1968 Colt Cobra a bear for a side plate

[Grimjaws]

And now I know why I like Smith and Wesson. I've taken apart many Smith revolvers and never had an issue getting the side plate back on. Got my first Colt the other day, looked at some videos and took the side plate off to clean out the insides which were surprisingly not too bad. Tap the frame with a plastic handle and hold back the cylinder release and it came right off. No parts or springs went anywhere and that was the extent of my take down. Interesting internals.

Putting that side plate back was an hour job. Holy tight tolerances that had to be put exactly perfect to fit
I made sure all the internals where in the right spot and gently placed the side plate down over and over until it finally fit snug. It seemed to have an issue with the hand detail assembly as that is where it would not fit. Read some articles and watched several videos and what other folks have run across so everything appeared to be where it was supposed to be.

My FFL warned me that Colts have very tight tolerances and complex mechanisms and he was right.

I won't be doing that again!

 

[Old cop]

Got my Cobra for off duty carry in '68 (still have it) but never was brave enough to pull it apart. Thx for posting your experience.

 

[swagmeister]

Even worse is if you were to foolishly decide to "monkey" with the internals while you have that plate off. I think that all that I would do would be to blast the insides with Gunscrubber and oil a couple of places and that's it. I wouldn't try to remove any of the inside pieces to clean them. I read (and Jim Clark, Jr. told me once) that on a Colt revolver mechanism, if you alter one part, two other parts need adjusting and on and on. I guess that is why most qualified gunsmiths these days don't offer repair or action jobs on Colt revolvers. I have a friend who owns a Python that Reeves Jungkind of Austin, Tx. did an action job on in the mid 1980's and the double action stacking is completely gone. There are currently only a few of the old "masters" left who have the knowledge to correctly work on a Colt double action revolver. Colt has always had great actions on most of their revolvers (except for the stacking in the double action pull) but I'll stick with my 686 with a Clark action job.

 

[Grimjaws]

Small world

Got my Cobra for off duty carry in '68 (still have it) but never was brave enough to pull it apart. Thx for posting your experience.

The one I picked up was purchased in 1968 per the sales receipt as a police officers back up gun. He also bought a Python on the same order. That I missed out on but grabbed this one.

 

[margethatcher]

Some where I have an old Guns magazines in which a long time Colt employee discussing all one needed to correct many colt problems by literally wacking key points with a leather mallet. I've got a beater 19-4 I
installed a nickel cylinder easily. I've found that S@W revolvers (within model changes) has a good chance the parts will work.

 

[Inland7-45]

Colt Cobra

Even worse is if you were to foolishly decide to "monkey" with the internals while you have that plate off. I think that all that I would do would be to blast the insides with Gunscrubber and oil a couple of places and that's it. I wouldn't try to remove any of the inside pieces to clean them. I read (and Jim Clark, Jr. told me once) that on a Colt revolver mechanism, if you alter one part, two other parts need adjusting and on and on. I guess that is why most qualified gunsmiths these days don't offer repair or action jobs on Colt revolvers. I have a friend who owns a Python that Reeves Jungkind of Austin, Tx. did an action job on in the mid 1980's and the double action stacking is completely gone. There are currently only a few of the old "masters" left who have the knowledge to correctly work on a Colt double action revolver. Colt has always had great actions on most of their revolvers (except for the stacking in the double action pull) but I'll stick with my 686 with a Clark action job.

My Cobra was made in 1967. I bought it used in 1977 and I can honestly say that in some ways I like it more than my model 42 and 36.

I have never had the side plate off of this gun and stopped taking S&Ws apart a very long time ago.

About 10 years ago I contacted Colt to have some minor work done on the Cobra. I was told that they no longer provided factory service on DA revolvers of this age. I found a local gunsmith willing to work on it. It was'nt cheap and the gun was tied up for awhile but I am happy with the results.

In the last few years I have had K and J frames from 60s and 70 s worked on by the factory at reasonable prices. Lead times have been long but that's the same from anyone who is any good.

Unfortunately the factory can no longer do it all such as traditional bluing and work on older guns.