In the years since I started significantly pursuing handgun-related endeavors, considered one of my favourite kinds of .22 LR revolvers—the mid-size body double-action—has taken a again seat to different fashions. Today polymer framed semi-automatics and funds priced single-action revolvers appear to rule the roost. That’s a disgrace as a result of double-action wheel weapons on this caliber have a lot to supply.
It was nice information when Colt’s Manufacturing LLC introduced the return of the 4.25-inch barrel King Cobra Match .22 LR—a.okay.a ‘The Baby Snake’—in the course of the 2022 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits held in Houston, Texas. Just just like the Anaconda and Python collection, this model of the King Cobra maintains its basic profile and a focus to element whereas benefiting from enhancements offered by trendy supplies and manufacturing strategies.
Like its centerfire compatriots, the King Cobra is a double-action revolver with an uncovered hammer and a cylinder that swings out the left facet of the body. The centerfire model of this mannequin holds six rounds of .38 Special or .357 Magnum. Because the .22 LR is considerably smaller in measurement, there’s sufficient room within the rimfire cylinder for 10 rounds of ammunition. With an unloaded weight of 33.8 ounces, this .22 LR produces exceptionally gentle ranges of felt recoil.
Colt didn’t skimp on the characteristic set for this revolver. The all-stainless metal development is extremely polished to a mirror-like shine, together with the cylinder face. This further shine could appear solely to serve the vainness of the revolver’s proprietor but it surely makes the gun a lot simpler to wash, particularly the cylinder face.
The full under-lugged barrel options the signature vented rib alongside the highest which helps a fixed-fiber-optic entrance sight. The sq. notch rear sight is adjustable for each peak and windage. This revolver’s sight configuration is appropriate with aftermarket sights made for the .38 Cobra and .357 King Cobra fashions. The left-side cylinder launch is pulled again, in direction of the hammer, to open the cylinder in typical Colt revolver vogue.
Some revolvers can exhibit set off pulls of 12 kilos or extra when fired in double-action mode. This specific King Cobra’s easy double-action set off weighs in at 7 kilos 10 ounces, based on a Wheeler Engineering digital set off gauge, with a comparatively brief 0.75-inch arch of journey. With the hammer manually cocked for single-action fireplace, the set off breaks cleanly with 2 kilos 8 ounces of stress with solely a few 1/sixteenth of an inch of journey. The revolver is capped off with a compact, soft-black rubber over-molded grip made by Hogue with the Colt emblem. This grip’s finger grooves and padded again strap present loads of buy, particularly with soft-shooting .22 LR cartridges.
In regards to ammunition reliability and adaptability, revolvers have a definite benefit over semi-automatic pistols. Because wheel weapons don’t depend on the stress generated by cartridge ignition to cycle the motion, they don’t undergo from jams and stovepipes that may generally happen with semi-automatics.
As a outcome, revolvers like this one are ‘roach weapons.’ They will be fired with the complete spectrum of .22 LR ammunition starting from the exceptionally low energy CB hundreds all the best way as much as the most popular hyper velocity rounds available. The solely two ammunition associated points I’ve run into with .22 LR revolvers are defective primers and the rare, however attainable, squib hundreds. However these two malfunctions are because of flaws within the ammunition and might happen with any rimfire motion kind.
A .22 LR cylinder may safely chamber and fireplace .22 Short cartridges, .22 Long cartridges (if yow will discover any) and .22 LR shotshells full of effective birdshot. These little rimfire shells turn out to be useful when searching, mountaineering or tenting in areas inhabited by venomous snakes. The revolver’s first and second chambers will be stoked with shot shells, simply in case a harmful pest will get too shut for consolation.
However, evaluating which .22 LR hundreds are going to supply optimum efficiency from a selected handgun shouldn’t be fairly as straight ahead as it could appear on the floor. The overwhelming majority of .22 Long Rifle cartridges available on the market are designed to be fired from carbines or rifles with barrels between 16- to 20-inches or so in size. This means the powder fees are formulated with burn charges meant to benefit from the time the bullet spends touring by means of the bore earlier than exiting the gun.
Firing rifle-tuned .22 LR rounds by means of a revolver, just like the King Cobra, comes with just a few tradeoffs. The considerably shorter 4″ barrel reduces the powder’s burn time which in flip reduces bullet velocity measurably. Lower velocities imply much less power upon affect, and it isn’t unusual for slower transferring hole level bullets to exhibit little (if any) enlargement upon affect. So count on increasing .22 LR bullets to behave like non-expanding bullets when fired from a handgun.
A characteristic distinctive to revolvers is the cylinder hole, that means the area in between the face of the cylinder and the barrel’s forcing cone. Although this distance is kind of small (someplace round .003 to .011 inches) it does permit among the high-pressure gases to flee, which in flip reduces bullet velocity a bit extra.
These elements can lead to fascinating and generally unpredictable outcomes when evaluating a selected handgun with a given set of take a look at ammunition. The quickest rounds when fired from a rifle stands out as the slowest when launched from a handgun. Price level shouldn’t be all the time indicative of efficiency both. Sometimes the extra humble hundreds can outshine these with all of the bells and whistles. A very good rule of thumb is to start out testing with high-velocity hundreds (1,200 to 1,310 fps.) topped with 36-grain to 40-grain bullets and work your method up or down the bullet weights and listed rifle velocities from there.
At the vary, the King Cobra proved to be totally dependable. As anticipated, it loaded, fired and easily ejected all .22 LR cartridges with choices starting from bulk-box to premium hole factors. All of the revolver’s options and controls operated correctly and there have been no malfunctions, ammunition or mechanical, all through the course of testing. The particularly gentle set off and helpful sight system made this gun an actual pleasure to work with. Time on the vary and ammunition ran out lengthy earlier than the enjoyable did
Let’s check out the formal efficiency outcomes which embody firing 10 rounds subsequent to a LabRadar chronograph, and 5, five-shot teams from a bench relaxation at 25 yards, utilizing ammunition produced by Aguila, CCI and Federal Premium. I’ve included the producers’ listed rifle knowledge on this desk to indicate how the efficiency adjustments.
For probably the most half, I’m a 3- to three.5-inch group shooter when firing iron-sighted handguns at this distance. The Aguila and CCI accuracy outcomes had been proper in that measurement vary. The teams produced by the Federal Champion Training spherical, which fell between the opposite two hundreds for muzzle power, shaved practically an inch off of the group sizes. It knocked out the most effective group of the take a look at set of two.19-inches which was a great indicator of this gun’s accuracy potential with the proper ammunition.
I feel most people will agree {that a} handgun’s bodily look is available in third place when in comparison with its reliability and accuracy. That being mentioned, I’ve to say that the Colt King Cobra’s iconic traces, vented rib and excessive polish end put a smile on my face because it got here out of the case on the taking pictures vary. And since this compact wheeler is dependable and correct, it supplies the most effective of what this firm’s snake gun collection has to supply alongside, with the easy-going enjoyable and adaptability inherent in well-made rimfire revolvers.
Technical Specifications
- Type: double-action revolver
- Caliber: .22 LR
- Cylinder Capacity: 10 rounds
- Barrel: 4.25-inch; chrome steel; full beneath lug; shrouded ejector; 1:16-inch RH twist
- Trigger: 2-pound 8-ounce (SA), 7-pound 10-ounce (DA) pull weight
- Sights: adjustable sq. notch rear; fixed-fiber-optic entrance
- Grip/Stocks: Hogue over-molded rubber
- Metal Finish: polished stainless
- Overall Length: 9.25 inches
- Weight: 33.8 ounces, unloaded
- MSRP: $999; colt.com
