Cobray FMJ Model D, 45C-410; Latest Big Bore Belly Gun

[quinn]

This post will probably get my forum membership revokes as it is my 3rd posting in a row of non S&W products.

This Cobray single barrel 410/45 Colt followed me home from the Gun show yesterday. I had one of these a few years ago. It was my tractor & boat gun as I mowed and fished a lot in snake territory. The litt;e guy accounting for a lont of slitherers. Tiny and fit in my jean's front pocket. But then I splurged on a 'big boy's' double barrel Bond Arms and traded in the little Cobray.

After discovering I couln't hit squat with the Bond I went looking to replace my single shot...but the company had gone out of business. It was almost 7 years before I ran across this one yesterday. Shoots 2.5" 410s or 45 Colt.

Up close and personal. Pretty crude. No high polish blue, Kicks like an *** at the range but doesn't seem to kick at all when there's a cottonmouth eyeing your foot.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I had one in the late 80's or early 90's. With 220 rnfp 45 Colt hand loads, I once got a 2" group at 30' but only once!

I did patterning tests with several sizes of shot (all factory ammo @ 1200 fps.)
At 10' #9's were way over 48"
#7.5's they were right at 48"
#4's were 16"

I sold the gun before I started loading 410. Later tests I found that for rifled handgun barrels 750 to 800 fps patterns much better. At 15', I get 12" with 1/2 ounce of #7.5's out of a 5.5" barrel. This seems to tear Copperheads to shreds!

So go for a tighter pattern and make up the energy difference with larger pellets.

Ivan

 

[Echo40]

Very nice, but I prefer something with higher capacity that's a bit more wieldly...

 

[Old Corp]

While working p/t at an LGS a few years ago, got a Cobray .45LC/.410 SxS double barrel pistol out of an estate for near-nothing.
Looks like it was made in a high school metal shop class.

It's chambered for 3" .410's, which leave ~1" of barrel ahead of the shell.
With .45 Colt loads, I can usually hit a pond on my property.

It rides in a cheap nylon holster affixed to my lawn tractor for snakes, but the only reptile friends I've encountered have gotten passes.