If you haven’t read JWT’s review of the Colt King Cobra, it’s well worth your time. Now Colt’s expanded the King Cobra line with a third model, the new King Cobra Target .357 revolver with a 4.25″ barrel.
Here’s their press release . . .
WEST HARTFORD, CONN. – Colt continues to develop its re-imagined family of “snake guns” with the release of the much-anticipated King Cobra Target. Featuring a 41⁄4” barrel, adjustable rear sight, elevated fiber optic front sight, and custom wood medallion grips, this revolver was thoughtfully engineered to adapt the powerful .357 magnum King Cobra to the competitive range.
Action: Double Action
Capacity: 6
Finish: Matte Stainless Steel
Stock: Altamont Wood Grips
Sights: FT: Fiber Optic RR: Adjustable
Barrel Length: 4.25
Overall Length: 9.25
Features: LL2 Linear Leaf Mainspring Design
The new Colt King Cobra Target Revolver is available now through the Colt dealer network for $999 MSRP.
Forged from American stainless steel, the 6-round capacity, double-action revolver is the third model in the modern King Cobra series. Colt reintroduced King Cobra .357 in January 2019, followed by the King Cobra Carry in May of 2019. Colt’s snake guns continue to be popular for defense, target shooting, and with collectors.
Courtesy Colt
“After releasing the King Cobra earlier this year we received a flood of requests for a 4” model with adjustable sights. Our customers are excited to bring their Colts to the range and the King Cobra Target is engineered for accurate and enjoyable shooting. The longer barrel and custom wood grips also just look fantastic,” said Justin Baldini, Director of Marketing at Colt. “We’ve precisely tweaked this revolver to get it exactly where we want it and know our customers will feel the difference.”
Customers can visit colt.com to purchase the King Cobra Target and find their local stocking dealer.
About Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC (www.colt.com) is one of the world’s leading designers, developers and manufacturers of firearms. The company has supplied civilian, military and law enforcement customers in the United States and throughout the world for more than 175 years. Its subsidiary, Colt Canada Corporation, is the Canadian government’s Center of Excellence for small arms and is the Canadian military’s sole supplier of the C7 rifle and C8 carbine. Colt operates its manufacturing facilities in West Hartford, Conn., and Kitchener, Ontario.
Glad these guns are coming back, I would like to see one compared with an older model, counting the days until they can come out with the Anaconda and the Python, definitely will buy them, thank you for the review
The dirty secret about old snake guns is that everything that made them special, mainly all the handwork and fitting each in received wasn’t really for producing semi custom guns. Rather it was necessary due to how bad the machine work was. The new colts from a manufacturing perspective are as good or better than anything they ever produced. They just lack the handwork the old ones received and are more of a true production gun. That should* lead to lots of aftermarket support and street prices continuing to come down. I’m awfully tempted by this one 😛
I do not think that I am ready to trade in one of my Pythons for a new King Cobra. It will be difficult to beat the original Python on anything but price.
The machine work in the old double action Colt revolvers (E&I, Pythons, etc) wasn’t bad.
It was the design of the original Colt double action mechanism that allowed the entire lockwork to function off one V-spring mainspring. The trigger reset was running off the same mainspring, instead of off a separate spring as the S&W’s, Rugers, etc do today.
When you look at the geometry and what is happening on the rebound lever in an original Colt double action revolver, it is quite clear that no machine is going to adjust the bolt tail, nor the rebound lever, which had to be done by hand.
The original design has a very low parts count, but sometimes, a few more parts leads to a much simpler design – simpler to make, simpler to maintain, simpler to replace parts.
AND…. I’m sold. In JWT article this is exactly what I was waiting for before pulling the trigger. I’m liking this new Colt compared to the years of stagnation. Congrats to whoever put the fire back in their belly.
Do we have any idea why this is a “target” gun? Looks pretty similar to a Python in dimensions, I’d think a target model would be 6″ or even longer barrel. I never considered my 4″ Pythons to be target guns.
My personal guess is after being out of the game for so long, they’re using the King Cobra as a proving ground for reintroduction of the rest of the snake series. Train new personnel and new equipment here, on something good, but less luxurious then a python. Any bumps in the road here can be smoothed out and once experience and production is up to par, bring on the rest of the series.
Sluggish trigger return was always the bane of the original Colt DA system, from the Police Postitive to the Python. Perhaps this latest rebirth of the “snake” series will show some improvement.
That’s because the trigger reset was driven by the mainspring in a very convoluted manner with the rebound lever inside the Colt DA revolvers.
S&W revolvers have a separate spring (the one in the little square tube) that drives the trigger reset. In the original Colt DA design, you had very few springs, and the mainspring drove most of the functions. There was a spring under the bolt to make the bolt come up, but the timing of the bolt lift was controlled by the tail of the bolt slipping off the rebound lever.
This is what makes adjusting or replacing parts inside an original Cold DA revolver such a laborious process. The original Colts lock up “bank vault tight” but they require an understanding of the whole function and interaction of parts in order to replace some of the parts in the original Colt DA design without throwing off the rest of the timing.
I was thinking the exact same thing. The texture on the grips made me think of the Match Champion immediately. It would be interesting to compare them side by side. The Ruger would definitely win on price.
Well… the MSRP on the Match Champion is only $30 less, but for the time being you’re not likely to see any big discounts on the Colts. Give it a couple years and price probably won’t be a major factor.
They didn’t specify the weight but I’m guessing from the first new Cobra the MC will be about a half pound heavier, and better suited to heavy magnum loads. The GPs aren’t that heavy, so I’d think the extra weight would be a positive in a target revolver for most people.
The new KC is a smaller gun, it’s smaller than a model 66. The GP is about 9-10 ounces heavier. The 3” KC weighs 28 oz and a 3” GP is 36-37oz if I remember correctly. The GP’s cylinder is larger too, 1.5” vs 1.41” for the colt. The GP will no doubt hold up longer but the colt will probably make a better carry piece.
Well, on the surface, they seem pretty comparable, with the MC coming in @38oz, but no weight mentioned on the KC, as far as fit and finish, I’m think a horse apiece, and price, again, horse apiece…in the end, I think it’ll come down to manufacturer loyalty…
I want so bad to like that gun but something just looks off. I think the front of the grip doesn’t flare out enough. So close Colt! Also make one that’s blued and I will knock down my FFL’s door to get one (even if I don’t love the grip).
Now is the time to reintroduce the .41 Long Colt in a modern inside lubricated +P version. It would be perfect for this gun and the other new Golt revolvers.
No, .41 Long Colt which is small enough in the rim to allow six rounds in the cylinder of an Official Police or K frame revolver. I’m looking for a heavy bullet at modest velocities, not a magnum.
The Cobras as well as the previous two models of King Cobra all are all under $900 MSRP. This is the only one at the $999 price.
All of their base model double actions are under $1k. Were you being somehow sarcastic?
It’s neat, but my biggest issues are these don’t have a long enough track record. The people, machines, and (it can be argued) the company that made the original Colt snake guns have long been out of the picture. Couple that with an MSRP of a cool grand, what does this really have over a S&W 686?
Yeaaah…Rather have them making the original again Instead we get this generic turd, Colt what have you done? We all know you can do so much better, why?
Looks like Colt is getting serious about making guns.
Now if they can just figure out how to remove that worthless underling to make it a litt,e more lithe……and put some real sights on it instead of the lite brite pieces.
Next thing you know they’ll have an air weight 38 snub…..I guess they could call Cobra Airweight since they highjacked Cobra for the steel frame.
Back in the 80’s I had a friend who used to love his Python. He and I used to go to the range and compete against each other 3 times a month. We used to shoot +P level 38 special 125 grain copper plated bullets (950-1000 fps). I shot a 6 1/2 inch model 27 and he used a 6 inch python. We did this for about 5 years. We each shot about 70,000 rounds of our reloads during that time. My Model 27 held up real well. All I ever had to do was to replace the hand and have the forcing cone recut and the barrel set back one time. His Python on the other hand used two new barrels (the barrel split at the forcing cone and could not be repaired) and had to have its internals rebuilt 3 or 4 times.
He still told me that his revolver was a better gun than my Smith, but I told him that mine was a workhorse. The accuracy was about even for both guns. His gun got dirtier faster and needed more cleaning than mine. That was before I got married. Have never shot that much since then.
It never ceases to amaze me how gullible the public is. Colt farms out its internal parts to an MIM cast company so its not exactly a Colt produced gun at all. I do not know how they are making the rifling in the barrel but Smith & Wesson now burns their rifling in with an edm machine. I do not know if the Colt has a two piece barrel like many of the Smiths now do. Its all enough to make you barf.
Their other revolvers have got nothing but complaints about crude machine marks,crude workmanship and not so great accuracy and lousy trigger pulls. No thanks I will keep my Python, and my older Smith & Wesson’s. I buy very little new guns these days because the bulk of them are nothing more than pure trash.
If you want a new cast iron toy pay far less and buy a crude cast iron Ruger at least they are beefy enough with their sold frames to take a pounding and keep on spitting bullets and last longer than you will but do not expect Colt Python accuracy no matter what brand you buy today.
You’re not wrong about the Smith & Wesson’s, Barrel inserts, no Coke bottle grips and no recessing on the cylinder anymore, are all ways to save money and make cheaper, that is why I would like to see in the old Colt compared to new, side-by-side and Trigger action.
There’s nothing wrong with using EDM for rifling. Using EDM for rifling (and even chambering) allows the bore, rifling and chamber to be “cut” without putting stress into the barrel steel. The “fog” left by EDM erosion needs to be polished out, but that’s easily accomplished.
One of the benefits of EDM rifling is that you can rifle some hell-for-hard barrel materials – eg, Stellite. If you’re rifling a barrel with a stellite insert for a full-auto weapon, EDM is a good choice.
You’ll notice that this, and the Cobra, are all stainless.
Colt hasn’t yet figured out how to reproduce the exquisite blueing for which Colt was known for nearly 100 years… so they’ll duck the issue by making the guns out of only stainless.
Glad these guns are coming back, I would like to see one compared with an older model, counting the days until they can come out with the Anaconda and the Python, definitely will buy them, thank you for the review
From what I’ve read they’re either on par or even better then the originals.
Better than the originals on lockwork fitment and finish?
Call me skeptical, until I see it…
The dirty secret about old snake guns is that everything that made them special, mainly all the handwork and fitting each in received wasn’t really for producing semi custom guns. Rather it was necessary due to how bad the machine work was. The new colts from a manufacturing perspective are as good or better than anything they ever produced. They just lack the handwork the old ones received and are more of a true production gun. That should* lead to lots of aftermarket support and street prices continuing to come down. I’m awfully tempted by this one 😛
I do not think that I am ready to trade in one of my Pythons for a new King Cobra. It will be difficult to beat the original Python on anything but price.
The machine work in the old double action Colt revolvers (E&I, Pythons, etc) wasn’t bad.
It was the design of the original Colt double action mechanism that allowed the entire lockwork to function off one V-spring mainspring. The trigger reset was running off the same mainspring, instead of off a separate spring as the S&W’s, Rugers, etc do today.
When you look at the geometry and what is happening on the rebound lever in an original Colt double action revolver, it is quite clear that no machine is going to adjust the bolt tail, nor the rebound lever, which had to be done by hand.
The original design has a very low parts count, but sometimes, a few more parts leads to a much simpler design – simpler to make, simpler to maintain, simpler to replace parts.
Outstanding!
AND…. I’m sold. In JWT article this is exactly what I was waiting for before pulling the trigger. I’m liking this new Colt compared to the years of stagnation. Congrats to whoever put the fire back in their belly.
Do we have any idea why this is a “target” gun? Looks pretty similar to a Python in dimensions, I’d think a target model would be 6″ or even longer barrel. I never considered my 4″ Pythons to be target guns.
My personal guess is after being out of the game for so long, they’re using the King Cobra as a proving ground for reintroduction of the rest of the snake series. Train new personnel and new equipment here, on something good, but less luxurious then a python. Any bumps in the road here can be smoothed out and once experience and production is up to par, bring on the rest of the series.
Yeah I’m kind of scratching my head on that one too. The grip is a more target grip style, but a 4 inch barrel? That’s a duty gun. Also, ordered one.
Sluggish trigger return was always the bane of the original Colt DA system, from the Police Postitive to the Python. Perhaps this latest rebirth of the “snake” series will show some improvement.
That’s because the trigger reset was driven by the mainspring in a very convoluted manner with the rebound lever inside the Colt DA revolvers.
S&W revolvers have a separate spring (the one in the little square tube) that drives the trigger reset. In the original Colt DA design, you had very few springs, and the mainspring drove most of the functions. There was a spring under the bolt to make the bolt come up, but the timing of the bolt lift was controlled by the tail of the bolt slipping off the rebound lever.
This is what makes adjusting or replacing parts inside an original Cold DA revolver such a laborious process. The original Colts lock up “bank vault tight” but they require an understanding of the whole function and interaction of parts in order to replace some of the parts in the original Colt DA design without throwing off the rest of the timing.
Adjustable sights.
I’m starting to drool….
“I’m starting to drool….”
Damn good thing they are made of stainless, then…
*snicker*
I wanted to ignore these, but now I’m afraid I won’t be able to!
I wonder how this will compare to Rugers GP100 Match Champion…
I was thinking the exact same thing. The texture on the grips made me think of the Match Champion immediately. It would be interesting to compare them side by side. The Ruger would definitely win on price.
Well… the MSRP on the Match Champion is only $30 less, but for the time being you’re not likely to see any big discounts on the Colts. Give it a couple years and price probably won’t be a major factor.
For the $$$, they’d both better be stellar…
They didn’t specify the weight but I’m guessing from the first new Cobra the MC will be about a half pound heavier, and better suited to heavy magnum loads. The GPs aren’t that heavy, so I’d think the extra weight would be a positive in a target revolver for most people.
The new KC is a smaller gun, it’s smaller than a model 66. The GP is about 9-10 ounces heavier. The 3” KC weighs 28 oz and a 3” GP is 36-37oz if I remember correctly. The GP’s cylinder is larger too, 1.5” vs 1.41” for the colt. The GP will no doubt hold up longer but the colt will probably make a better carry piece.
The GP is a bigger gun. The Colt’s stock trigger is as good or better than the MC. Finish on the Colt is better. Grip on the MC is much better.
Well, on the surface, they seem pretty comparable, with the MC coming in @38oz, but no weight mentioned on the KC, as far as fit and finish, I’m think a horse apiece, and price, again, horse apiece…in the end, I think it’ll come down to manufacturer loyalty…
I was looking at the 8 shot Ruger Redhawk at my local gun store yesterday for the same price
That red hawk is a much larger gun than this.
Not even in the same class…
Almost there, Colt. Cut a few pointless-but-cool vents into the top of the barrel and that’ll be close enough for me.
Cut a port on each side of the muzzle to reduce muzzle climb on firing.
I absolutely love my ported wheelguns, while they may be a tad louder, they are very nice to shoot…
Wait … don’t all revolver require a Hillary Hole ? The children cry for it !
Actually it looks quite nice !!
ummm no? That’s pretty much just a S&W thing.
I want so bad to like that gun but something just looks off. I think the front of the grip doesn’t flare out enough. So close Colt! Also make one that’s blued and I will knock down my FFL’s door to get one (even if I don’t love the grip).
Now is the time to reintroduce the .41 Long Colt in a modern inside lubricated +P version. It would be perfect for this gun and the other new Golt revolvers.
You mean a .41 Special?
Or just chamber a 10mm…
Either way I’m game for a big bore version!
No, .41 Long Colt which is small enough in the rim to allow six rounds in the cylinder of an Official Police or K frame revolver. I’m looking for a heavy bullet at modest velocities, not a magnum.
.41LC is such an obscure caliber, if you want a “heavy bullet at modest velocities” without being a magnum, go into a .44 Special…
That inside lubricated round would best be called the 386 Special !
“for $999 MSRP.”
Colt cant seem to make a revolver that is less than $1k, wonder why?
The Cobras as well as the previous two models of King Cobra all are all under $900 MSRP. This is the only one at the $999 price.
All of their base model double actions are under $1k. Were you being somehow sarcastic?
That, and even this gun will be less in store.
It’s neat, but my biggest issues are these don’t have a long enough track record. The people, machines, and (it can be argued) the company that made the original Colt snake guns have long been out of the picture. Couple that with an MSRP of a cool grand, what does this really have over a S&W 686?
Booooooo!!!! We want the Python!!!!!!
Yeaaah…Rather have them making the original again Instead we get this generic turd, Colt what have you done? We all know you can do so much better, why?
Love my 6″ stainless Python. Had it since around ’84. Couple of 6″ blue and a 4″ nickel since then. This strikes me as a pale imitation.
Well I’ll be damned!
Looks like Colt is getting serious about making guns.
Now if they can just figure out how to remove that worthless underling to make it a litt,e more lithe……and put some real sights on it instead of the lite brite pieces.
Next thing you know they’ll have an air weight 38 snub…..I guess they could call Cobra Airweight since they highjacked Cobra for the steel frame.
Or maybe they’ll call it the Agent.
Back in the 80’s I had a friend who used to love his Python. He and I used to go to the range and compete against each other 3 times a month. We used to shoot +P level 38 special 125 grain copper plated bullets (950-1000 fps). I shot a 6 1/2 inch model 27 and he used a 6 inch python. We did this for about 5 years. We each shot about 70,000 rounds of our reloads during that time. My Model 27 held up real well. All I ever had to do was to replace the hand and have the forcing cone recut and the barrel set back one time. His Python on the other hand used two new barrels (the barrel split at the forcing cone and could not be repaired) and had to have its internals rebuilt 3 or 4 times.
He still told me that his revolver was a better gun than my Smith, but I told him that mine was a workhorse. The accuracy was about even for both guns. His gun got dirtier faster and needed more cleaning than mine. That was before I got married. Have never shot that much since then.
I’m sorry I wanted to see the return of an actual duty sized gun not the Mustang II of Colt revolvers!
god dammit now I need one because Kimber won’t make their K6S any bigger than 3″
It never ceases to amaze me how gullible the public is. Colt farms out its internal parts to an MIM cast company so its not exactly a Colt produced gun at all. I do not know how they are making the rifling in the barrel but Smith & Wesson now burns their rifling in with an edm machine. I do not know if the Colt has a two piece barrel like many of the Smiths now do. Its all enough to make you barf.
Their other revolvers have got nothing but complaints about crude machine marks,crude workmanship and not so great accuracy and lousy trigger pulls. No thanks I will keep my Python, and my older Smith & Wesson’s. I buy very little new guns these days because the bulk of them are nothing more than pure trash.
If you want a new cast iron toy pay far less and buy a crude cast iron Ruger at least they are beefy enough with their sold frames to take a pounding and keep on spitting bullets and last longer than you will but do not expect Colt Python accuracy no matter what brand you buy today.
You’re not wrong about the Smith & Wesson’s, Barrel inserts, no Coke bottle grips and no recessing on the cylinder anymore, are all ways to save money and make cheaper, that is why I would like to see in the old Colt compared to new, side-by-side and Trigger action.
There’s nothing wrong with using EDM for rifling. Using EDM for rifling (and even chambering) allows the bore, rifling and chamber to be “cut” without putting stress into the barrel steel. The “fog” left by EDM erosion needs to be polished out, but that’s easily accomplished.
One of the benefits of EDM rifling is that you can rifle some hell-for-hard barrel materials – eg, Stellite. If you’re rifling a barrel with a stellite insert for a full-auto weapon, EDM is a good choice.
Glad to see them back in the wheel gun business.
Sorry, folks. It’s neither King nor Cobra.
You’ll notice that this, and the Cobra, are all stainless.
Colt hasn’t yet figured out how to reproduce the exquisite blueing for which Colt was known for nearly 100 years… so they’ll duck the issue by making the guns out of only stainless.
But they can on the Single Action Armys. For a price.
Dont they farm that out to Turnbull now?
The only problem I had so far with my new king cobra target with the 41/4 inch barrel is finding a nice holster for it any ideas out there