Colt King Cobra in 22LR

[Almo]

Does anyone know what's going on with the Colt King Cobras in 22LR?  I've been on wait lists for up to three months now and not one has come in.  I wonder if they are having issues with them and have temporarily halted production.  It kind of makes me wary to take one if they do come in.  Does anyone have one that they have had issues with?

[gargoil66]

Almo:

 

Someone on the forum has one I believe.  

 

I shot one a couple of months ago and would not buy one.  They are very, very, small in size.  I would not say they are competitive.  And they are overpriced in my opinion.

 

My advice would be to nix the order and spend the money on a 617.

 

GG

[DS-10-SPEED]

I bought one last December, I had mis-fire problems in DA. I sent it back in January and was told they have to replace the gun. I'm still waiting for my replacement. I called last week and they said they have finished the changes and are now going through "Qualification". They said they should be shipping them out in a couple weeks, we'll see. I still have my 617's and GP100 ten shots to use while I wait.

 

Picture of the one I sent back.

 

At least I had it long enough to design a speed loader for it, now I need the gun back so I can use them.

 

[Almo]

Thanks for the info.  That's discouraging.  By the way, DS-10-SPEED, how would you compare the double action trigger on your 617 vs. the King Cobra?

[Almo]

DS-10-SPEED, I re-read your post.  It sounds like Colt redesigned the King Cobra 22LR (presumably due to many others having issues like yours).  It sounds like they will be shipping not just your gun, but new ones to stores.  Is that what you got from Colt's message?  That may be encouraging after all, assuming they don't screw up the trigger pull in the process.

[DS-10-SPEED]

8 minutes ago, Almo said:

Thanks for the info.  That's discouraging.  By the way, DS-10-SPEED, how would you compare the double action trigger on your 617 vs. the King Cobra?

It wasn't bad, out of the box it was lighter than a new S&W, almost the same as my tuned up 617's. That may change with the modifications they are doing to fix the mis-fires. The Colt had a different feel than a S&W, the DA trigger seems to get a little harder just before the sear breaks. I did use it for speed shooting bowling pins at our local club and was able to match my 617 times (when I could get it to fire at least 5 in a row). The grip and frame is smaller than a 617, I will probably get a larger Houge wood grip when I get my replacement. Also the face of the trigger has a flat surface, not curved like my other revolvers, it feels different but seems to work OK.

[DS-10-SPEED]

30 minutes ago, Almo said:

DS-10-SPEED, I re-read your post.  It sounds like Colt redesigned the King Cobra 22LR (presumably due to many others having issues like yours).  It sounds like they will be shipping not just your gun, but new ones to stores.  Is that what you got from Colt's message?  That may be encouraging after all, assuming they don't screw up the trigger pull in the process.

Yes, I assume they will start shipping to everyone.

Edited May 28, 2023 by DS-10-SPEED

[Almo]

DS-10-SPEED, when you get your King Cobra back, could you tell me how the double action trigger feels?  I may have to commit to one without actually seeing it, so it would be nice to know if it's worth it.  Thanks.

[DS-10-SPEED]

On 6/5/2023 at 9:39 AM, Almo said:

DS-10-SPEED, when you get your King Cobra back, could you tell me how the double action trigger feels?  I may have to commit to one without actually seeing it, so it would be nice to know if it's worth it.  Thanks.

I'll let you know, I just got word that my replacement is on the way. It should arrive in a couple days to my FFL dealer.

[Almo]

DS-10-SPEED, did you get your King Cobra.  The store I was on the wait list for sent me an E-mail saying they were back in stock.  By the time I opened it and clicked on "buy," they were sold out.  Still curious about the trigger pull.  By the way, I heard that the GP-100 speed loaders work in the King Cobra; is that true?

[Almo]

By the way, gargoil66, I'm still considering the S&W 617, but I'm a little leery after my S&W 929 experience.  I had to do $500 worth of gunsmithing on a Performance Center gun just to get it to do what they advertised it was supposed to do out of the box.

[Joe4d]

I had issues a few years ago with pro series..  Seemed alot of them had over clocked barrels, muzzles not crowned, etc..
Bought a new 617 4" and a 929 PC,,  this spring and neither had any of the issues. SMith might have finally titened up QC.. My 929 shoots everything so far even reloads with wolf primers

[Almo]

Joe4d, that's good to hear.  How was the factory trigger pull on the 617?  For that matter, how was the factory trigger on the 929?  I may have to reconsider.  When I bought my 929, they were advertising a 10 lb double action trigger from the factory; I see they no longer say that.  Mine was off the scale on my gauge (which went to 12 lb.  I measured it on my fish scale, which may not be as accurate as the trigger gauge, and it was 16.5 lb.  And the timing was off, so it shaved lead.

[Joe4d]

617 was over 12, I must have the same gauge,, with a 25 cent trigger job its running low 10's and still shooting everything.
629 was 10. 12 out of the box, Think its about 10 now with the same treatment, I had it at 8 but it misfired a couple Wolf primers. Will do some polishing on it eventually. I am pretty happy with it. Dont have alot of use for light revolver triggers that require a specific primer. I am using mostly factory 9mm these days. To lazy to unpack and set up reloading press. 

[DS-10-SPEED]

23 hours ago, Almo said:

DS-10-SPEED, did you get your King Cobra.  The store I was on the wait list for sent me an E-mail saying they were back in stock.  By the time I opened it and clicked on "buy," they were sold out.  Still curious about the trigger pull.  By the way, I heard that the GP-100 speed loaders work in the King Cobra; is that true?

I did get my new one last Tuesday, I didn't really want to post this but here goes. I shot my replacement Colt and only 1 shot out the first 10 hit near the bulls eye, the other 9 didn't even hit the paper at 25 feet. I moved to 5 feet and shot 5 shots, they were all over the place and the bullets were hitting sideways. After close inspection I found the cylinder was not locking up before firing, a couple times it didn't advance to the next round. I sent it back to Colt on Wednesday.

 

 

 

As for the speed loaders, the Colt and the GP100 have the same 1 inch array pattern but the Colt has only about 0.070" between the cartridge rim and the nice shiny frame. The current GP100 loaders have a retaining spring that is 0.100" in diameter, there is not enough clearance to load and the hard carbon steel spring will mark up the Colt frame. I developed a new loader that uses a dual stainless steel retaining spring (because one wasn't strong enough) with a 0.062" diameter and the only thing that might touch the Colt frame is the soft HDPE plastic loader base. Revolver Supply has the new loaders. These new loaders also work with the GP 100.

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by DS-10-SPEED

[10mmdave]

Well that sucks   Good luck with version 3

 

Hopefully Ruger will make the GP 100 version again soon.

[Almo]

That's really disappointing.  You'd think that, after sending back the first one because of major issues, they would have made sure they sent you back a good one.  For all the bragging Colt did about this gun when it came out, they sure have a lot of quality control issues.

[gargoil66]

On 6/17/2023 at 10:37 AM, Almo said:

By the way, gargoil66, I'm still considering the S&W 617, but I'm a little leery after my S&W 929 experience.  I had to do $500 worth of gunsmithing on a Performance Center gun just to get it to do what they advertised it was supposed to do out of the box.

Almo:

 

I had to finish ream the chambers in my 617.  I did install a Rev Up Action hammer and it worked wonders for the trigger pull and thus overall performance.  I think it is shameful that Smith and Wesson didn't test fire the revolver before shipping it.  If they had test fired one cylinder of ammo, they would have found out that they didn't finish ream.  I had to use a tap hammer to eject the spent cases.  So I spend close to a hundred on a finishing reamer and now it ejects flawlessly.  I think the Rev Up Action hammer was $250.00 but it is worth every cent.

 

Given Colt released a revolver that they obviously never tested, recalled it and sent out a replacement to DS that also has mechanical problems requiring him to return it too, my original statement remains.

 

Get a 617.  

 

GG

[Toolguy]

Thanks for the good word, Gene. I'm glad the hammer is working out for you.

[Almo]

S&W and Colt should be ashamed to ship out high dollar guns with apparently no quality control or testing.  At this point, I'm afraid to buy either of their revolvers.

[357454]

I purchased a Colt King cobra Serial number 133, and shot it a few times for Steel Challenge, the first time I experienced numerour lite strikes, I disassembled the gun and polished all of the contact points including the pivot and spring contact surface. It will now fire CCI and Remington gold bullets very reliably. My main issue was on the longer shots I was waiting for the gun to fire and found my times were noticeably faster with my 617. That and the lack of an optic mount resulted in the little colt going to a new home. 

[Goady]

Late to the party, but glad I stumbled across this topic.  I was eager to get the Colt to see if it would out perform my 617, but after reading this I think I'll stick with what I know.  Thanks!!

[DS-10-SPEED]

12 hours ago, Goady said:

Late to the party, but glad I stumbled across this topic.  I was eager to get the Colt to see if it would out perform my 617, but after reading this I think I'll stick with what I know.  Thanks!!

Since you revived this post I'll let you guys know I did receive a 3rd Colt King Cobra after the first two failed to function. I tested it at my FFL dealer before I accepted it, the cylinder would spin backwards just before the hammer dropped when applying a slight drag on the cylinder with my finger when coking it. It appears the hand was going past the ratchet just before firing allowing it to not lock up. I assumed I would have the same timing issue as my second revolver. I didn't accept the Colt and told them to return it to Colt, I got my money back and I'll stick with my 617's for now, maybe I'll get one later if I find one that works. Some people are saying they have no issues and are happy with them, I'll wait and see.

[Goady]

Thanks for the update!  Good to know for sure.

 

[CtYankee]

The first time I came across this post I had nothing to add, but I bought a King Cobra 22 last week, so maybe I do have something to add. Not having had a Colt before, I was looking for where the side plate was, the fit was so tight I had trouble finding it. The tigger pull is lighter than on my other .22 revolvers (Ruger and Taurus). As DS-10-Speed mentioned the trigger pull does stack just after lockup. When checking pull with my gauge it looked like trigger pull was going to be just under 8lbs, but then when the cylinder locked up it got harder (trigger pull gauge only goes to 8lbs: I have no idea if that is a charateristic of Colts > spring. At 25 yds the gun first shot inconsistant, but I was shooting into the sun and the shiny stainless was hard to see properly. After a few rounds the gun shot better, or maybe the sun moved enough. I finally got it sighted in and ran CCI, Aquila and Federal AutoMatch through without any misfires. I finished up shooting at 50'  DA rapid fire I was able to put 19/20 rds on a 6" target. So far I'm happy.  Oh yeah, GP100 Speed Beez loaders work, but they are a little bit sticky. I'll have to try Revolver Supply.

Edited November 30, 2023 by CtYankee