The
Colt Cobra is a small, but powerful
short-barrelledA Snubnosed revolver has a barrel between a nominal 2 and 3 inches long. It was a popular type of firearm with undercover police officers due to its compact size and easy handling...
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. As the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name...
chambered in
.38 SpecialThe .38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols and carbines also use this round...
,
.32 Colt New PoliceThe .32 S&W Long is a straight-walled, centerfire, rimmed handgun cartridge, based on the earlier .32 S&W cartridge. It was introduced in 1896 for Smith & Wesson's first-model Hand Ejector revolver...
, and .22 LR formerly made by
Colt's Manufacturing CompanyColt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer founded in 1847. It is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of dozens of different firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century...
.
This revolver is the same overall size and configuration as the famous Colt Detective Special and uses the same size "D" frame. However, the Cobra's frame is lighter weight aluminum-alloy as compared to the all-steel frame of the Detective Special. The Colt Cobra was produced in calibers .38 Special and .22 LR.
The
Colt Cobra is a small, but powerful
short-barrelledA Snubnosed revolver has a barrel between a nominal 2 and 3 inches long. It was a popular type of firearm with undercover police officers due to its compact size and easy handling...
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. As the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name...
chambered in
.38 SpecialThe .38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols and carbines also use this round...
,
.32 Colt New PoliceThe .32 S&W Long is a straight-walled, centerfire, rimmed handgun cartridge, based on the earlier .32 S&W cartridge. It was introduced in 1896 for Smith & Wesson's first-model Hand Ejector revolver...
, and .22 LR formerly made by
Colt's Manufacturing CompanyColt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer founded in 1847. It is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of dozens of different firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century...
.
This revolver is the same overall size and configuration as the famous Colt Detective Special and uses the same size "D" frame. However, the Cobra's frame is lighter weight aluminum-alloy as compared to the all-steel frame of the Detective Special. The Colt Cobra was produced in calibers .38 Special and .22 LR. The Cobra .38 Special was available in 2-inch and 3-inch barrel lengths. The Cobra in .22 LR was available only with the 3-inch barrel.
The Colt Cobra is prized by some for its light weight, smooth trigger action, hand fitting, polished blue finish, and ability to hold six rounds (as opposed to the competing Smith and Wesson Airweight model revolver that only holds five rounds). These Colt revolvers are no longer in production, adding to their allure and collectability.
The Cobra is a double-action snubnosed revolver, a class of handgun known affectionately to gun aficionados as a "snubbie". As the name "Detective Special" suggests, this class of firearm was historically popular for use as a concealed weapon by plainclothes police detectives. Despite the increasing advent of semi-automatic handguns, the snubnosed revolver remains extremely popular among law-enforcement officers and civilians alike for concealed carry, more particularly in the US, due to its small size, light weight, ease of operation and near-total reliability.
Long-term use of higher-pressure
+POverpressure ammunition, commonly designated as +P or +P+, is small arms ammunition that has been loaded to a higher internal pressure than is standard for ammunition of its caliber , but less than the pressures generated by a proof round...
ammunition in older model Colt Cobra revolvers (i.e., those without a shrouded ejector rod) is not advised. Extensive use of +P ammunition may stretch the revolver's frame, which could result in timing problems or malfunctions. However, post-1972 Cobras were rated for up to 1,000 rounds of +P ammunition before inspection was recommended (as compared with the 2,000 to 3,000 round interval for the post-1972 steel-framed Detective Special revolvers). Even the latest user manual for the Cobra and Detective Special advised against the use of .38 Special +P+ ammunition, recommending purchase of a
.357 MagnumThe .357 S&W Magnum, or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
caliber revolver for those wishing to shoot +P+ ammunition.
Jack RubyJacob Rubenstein , who legally changed his name to Jack Leon Ruby in 1947, was an American nightclub operator in Dallas, Texas. He was convicted on March 14, 1964, of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was arrested for the assassination of President John F....
used a Colt Cobra .38 to kill
Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald was, according to three United States government investigations, the assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who was fatally shot on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas....
on November 24, 1963.
Colt Agent
The Colt Agent was a variant of the Cobra that used the same, shorter alloy frame of later-model Cobras, but the Agent had less-expensive finishing and grips. These difference allowed the Agent to be sold for a lower price than the Cobra. The bottom of the Agent's grip was slightly shorter than the Cobra grip. Depending on the "issue" and year of manufacture, the Agent was available in a non-reflective, matte finish or a polished blued finish . The Agent was available only with a 2-inch barrel and in .38 Special caliber.
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