Given that the Diamondback has a longer barrel than the Cobra, it wouldn’t be fair to compare their accuracy by firing them both from the bench at targets 25 yards away. The Diamondback is a highly refined duty gun that has adjustable target-style sights, target stocks and a 4-inch barrel. You can’t compare them directly, but you can ask whether each one is a good piece of fruit, or in this case you can ask if each is well made and appropriate for its intended uses. Of course, comparing the new Cobra to a 40 year-old Diamondback is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. With that one slight imperfection, the Diamondback is simply beautifully made. There are no tool marks or poorly conformed parts, and all of the lines are straight with no sharp edges. The timing is perfect, and the cylinder locks up solidly in the frame. Otherwise, the finish is mirror bright, the bluing is deep and even, all of the seams mate perfectly and the sideplate is precisely fitted. The only other issue was some minor holster wear. It was carefully removed with a fine stone. Gunsmith Jamie Zern at the Florida Gun Exchange found a slight imperfection on the sear causing uneven wear. The action is smooth and stacks to a DA pull that consistently breaks at 9.5 pounds, but there was a slight hesitation just before the sear broke. Its quality is generally very high with one exception. The Diamondback used for comparison in this article is a 4-inch-barreled model of mine that was made in 1977. The SA let-off was 4 pounds, and the DA pull was 9 pounds, but it felt heavier because of the stacking.
#COLT DIAMONDBACK HISTORY FULL#
The cylinder timing was perfect, the hammer would not push off of the sear at full cock, the finish was an even matte stainless, there was no cylinder end shake, the crane was in perfect alignment, and the trigger pull was smooth. There were no tool marks, burrs or poorly conformed lines anywhere on my test gun. The new Cobra trigger pulls more straight back but still stacks like the old Colt triggers.Īs for quality of construction, the new Cobra appears to be very well made. The trigger is slightly reshaped to provide more leverage for the trigger finger. The trigger and action are also a bit different. That couldn’t be done with the old Colts. The new sight can also be removed with just an Allen wrench and replaced with a night sight. In addition, the new Cobra has fixed sights like most D-Frame models, but instead its front sight has a fiber-optic insert. The similarity is close enough to allow some speedloaders, stocks and holsters that fit the older D-Frame guns to be used with the new ones. The receiver itself is very close in size but not identical to the old Colt D-Frame. Like the old Cobra, it’s a six-shooter, but it has a stainless steel frame rather than an aircraft-grade aluminum frame. The current-production Cobra is not an identical copy of any DA/SA revolver built by Colt in the past, but it is similar to the famous Colt snubbies in many ways. But the biggest surprise came when a Colt engineer told me at the 2017 SHOT Show that the new Cobra revolver used the classic Colt flat V-spring operating system instead of coil springs. I was really surprised to see Colt back in the DA/SA revolver business since I’d been told several years ago by a factory representative that this was very unlikely. Of course, a bit of the wind came out of my sails when I started seeing full-page ads for the new Colt Cobra in gun magazines. After all, waiting 50 years to purchase something you really want isn’t exactly impulse buying. Given that Colt wasn’t making any more DA/SA revolvers, I immediately bought it. Then, in 2016, I saw a 4-inch-barreled Diamondback in better than 90-percent condition on for a very reasonable price. The “little snake” didn’t come home that year, and over time I wished that it had. 38 Special I’d ever seen. Unfortunately, it cost a whopping $125, and I already had a Police Positive. Category: Hand Guns For Sale Tags: 1191 gun for sale, 152mm gun for sale, 1898 gun for sale, 1900 gun for sale, 338-06 gun for sale, 556 glock for sale, 7.In 1967, I saw my first Colt Diamondback in a hardware store in central Illinois, and it was the nicest.