Colt is expanding the revived snake family of revolvers with a new version of the recently released King Cobra. The .38 Cobra and its .357 sibling both appeared mostly targeted to users looking for revolvers for concealed carry, due to the relatively short barrels. The re-release of the Colt King Cobra will catch the eye of shooters and collectors alike.

WHEELGUN WEDNESDAY: Colt King Cobra Target Revolver

Now Colt is introducing a variant of the King Cobra which better exploits the power and accuracy performance of the Magnum round, through a 4.25″ barrel. Adjustable sights and dedicated custom wood grips complete the package.

Here below the full press release:

Colt King Cobra Target Revolver. Note the nice touch of the chamfering towards the front face of the chambers. Image Credit: Colt.

WEST HARTFORD, CONN., (August 20, 2019) – Colt continues to develop its re-imagined family of “snake guns” with the release of the much-anticipated King Cobra Target. Featuring a 4 1/4” barrel, adjustable rear sight, elevated fiber optic front sight, and custom wood medallion grips, this revolver was thoughtfully engineered to adapt the powerful .357 magnum King Cobra to the competitive range. The new King Cobra Target is available now through the Colt dealer network for $999 MSRP.

Forged from American stainless steel, the 6-round capacity, double-action revolver is the third model in the modern King Cobra series. Colt reintroduced King Cobra .357 in January 2019, followed by the King Cobra Carry in May of 2019. Colt’s snake guns continue to be popular for defense, target shooting, and with collectors.

“After releasing the King Cobra earlier this year we received a flood of requests for a 4” model with adjustable sights. Our customers are excited to bring their Colts to the range and the King Cobra Target is engineered for accurate and enjoyable shooting. The longer barrel and custom wood grips also just look fantastic,” said Justin Baldini, Director of Marketing at Colt. “We’ve precisely tweaked this revolver to get it exactly where we want it and know our customers will feel the difference.”

Customers can visit colt.com to purchase the King Cobra Target and find their local stocking dealer.

This Target version definitely looks good and it seems well refined. The wood grips are gorgeous, although they look a bit oversized, maybe they would visually balance more a 6″ barrel. Anyway, their main purpose is to fill the hand offering a positive, repeatable control on the firearm, and that can’t be judged by a photo.

The press release above mentions that the revolver is made by forging. While this is not a guarantee of quality per se, and other valid manufacturing options exist, it is frequently preferred by customers of rather traditional revolvers.

The Colt King Cobra is not yet a new, true to original, Python but it looks like a step in the right direction. It may indeed be a sign of these models being well received by the public and of the Company being committed to the series. Hopefully all the main snake revolvers will return. For now, we’ll have to settle for the Colt King Cobra.