I know that a lot of people bash these guns, but I also realize that a lot of people who bash these guns haven't owned one. So, as speaking as someone with one, I thought I'd share my thoughts.
I thought for about $100 it would be a good fooling around gun. Not something that I'd want to rely on in a pinch, but it would better than nothing. For the price, it was something that I was willing to work on without fear of throwing away a pile of cash.
The gun looks pretty good in the box. The (nickel) finish looked good. though it might some kind of paint or powder coat. The gun is heavy. The frame is some sort of alloy. I haven't put a magnet to it, but I'd guess it is steel based on the weight. Too heavy to carry, I would think. There is no stop to keep the slide open. The hammer is internal. The gun will fire with the magazine removed. There's not a real good way to tell if its loaded, but you can tell if its cocked by a small pin at the back showing that its cocked. To say the least, it has no bells or whistles.
New out of the box, the feed ramp was full of burrs. I don't see how it could feed properly in that condition. I mean it had big pieces of metal sticking up on the feed ramp. I disassembled the gun and polished the feed ramp with a dremel tool and jeweler's rouge. With the feed ramp polished, I took it to the range and shot 150 rounds through it. I had ZERO failure to feed problems. I had zero misfires. The only issue I had was about 20% of the time, the last round in the magazine wouldn't eject all the way. I'm not sure why at this point, but I'm thinking its the magazine. As far as acuracy, at 15' I was putting the bullet through the bullseye consistently. The back site is small, but it isn't worthless like people say. Its just small and requires a bit more aiming. Paint on the sites would help. I shot Walmart Winchester white box ammo with the blunt nose bullets. Pretty good for a $100 gun that most people think is a piece of junk.
After shooting it, I brought it home and cleaned it and noticed a couple of spots where the slide and frame had burrs from the manufacturing process that had not been removed. (Actually, I think these parts are cast and these were the seams.) The primers were not being struck in the center. I'm thinking these burrs might have been keeping the slide from sitting in the right position. I haven't been back out to the range to test my theory. Like I said though, every single round fired every time.
Overall, I'm pleased with it for $100. Its a good foolin' around gun. It would be a good plinker. Would I carry it? No. Would it be my first choice to take into battle? No. Would I brag I have a Cobra? Heck, no. But for what it is, I'm pretty happy with it. I would say to treat this gun more like it is a partially assembled kit and that it needs some detail work to make it usable and you'll be thinking about it correctly. You're supplying the last $15 of labor that the factory omitted.
