Model have to be modified? The cause was an incident where a sailor was killed when his Smith was dropped on its hammer. Read Pate’s book. Colts be “mo betta safe.” Also revolvers have a definite place for aircrew over the M1911.

Since 1905 all Colt revolvers were completely drop safe.
Colt's had TWO internal automatic safety features.

The first safety was the rebounding hammer system.
After firing and the trigger is allowed to move forward, the hammer is forced backward (rebounds) away from the primer and locked there.
The hammer cannot move forward again until the action is allowed to reset and the trigger pulled again.

In case the gun were dropped or the hammer struck and the rebound feature was broken or forced, Colt added a second "Positive" safety.
This is a steel bar connected to the trigger so that when the trigger is pulled it slides UP and clears the path of the hammer so it can strike the primer.
As soon as the trigger is released, the Positive safety slides DOWN in the frame and blocks the hammer so it can't move forward until the trigger is pulled again.

This safety can be seen just in front of the cocked hammer.
Until the trigger is released and the action resets the steel block prevents the hammer from moving forward.

This double automatic safety system insures that the only way the gun can fire is to deliberately pull the trigger.
This also renders the old excuse, "The gun just went off" invalid.