Hey folks!

Hoping some revolver Jedi can answer a couple questions, or at least put my mind at ease.

Been shooting and enjoying my new production King Cobra target, but there are a couple quirks I'm curious about.

This is only my second revolver. First is an older GP100 my Grandfather gifted to me many moons ago. It's also chambered in 38/357, and its seen a few thousand easy rounds. No drama. Trigger pull = bang every time.

Some of my handloads for 357 mag use small rifle primers, as I use H110 powder and books suggest either a magnum or small rifle primers to ignite all that ball powder goodness. The Colt will NOT ignite the SRP in double action.. single action it will, not not double. I've only tried one box of factory 357 mag ammo through it (Rem 125gr FP) and I believe I shot most of it in single action, so I'm not sure if this problem Carrie's over to factory ammo, or once primers are available again if small pistol magnum primers will work fine (softer cup maybe?)

Also regarding "timing". The thing literally makes the final rotation of the cylinder the very last millisecond before the hammer strikes the chamber... so last second that it makes me nervous. Again, I'm a noob regarding wheel guns, but it seems that my GP100 makes the "rotation" from cylinder to barrel alignment sooner in the double action trigger pull. No Mark's on the forcing cone or indication that anything is wrong, just makes me nervous is all.

Lastly, I shoot alot. Live in the sticks and handload quite a bit. I read during reviews and hear reviewers state "I wouldn't feed it (Colt King Cobra Target) a steady diet of 357 mag". What kind of shit is this?! If my 357 mag "target" revolver cant take a steady diet of 357 mag, I have absolutely no use for it. My old Delta Elite has thousands of 10mm man-loads through it and swallows it all like a hungry whore. A mid-size revolver shouldn't quiver at 357 mag loads..

Sorry for the wall, just looking for advice/ reassurance.

The only way to know if you'd have light strikes with factory ammo is ... Shoot factory ammo.

You are correct. However there is a critical component to that theory missing at the moment...

Mine shoots fine with small magnum pistol primers. Rifle primers is the issue you are having.

The Colt is a safe revolver to shoot. I've actually had more issues with Ruger revolvers jamming than any of the new colts timing being an issue. If I am not mistaken, the hammer cannot move forward until the bolt locks into the cylinder.

Thank you very much, this is what I was hoping to hear.

This revolver is a sweet sweet shooter and a real looker. Saved up quite awile for one and shoot it frequently. Hoping it proves reliable long term.

I have never heard of using small rifle primers in pistols.  None of my manuals mention the practice.  Rifle primers are typically harder so it's no surprise they're not working in the Colt.  As far as the locking issue, that's how Colt's work.

This.

Harder primers = different ignition.  And Colt lockwork is quite a bit different.

As above, the problem is that rifle primers are harder then pistol primers.
Pistol ammo or pistol primers should cure the "problem".

The newer Colt's have a hand that advances the cylinder very similar to the old Colt's that had the famous "Bank Vault" lockup.
The hand forces the cylinder into tight lock up when the trigger is pulled.
Unless the gun is defective or badly worn the cylinder WILL lock up before the firing pin hits the primer.

The new Colt Cobra and King Cobra models are not medium frame revolvers like the old King Cobra.
The new models are updated small frames like the old Detective Special and Diamondback.
These have the same general size of frame and the same size cylinder as the older small frame models.
The original King Cobra had a larger, heavier medium frame and a much larger diameter cylinder.

As to shooting the new King Cobra with full .357 Magnum ammo, yes that will increase wear of the action more then shooting .38 Special ammo.
This is like driving a car at 120 mph versus 55 mph....... the higher speed will wear the engine and suspension faster, and shooting full Magnum ammo will wear a revolver faster, especially a small frame model.
However, the new King Cobra is a better engineered revolver made of better steels and heat treating then the old small frame models so it isn't going to wear out any time soon.

Thank you very much for the reply.

Ill try to ease up on the 357 mag diet... on the other hand it would be nice to push it and see just exactly how many rounds before any degradation in function takes place. It would be a better referance to guys like me that "I wouldn't feed it a steady diet".

A lot of rifle primers as mentioned are harder. A lot of your common semi and full auto rifles have floating firing pins, and can have them dimple a primer just by charging the weapon. While not common with 100% in spec guns, slam fires can happen in certain circumstances with out of spec components. Soft primers, raised primers, out of spec firing pins... Things like that.

Just use standard pistol primers and you'll be fine.

It also depends on the brand of primer

S&B are hard as a rock.

CCI are in the middle

Remington and Winchester are just right