Obscure Object of Desire: The Cobray DS410 Shotgun

Cobray was a really interesting company. Before the absolutist mentality regarding firearms was prevalent, and before black guns dominated the market, companies like Cobray led the way. Cobray was unafraid to be unconventional and even controversial.

They produced machine guns for civilians before 1986. They made open bolt pistols and produced .45 Colt/.410 handguns before the Judge was a glint in Taurus’s eye. Sadly Cobray’s quality wasn’t great, and they weren’t very well respected. That didn’t mean they didn’t have good ideas, though, and the DS410 was a great idea.

In actuality, it’s not a bad gun, but it has its quirks. Is this truly an obscure object of desire? The answer is subjective, but I think the idea is an object of desire. With a little more fine-tuning, we could get something truly awesome, but for now, we have the Cobray DS410.

The DS410 isn’t a very well-known gun, even by Cobray standards. Cobray made a lot of weird guns but is mostly known for their MAC clones.

The company made a wide variety of handguns, primarily revolvers and derringers. One of their derringers seems to be the first time someone realized you could produce a .410 handgun by rifling the barrel and making a .45 Colt chamber extra long. This makes it a handgun and not an AOW or short-barreled shotgun.

They made two-shot derringers in varying sizes from kind-of-large-for-a-derringer to one with 11-inch barrels. They made a variety of these handguns before finally going all in and making a shotgun.

The Cobray DS410 – A Little Slugger

Cobray took that side-by-side derringer design they had and extended the barrel out to 18 1/8th inches, added a stock and made a proper shotgun. You can still tell it’s just a derringer design. The hammer, trigger, release, and micro-sized pistol grip are identical to the old derringer designs. It’s an absolutely silly little piece of work.

The stock is made of that Zytel nylon that Cobray was famous for. It’s skeletal and minimalist with three slots molded in for holding extra .410 shells. The stock is an under-folder design that helps shrink the overall size of the DS410. They added an extended foregrip that’s a little more akin to a regular shotgun forend.

Shooters can chamber three-inch shells in the DS410, and this is not a .45 Colt gun. The barrels are smooth bore like a real shotgun so you don’t have to worry about the rifling messing with your shot pattern. A simple bead sits at the end of those barrels for easy aiming. They used that same cheap powder coating that Cobray designs were known for.

What makes the DS410 such a neat idea is its low weight and the short size of the gun. The shotgun weighs only one pound, fourteen ounces. With the stock extended, the gun is 30¾ inches long. With the stock folded, the shotgun is 21 3/8 inches long. It’s small, light, and still chambers a shotgun cartridge capable of taking medium game.

A Survival Shotgun?

Portable, minimalist firearms are commonly associated with bugging out and survival, and the DS410 would be an excellent tool for that task. I like 12 gauges aplenty, but .410 is enough to take rabbits, birds, squirrels, and deer with the right loads. The slugs kind of suck, but there are some decent buckshot loads for close-range hunting capability.

The lightweight and packable nature of the DS410 makes it easy to tuck into a backpack so it disappears entirely. The idea is solid. Heck, I’d even argue it’d be better with a single smooth bore barrel and a single rifled .45 Colt barrel…or two smooth bore barrels and a .22LR insert. This way, your ammo choices would be more potent or easier to carry.

As is, the DS410 isn’t bad, but there are some silly issues and odd design choices that were likely done to keep the price as low as possible.

The Reality of the DS410

There are a few obvious flaws. A derringer-sized pistol grip isn’t great and doesn’t blend too well with a stock. Luckily, as a .410, the recoil is light and not a huge issue. The stock wiggles and wobbles, but still locks into place with a fairly primitive locking mechanism. The ergonomics are also wonky.

To open the action, the safety has to be in the off position. To get the safety into the off position, you have to pull the hammer back just slightly and push a blocky, often stiff, square from one side to the other. Then you can press back the release to open the gun.

There are no extractors or ejectors. You have to pry out the shells, which can be a real pain if you aren’t carrying a pocket knife.

To fire the gun, you need to cock the hammer. To cock the hammer you have to put the weapon back on safe. To fire, of course, have to take the weapon off safe.

Don’t expect rapid reloads with this thing. While it’s a hammer-fired side-by-side, there is only one hammer. It has a small rotating piece that allows you to switch barrels from left or right. It’s fairly smart in design and likely kept costs down.

Blasting Away

The bead sight is welded directly to the barrel. This creates an effect on your point of aim and point of impact. It’s not too noticeable with birdshot, but with buck, the gun appears to shoot high. The derringers used a raised front sight, and I think that would have been a better option for the shotgun variant as well.

Recoil is mild, as you’d expect, which is great because a shotgun that weighs less than two pounds has the potential for shoulder thumping. Luckily .410 isn’t too beastly. Overall the DS410 is plenty shootable and very useable. I like the idea of this gun more than the gun itself and would love to see a more modern take a design like this. A takedown variant would be even better than the folding option.

There is some potential here, especially at lower price points. The DS410 is an interesting design and one that is certainly at home in the ‘obscure’ bracket, even if it might not really be an object of desire for everyone.