Buckhorn Bud Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Cobra CB38 Derringer Review I’ve always been fond of the Remington style derringer and been thinking about buying one for quite some time. Finally I broke down and purchased a Cobra CB38. No, my J-frame is in no danger of being replaced as my carry piece. The derringer would be used mainly for side-matches. Of course there are times when my attire dictates that the snubbie be carried in a less accessible location and a derringer in the pocket could give me the few extra seconds needed to draw my main piece. Being both chambered for the same caliber is another advantage. I know that there are much higher quality derringers on the market but, unfortunately, they’re not available here in this anti-gun Socialist Republic of California. I decided on the chrome finish with black grips to compliment my wife’s stainless steel vaqueros. Some guns come complete and ready to go out of the box but then they usually cost over $500. I consider most guns below that price as kits that may be made into decent guns and, at $159, the Cobra derringer is no exception. One of the main issues that people complain about with the Cobra derringer is the stiff trigger pull. This one measured 19 pounds. The hammer also felt rough as I worked it through its normal range of motion. I proceeded to install snap-caps and dry-fire the gun to see if the problems would clear up. Dry-firing didn’t do much for either of the problems mentioned but it did show that the gun also had some additional issues. First of all if the trigger was pulled back hard it would stick in the fire position until I actually pushed it forward. On the other hand if I pulled the trigger just enough to fire the pistol the hammer would catch at the half-cock position. I also found that with the hammer in the half-cocked position if I pulled on the trigger hard enough the hammer would actually fall. After playing with it a while I realized that when the hammer was at what felt like the half-cock position if I pushed the trigger forward the hammer would actually lock into the real half-cock position. From that point it didn’t matter how hard I pulled on the trigger the hammer would stay as it should. Once I had identified all the issues mentioned above it was time to take the gun to the “Man Cave” (garage) so my favorite gunsmith could work on it. (Yes, my gunsmith lives in the garage because that’s where my tools and work benches are. Besides, my wife doesn’t like me working on guns in the kitchen.) After a few hours of filing, sanding, stoning, fitting and looking for the selector spring that jumped out of my hand, came more filing, sanding, stoning, fitting, one or two touches with a dremel, and more looking for that same spring that got away again. Finally all the issues mentioned above were solved. Since there is no trigger guard I set the trigger pull at 5-1/2 pounds. Not knowing how close the sights were I decided to start my range testing at 10 feet. (SASS recommends point-blank to 3 yards for side-matches.) I fired 5 rounds from the bottom barrel then taped up the holes and fired 5 more rounds from the top. People often complain about poor accuracy and the two barrels not hitting the same spot but all holes landed within a 2” circle. I considered that acceptable for such a small gun. I didn’t have a lot of time for further testing so I decided to just try shooting some of our regular SASS pistol targets set at between 7 and 10 yards. On the paper the group was about 4 inches high so I aimed at the bottom of the targets. All shots hit their mark so I decided to try the SASS rifle targets set between 20 and 40 yards. A little over half of the shots hit their intended targets this time. It’s hard to know how many of the misses were due to pistol inaccuracy, how many were due to trying to compensate for the elevation error and of course some misses were probably caused from the idiot pulling the trigger. Either way having to adjust for that much elevation offset is unacceptable in my opinion. The sight radius of the derringer is 2.375”. As stated earlier the group was 4” high at 10’. Simple geometry gives a formula of : 4”/10’ = X/2.375” Converting feet to inches: 4”/120” = X/2.375” Solving for X and rounding to 3 places: X = 2.375*(4/120)” = .079” From these calculations I determined that the sights needed to be adjusted .079”. Filing the rear sight down that far would not only look bad but would also make the hinge too weak so I drilled and taped a hole on the top of the front sight for an 0-80 screw. The head of the screw is only .050” thick so I added washers that raised it to .085”. The head of the screw is now the top of my front sight. The extra height will allow me to dial it in at the range. I’ll give an update when I get a chance to shoot it again. In conclusion, the Cobra derringer is actually a better gun than I’d expected for the price. Both barrels grouped fairly well for such a small gun. Contrary to the Remington derringer, the Cobra has coil springs that should last a long time. The recoil is comparable to my snubbie, i.e. manageable but not comfortable. I believe it will be a very serviceable and reliable gun but, like most firearms under $200, don’t expect it to work well right out of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gawd Awful Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Great review, thank you for the write up, if you ever buy another one you might consider taking pictures and doing an article for the chronical about how and where you did your "sanding stoning and grinding" to slick it up and fix the problems with the trigger I do have a question Isn't drilling a hole and putting a screw and washer on top of it an external modification and there fore illegal? I only ask because I know that adding an external screw to an 87 for the drop 2 mod was considered an external mod because it was visible and determined illeagle. I realize its a sidematch toy, but it would suck to go to a big match and find out it an illeagle mod and not be allowed to shoot the gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Com'on BB, we all know you used a air-chisel too. That front sight mod, HMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm. LG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackrabbit Joe #414 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Howdy Pards: Talking about the Cobra Derringers very nice toy: Purchased one for my wife (.22 Caliber) so she could shoot the Derringer side match. Whew! Had to do some work on this little thing as it is right at 4" overall length, fits in the palm of my hand. She could not pull the hammer back on it and once she did the trigger pull was so hard and the Selector broke right at the first firing. Mercy I thought what have I purchased here. A phone call to the folks at Cobra in Salt Lake City, Utah immediately sent new parts no charge of course. Replaced the parts and to make long story short the gun started to have this gunsmith work it over. Did some filing on the sear, cut a couple coils off main spring and presto the wife started to enjoy the little gun. But, not for long it started mis-firing again. Mercy, Mercy I said to myself.Another call to Cobra more parts sent some free and some I got as extra stuff for down the road repairs. Well pards I got it going again been shooting .22 shell caps and works good right now. Will take it to range Friday and shoot up some ammo and hope it works. Initial cost $125.00. Satin finish with white pearl grips. Wife loves it as long as it works. Waaa, Haa: P.S. The folks at Cobra Firearms customer service area nice folks to deal with. See you all on the range: Jackrabbit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gawd Awful Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Jackrabbit, can I try it fri? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene, SASS # 27489 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Can you hold the trigger back and slip-hammer the Cobra? That would eliminate the heavy trigger issue for derringer side matches, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckhorn Bud Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 Can you hold the trigger back and slip-hammer the Cobra? That would eliminate the heavy trigger issue for derringer side matches, anyway. Yes, you can. Just make sure to pull the hammer all the way back so that it toggels the selector switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckhorn Bud Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 Great review, thank you for the write up, if you ever buy another one you might consider taking pictures and doing an article for the chronical about how and where you did your "sanding stoning and grinding" to slick it up and fix the problems with the trigger I do have a question Isn't drilling a hole and putting a screw and washer on top of it an external modification and there fore illegal? I only ask because I know that adding an external screw to an 87 for the drop 2 mod was considered an external mod because it was visible and determined illeagle. I realize its a sidematch toy, but it would suck to go to a big match and find out it an illeagle mod and not be allowed to shoot the gun Thank you for the compliment. Good point on the front sight mod. Thanks for pointing it out. On first attempt skimming the manuals came up inconclusive. I'll check some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckhorn Bud Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 Com'on BB, we all know you used a air-chisel too. :o/> That front sight mod, HMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm. :huh:/> LG Nooooo Lumpy. I used the air-chisel on your rifle to slow you down enough that I'll have a chance. You just haven't noticed it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackrabbit Joe #414 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Jackrabbit, can I try it fri? You betcham Gawd Awful. JRJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackrabbit Joe #414 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 In reference to the .22 Cobra I'll be trying out again Friday. If all works I'll try the slip shooting by holding hammer back and see what it can do. Will let you know. Hopefully it will at least fire up ok. Yeeeh, Haaa pards! Lol! Jackrabbit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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