Originally Posted by
Greg Bell
Well. I couldn't resist. I didn't even get a good deal on it. I looked at it last Saturday and I was blown away by the trigger. I played with it alongside a Kimber K6 and a Ruger Sp101. They are all similar in size, but the Colt seems a tad smaller (and it should be, it is a .38). The Kimber, without doubt, looked the best. The finish was impeccable, and it just looks amazing. It was about $100 more, and the trigger, in my opinion, was slightly less impressive than the Colt. The SP101 had a terrible trigger. I like Colt, and I wanted to support their return to the DA market so I bought one.
1. Trigger. Absolute win. The Cobra has a very smooth DA and SA. WAAAAY better than My J-frames or my old 686 plus.
2. Fit and finish. Well, it is technically excellent, but it is very bland and industrial looking. In real terms it is exactly what you need. It is stainless steel, it is bead blasted, it is generally well machined. Colt's focus seemed to be completely on functionality.
3. Sights. I really dig the sights. It is going to be a snap to swap out the front with a tritium when they are on the market. The squared trench and reasonably large front sight are much better than the old fashioned J-frame sights. I am generally not a fan of fiber optic sights for carry guns, and I will get rid of it when I can. They did a great job on the sights, but I think the Kimber did it a bit better.
4. Weight. It is heavy. It weighs as much as a Glock 19. That being said, the weight in combination with the smooth, light trigger makes it a very easy gun to shoot well. It is too heavy for pocket carry but would make a nice IWB unit.
5. Grip. It is a huge rubber Hogue unit. It sops op the recoil fairly well, but it looks like crap. I am locking forward to some VZ grips or, LORD HEAR MY PRAYER, laser grips.
6. The Barrel to Cylinder gap appears to be about three times narrower than on my J-frame.
Problems....
I shot 200 rounds through the gun and it functioned flawlessly. I adore double actions so I really appreciate the long, smooth trigger on the colt. I find them easy to shoot fast but very safe to carry and handle.
HOWEVER, I did have the extractor rod get stuck in the cylinder several times. It has a very harshly knurled surface that can snag on the inside of the cyclinder when you eject the shells. It is annoying. It does seem to be going away, but -1 for Colt.
Other than that everything was perfect. The gun functioned without drama, the bullet landed right above the dot about where I like it.
What I would love to see.
They need, NEED to put out an Air Cobra lightweight model. Screw .357, I don't care about .357. I don't care about 4 inch barrels, I don't care about super polished finishes, I don't care about gold lettering.
They need to put out a hammer shroud, or somebody needs to put out a bobbed unit.
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