COBRA PATRIOT 9mm

[southernford]

Helllo Guys,

I'm new to this forum, but have been a gun owner/enthusiast/reloader and hunter for over 30 years now.

I'm an engineer but do a little gunsmithing on the side, particularly on my carry guns.

I just ordered Cobra Patriot 9mm that I'm going to try to do a little work on to make it more pocket friendly and ensure dependability. They are low budget pistols so I wont mind grinding and hacking on it so much. (although I do the same on my Glocks and Kahrs & it has gone very well.)

I've read some good recent reviews on their new Patriot series in .380 & 9mm. Does anyone have any experience w/ these yet? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Southernford
Auburn, AL

 

[cls12vg30]

Isn't Cobra the latest iteration of the Davis/Jennins/Bryco family? Either that or they bought or stole their designs.

 

[lyricsdad]

I have seen photos of cobras they look like incarnations of those guns.

that cobra freedom looks like a dead on incarnation....

 

[lyricsdad]

that cobra patriot looks kinda like a kahr.
I have this magazine:
"the complete book of autopistols"
p 78
Cobra Patriot
Caliber .380 acp, 9mm, .45acp. (wow) Barrel 3.3"
Weight 20 oz Grips Polymer Sights: Fixed
rear drift adjustable on the .45 Features: DAO, 3
models available, ergonomic design polymer
frame, stainless steel or black melonite slide.
loaded chamber indicator on the .380 and 9mm,
6(.45)/10 shot mag. Price $279-316.

I am sure there are pics out on gunbroker or something.

 

[Deles136]

I have a Patriot 45 and it has been great. It has about the same recoil as a 9mm when I am using 230 gr. factory 45 loads. Simple and very smooth with no problems so far.

 

[southernford]

Cobra has bought out both Davis (I think) and Republic Arms, along w/ thier tooling. They make both the cheaper Davis-looking pistols, as well as the .45 acp Patriot that Republic had made, which is a higher grade gun than the Davis types. They also make the .380 and 9mm on another design by a respected Israeli gun designer, and have named it Patriot also.

All the Patriot pistols are of higher quality than the low-end Davis types, but still supposedly midrange in comparison to Khars or Sigs. They are attempting to make a decent pistol for a price that most people can afford w/ the Patriot line.

If no one has one of these yet, I'll let you guys know how mine turns out, before and after working on it.

 

[KONY]

IIRC, Cobra is looking to model themselves after Kel-tec by making a good product at a reasonable price. Nothing wrong with this at all. Matter of fact, this is what more manufacturers SHOULD be doing, SAY they are doing but DO NOT. Case in point, look at all of the "cost-saving" methods manufacturers are implementing but opting NOT to pass these savings along to the customers in the form of cheaper prices.

 

[BryanP]

Here are some pics I snagged from Gunbroker & Gunsamerica:

First a view of the .45

Now 4 views of the 9mm

 

[KONY]

Very Kel-tec-like in appearance. Hopefully, this will be another of the "sleeper" gun manufacturers ... like Kel-tec & Bersa.

 

[lyricsdad]

yeah, would be nice. they still have them ugly little cheap boxes though. I like when my pistols come in a nice case.

 

[Ash]

Cobra is the amalgamation of Republic Arms (USA, not South Africa) and Lorcin.

Ash

 

[bpisler]

Cobra arms

www.cobrapistols.com is their web
site.I like the look of the 45,a
friend had the republic arms made
45 and liked it real well.

 

[southernford]

It Came In!

My new Cobra 9mm came in yesterday afternoon and I was able to shoot it a little. I'll make the following initial observations:

1. Fit and finish are very good for a pistol in this budget range.
2. Recoil was very controllable w/ the 2-finger grip thanks to its width and
design.
3. I only shot about 25 rounds through it briefly yesterday before dark. I
had one failure to feed in the 2nd mag. but besides that it functioned
perfectly. I'll report more after some break-in time.
4. I stripped the gun down after shooting. The barrel is stainless and very
well made w/ a nice feed ramp. The barrel-to-slide fit is very tight at the
end and at the chamber lock-up. The polymer frame is not fancy but very
tough and has an aluminum alloy frame insert holding the trigger
mechanism, hammer, and slide rails. Machining is very well done w/ tight
tolerances on the slide rails and slide.
5. Overall the pistol is a simple and clean design, but well made and put
together. Much more so than the Keltec P11 and P32 I've owned.
6. The trigger pull is long and stiff. It got smoother w/ use, but still stiff.
There is no firing pin safety in the slide, but rather a strong firing pin
spring and stout hammer hit. I assume this is to negate a dropping
discharge and probably is the reason for the stiff trigger spring and pull.

I'll try to get some digital pictures posted soon of all these things w/ it
fully stripped(camera's being repaired). I'll also post initial accuracy
results. Then I'll start working on it to lighten and smooth the trigger pull,
reduce grip size and slide width, melt the edges,ect.. I'll post more
photo's as I go and let you all know how each stage affects performance
and appearance.

Dave

 

[George Hill]

"I had one failure to feed in the 2nd mag. but besides that it functioned
perfectly."

 

[Marshall]

Well, "good looking" wouldn't be a term I would use to describe them.

 

[chevrofreak]

I found one at a pawn shop a few years ago for $110. I came home and did some research on it before just jumping on a gun I knew nothing about. It seems that its a respectable gun, but its step brother .45 Patriot is even better. The 9mm would be a good backup gun as long as it runs well, but don't shoot it too much, I read that the slides like to fly off the back of the gun.

 

[southernford]

More Testing

Friday afternoon I had a chance to run 200 rounds of Sellier & Bellot 9mm hardball through it. I'm a firm believer that you've got to give a pistol a decent break-in before pronouncing judgement on it.

It ran well until about round 120 or so. I had another failure to chamber, just like the one in the first 25 rounds, it ejected the spent case and started to chamber the next round but the slide didnt go completely into battery. A bump on the back of the slide helped it along.

When I got to the last few rounds I tried intentionally "limp-wristing" a couple of shots. When I did, it did the same thing as on the two previous failures to chamber. I then took a firmer grip and had no problems. It makes me wonder if the two stoppages I had earlier were my fault and not the gun's.
At any rate, there were no other problems in the 200 rounds.

The trigger got a little better, but is still very heavy. I could shoot about 2" groups, standing off-hand, at 10 yards. After learning where the trigger stacked before breaking, I could shoot 8 shots into an inch at times. It did real well for a gun w/ that heavy a DAO trigger. I think w/ some trigger work it could be a real shooter for it's size. I would attribute this to its tight lock-up and slide to barrel fit.

After disasembling and a good bit of study, and comparison w/ my Kahr P9, I think this gun is too thick to try to make into a pocket gun. I could slim it up a good bit, but still not get it as thin as the Kahr, which I feel is almost too thick for pocket carry.

I'll just do the trigger work, some slide smoothing and trimming, and either keep it sell it to a friend. I still think that it will prove to be a very good value as a pistol, and be a good bit better than the Keltec P11.

I'll post pictures when my camera gets out of the shop.

Dave

 

[lyricsdad]

Hope you enjoy the pistol. sounds like a decent deal.
W/ my walther i never encountered a fail to fire, fail to feed etc.. I have almost 1000 rounds I would say in mine. I love it. So I dont know about this breaking in thing before you judge a pistol. My p22 on the other hand was like how you spoke of the breaking in thing. I broke my p22 in w/ Stingers and Mini Mags. Works flawlessly after i would say i have 19,000 rounds as I fired 2 more 550 bulks through it.

I am planning my next pistol purchase .. a 9mm soon. Your pistol sounds nice but I am going to stick to german made. Maybe even a CZ.

good shootin.

 

[chevrofreak]

You might try finding or making a heavier recoil spring for it. The failure-to-feed issues sound like its undersprung, and the stories I read about slides flying off could be due to the slade battering the frame up due to low spring weight.

 

[southernford]

Not A Bad Idea

Chevro,

That's not a bad idea. It has dual springs(the larger over the smaller & guide rod), but they are some of the lightest I've seen in an auto pistol. You're probably right.

Thanks very much for the suggestion.

Dave

 

[possenti]

Neat little gun. Kinda reminds me of my Intratec CAT-9. I bought it in 2000, and have CCW'd it during the summer months since then. The original "sights" was only a small groove milled into the top of the slide, but I fabricated some fiber-optic ones that help aiming and accuracy. I also fabbed a slide lock, since it didn't have one originally.

It had a few "hiccups" during the break-in, but it's shot flawlessly the last 500+ rounds. I keep it stoked with Glasers. The trigger is DAO, and it feels like it's a 50-pound pull, but I feel very safe carrying one in the pipe.

 

[mrapathy2000]

IIRC same designer for the CAT series did the Patriot 45.

the Patriot 9 is the latest iteration of the old talon 9mm pistols.

patriot 45 is from republic arms.