laststandonzombieisland

Offered in brushed stainless steel with a full-lug 3-inch barrel, the six-shot .357/.38SPL King Cobra was announced this week and will be officially on hand at SHOT at the end of the month.

The choice of barrel length on the new King Cobra is interesting. The original revolver was first introduced in 1986 and was made in 2, 2.5, 4, 6 and 8-inch variants across the revolver’s original commercial production, which ended in 1998. Just a few spec guns (less than 20) were made with a 3-inch format for various police tenders but they never went into production.

I’ve always liked the 3-inch barrel on a carry revolver as I have mentioned a few times before as it provides more velocity over a snub– not to mention a skosh longer sight radius– while being more concealable than a 4-inch combat gun. I have an old-school (pre-suck) Rossi full-lug stainless M720 in .44 Special that I have taken in the swamp several times as a hog hunting back up.

For more on the new Colt 3-inch King, head to my column at Guns.com.