The Colt Cobra is a small, but powerful short-barrelled revolver chambered in .38 Special, .32 Colt New Police, and .22 LR formerly made by Colt's Manufacturing Company. It was made in two models. The First Model was made from 1950-1971 and the improved Second Model was made from 1972-1986.
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. It also had the ability to hold six rounds, as opposed to the competing Smith and Wesson Airweight model revolver that only holds five. 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 snub-nosed 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.
