Colt’s New Rimfire Revolver: King Cobra Target in .22LR

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We all know how crazy-popular the snake guns from Colt are, so it really comes as no surprise that the gun maker would launch another one at NRA. It might be a little bit of a surprise, though, that the newcomer is chambered in .22LR.

Colt King Cobra .22LR 22 LR revover
Looking for a heavy duty revolver chambered in 22 LR? Then you’ll love the Colt King Cobra Target. (Photo credit: Kat Stevens)

The new model is, in every way, a solid Colt King Cobra revolver, it’s just chambered in a more diminutive round than .357 Magnum. The cylinder is drilled for 10 rounds of .22LR and Colt says it’s a versatile gun useful for everything from plinking to competition shooting to hunting. It has a forged stainless steel frame and the one-piece barrel is also stainless steel.

The King Cobra Target sports Hogue overmolded rubber grips, so it’s comfortable to hold, and of course its overall weight mitigates felt recoil (which would be negligible anyway).

What this gun really might be is the perfect introductory revolver for kids interested in running this platform instead of semi-autos. It isn’t overly heavy and the grips are soft and comfy as Colt’s usually are, so it would work really well for most young shooters.

Think kids don’t need to learn to run revolvers? I’d disagree. Learning to run a variety of platforms makes us all far better shooters.

Colt King Cobra .22LR 22 LR revover
The gun has Hogue® overmolded rubber grips. (Photo credit: Kat Stevens)

Colt is manufacturing the King Cobra Target in two barrels lengths, 4.0 inches and 6.0 inches, both of which have a 1 in 16 RH twist rate. Guns ship from the factory with a fiber optic front sight and adjustable rear sight.

Colt King Cobra .22LR 22 LR revover
The gun ships from the factory with an adjustable rear sight and fiber optic front sight. (Photo credit: Kat Stevens)

The cylinder on the Colt King Cobra Target swings open smoothly and closes firmly. Overall, fitment of parts in the model I saw at NRA is very good. There’s no jiggling or movement that could be problematic like you see with certain gun maker’s revolvers. The hammer operates crisply and has a nicely textured surface so it’s easy to manipulate even if your hands are wet or you’re wearing gloves.

Colt King Cobra .22LR 22 LR revover
The trigger of the Colt King Cobra Target has a relatively smooth pull and crisp break. (Photo credit: Kat Stevens)

If you’re collecting the snake guns that Colt’s making again, add this one to your list. It’ll be interesting to see if competitive shooters run this gun in the coming year. In the meantime, it will be a fun one for plinking, small game, and very useful for instruction.

MSRP: $999

 

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56 COMMENTS

  1. I’m curious what kind of accuracy you’re going to get?

    When you try to stuff 10 rounds into a k or I frame size cylinder, you’re going to have to play games by boring on some of an angle in order to get everything to fit. So this means the bullet is going to start out into the rifling somewhat askew.

    I also wonder how much free bore between the end of the chamber into the rifling?

    The trigger pull on a 10 shot cylinder is not great. My k-22 has a much better trigger pull than my 10 shot 617. But I would imagine the single action trigger pulls probably all right.

    If the civilian marksmanship program ever comes up with a distinguished 22 revolver course of some sort….. I’m thinking my k-22 will carry the day. We need to put them all in the 10 Ring at 50 yards and in the 10 ring, favoring the X-Ring at 25.

    Then you have my attention.

    • This looks like a fun and good quality gun for relatively well to do collectors. That’s cool. 👍

      The world is currently falling apart, so my firearm purchases have to be more practical. If I thought I needed.a .22 revolver to start my kids on, I’d probably just grab a $200 Ruger Wrangler. I already have several 22 handguns (revolver and autoloader) so I don’t need one.

      What I probably should be adding is more 9mm, 5.56, and 7.62*39 ammo to the stash.

      Still, this does look like a great gun.

    • I’d think that the double action trigger pull would be great, since the same available trigger travel only has to rotate the cylinder 36 degrees between chanbers vs the 60 degrees of the parent chambering. And this would be WAY more gun than I’d want to tote around as a field gun, I give it a solid “meh”, although I admit I’ve never been bitten by the snake charm.

        • I didn’t spend any time with the .22 but was surprised in the amount a trigger creep in a cocked new model Python… Not the same as the originals.

    • … Angle bored cylinder chambering ??? I’d like to be the first one to disprove that theory with a simple range rod.

    • “So this means the bullet is going to start out into the rifling somewhat askew.” Uhhh, what? I have a 10-shot S&W as well as a Ruger 10-shot GP100 and I can assure you the the bullet does not start out into the rifling “askew”.

  2. A G for a .22 revolver…. but is it certified “lung safe” by .gov?

    Or is that the deal? One of the few non “high caliber” handguns Colt thinks will be legal?

    • No. Ban it! It is a high capacity assault revolver. Nobody needs a crazy Dirty Harry gun like this for hunting or defense!

    • This one just blows a single gonad out, it doesn’t blow yer lungs out, Tim.

  3. in .22LR wouldn’t that be a garter snake? Or perhaps the Coral Snake?

    And no doubt priced to compete with the Heritage revolvers.

  4. “MSRP: $999”

    For some strange reason, a well-used High Standard 9-shot .22lr revolver on Gun Broker suddenly looks far more attractive…

    • The used 9 shot double action NEF r92 I bought ten plus years ago for $115.looks pretty sweet.

    • “May be?”
      That fucking coward backed out of the NRA convention citing a scheduling conflict. Can’t just tell the damn truth about the Uvalde tragedy being the reason. Why is every word out of these bastards mouth’s always a lie?

      • “Why is every word out of these bastards mouth’s always a lie?”

        Because they’re professional liars, a long way of spelling “politician”.

      • I am fromm the other side of the POND [UK] and I cannot see any reason to use such expletives when a reasoned opinion backed up with a little critcal thinking would be much more effective. Only those LOSING the argument resort to such language.
        Whyn is mthat those in the gUN LOBBY seem to think that anybody with a contra opinion is one of three or four things
        ONE., a LIBERAL, TWO a LIBERAL COMMIE, THREE – a LIBERAL DEMOCRAT COMMIE, and FOUR a LYING liberal Democrat COMMIE.
        Why does anybody with a contra-viewpoint have to be labelled these things just because you, in your ignorance, are incapable of logical argument?. And, by the way, unsupported statements are NOT conducive to logical argument.
        I used all manner of weaponry for a good portion of my professional life as a ROYAL AIR FIORCE Armourer and Smallarms Instructor and as serving member of the UK Infanty Reserves so I am familkiar with weaponry and it’d uses. AS you may or may not know the UK Forces are probably in the top if not THE top, for weaponry training and generally certainly ahead of the US Military
        Since leaving the Service I have never felt the need for any kind orf weapon [apart from a two year stretch at indoor .22 Match Rifle and a spot of skeet shooting back in the mid ’90’s]. I do not know a single person, and I’m now in my mid 80’s, in my entire life who has a firearm for self defence, or indeed any other weapon and our MAINSTREAM POLICE remain [like Community and Traffic Officers, even THEIF TAKERS] UNARMED.
        Meanwhile the USA is so bloody primitive that many advocate arming school kids and teqachers. Cannot they see that the sheer AVAILABILITY of Firearms especiall semi-Auto long guns and hhand gund s MUST have an effect on the current out-of-contro mass shooting [those involving I believe more than four victims] of which there have been almost THIRTY in the first 4 months of 2022.
        This is nothing more or less than NATIONAL TERRORISM in all but name funded byn the US Arms Industry and encouraged by vicious and ignorant politicos [including a certifiably mad, according to not a few authorities, ex -President who seem bent on CIVIL WAR. Be careful of what you wish because it is in the nature of things that YOU will be the first VICTIMS

        • Your government is worried you can’t handle slicing an avocado.

          Maybe this conversation is beyond you.

        • Because who are we to argue with an arms expert from…wait for it..The Royal Air Force! Everyone knows that they are the most knowledgeable when it comes to small arms, right? The Royal Air Force?!? If you would have said the Royal Marines, or the Paras, or the SAS, maybe you’d have a captive audience. The Royal Air Force? I’d sooner listen to pointers from the Boy Scouts.

        • If you don’t like the language due to your sensitive, British nature, perhaps you should pick up a copy of “Why the U.S. bailed Britian’s ass out of WWll”. May be more to your liking. Our guns and ammo didn’t bother you blokes then.
          Enjoy your day.

        • Your post was a barely readable mashup of random letters and capitalizations. Your own words destroyed whatever point you intended to make. I learned that to be in the Royal Air Force, one must not be able to read, speak or write. To say the English are a bunch of dumbass pansies is just not strongly worded enough.

        • Yada yada yada yada. Thanks for contributing nothing. I must agree, The Royal Air Force? Isn’t that where stoneless Harry the former prince used to hang out with his mates drinking beer?

        • Long winded are we? I have seen you security forces in action at Heathrow airport. One chambered his weapon pointing it at my thigh (a tourist).
          You all may have no rights to possess firearms legally, but don’t think you can infringe mine. I am a veteran also. Politician prefer unarmed peasants. All it takes is a disaster and the SHTF. Then the outlaws will be king. Because the politicians will help themselves first.

  5. A thousand bucks for a glorified in reality cast iron Ruger. No thanks if I want junk I will buy the Ruger. If I want quality I will buy a used Colt Diamond Back or Smith K22 (pined and recessed) not the cast iron garbage Smith is making today.

    THIS IS WHAT A “REAL” quality .22 REVOLVER LOOKS LIKE. No longer made of course, thank you greed mongers of Capitalvania.

    https://guncollectorsclub.com/smith-wesson-k22-masterpiece.htm

    OR THIS BEAUTY

    https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/05/27/wheelgun-wednesday-colt-diamondback/

    These days pay less , and buy cast iron, pay more and buy a family heirloom.

    • If you. so very mentally ill, are claiming to own firearms that is proof in itself that background checks and red flag laws are worthless.

      • Red Flag laws are not only useless they are unconstitutional. As are background checks..”Shall not be infringed”. Pretty absolute there.

    • While I may agree with you on the quality of the old models v these, your Capitalvania “assessment” has nothing to do with it.

      Just too expensive to make this quality as the standard for the number that would be purchased at the required price.

      My old man’s first year K22 (#58x) was around $80, quite expensive for a skilled trades working man at the time. The break from cocked is superior to just about every Performance Center gun today, as is the action on all my 5 screw N Frames and my M29 from around 1970. Labor costs (can you say “union?”) drove the price up. Time is expensive, materials not so much.

  6. I’m pretty sure I handled the very same gun in the pics here in Houston, this weekend. It’s a sweet little revolver. Very smooth double-action pull; very crisp, light single-action release. Yeah, you could buy two or three Ruger or Heritage or Diamondback revolvers for the same outlay of cash, but they’re just not in the same league. This is a very nice little bit of kit, if you like that kind of thing.

  7. A thousand dollar revolver to teach youth to shoot 22? You probably taught them to drive in the family Bentley.

    • I drove a Bentley at the auction I worked for a while this last year. Too comfortable. I’d be afraid of falling asleep on a drive.

  8. I like .22 LR’s….revolvers, pistols and rifles. This Colt for around $600’ish would be a cinch…at $1,000 it is a no-go!

  9. I have a Ruger GP100 in 357, terrific revolver and built like a tank, one of my “would never part this with” guns, so I thought “let me see what their GP100 in 22LR sells for” – and the MSRP is the same $1029 as the 357.

    Ruger is a bargain brand for many firearms (sadly, as evidenced by the QC in the last few years) but the revolvers are historically solid and, apparently, selling for a hella lot more than I would pay for a 22!

  10. Hey Albert Hall. didn’t you have a soldier killed with a knife on the street by a terrorist while everybody watched because they couldn’t do a damn thing about it? because they can’t have a gun or even a knife in your country? and what about the rising crime waves that persist to this day in your country which seem to have started right around the time your communist government decided no one needs a gun to defend themselves? I think you really need to get out more.

  11. Apparently CZ has decided this is needed to compete with S&W in the revolver marketplace. CZ does make some great firearms, however, I personally have no experience with COLT products. I will say my S&W 6″ barrel model 617 is absolutely incredible to shoot, and the accuracy is nothing short of amazing! If this is anywhere near as good or better, well . . .then it’s about price, brand loyalty, and prior experience with products by them. If I didn’t already have the 617, I’d probably look into these.

  12. i just found a 1967 Colt Frontier Scout in nickel this morning; it came in the box with 22 and 22wmr cylinders – looks lightly, if it all, used and the finish is 100% – price tag then? $84.50… which equates to, thanks to Brandon, nearly $800 nowadays… so i’d say this new Colt needs to come with a 22wmr cylinder… i guess the only thing i’m gonna have to watch is carry safety with this old Colt (can’t keep one under the hammer)

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