Colt Viper 357

[gerhard1]

From the Oklahoma forum.

This is just my inital impression of my new Colt Viper 357. My stepson took my grandkids along with us to pick up the Viper from the gun shop in Wichita today. The gun is made of stainless steel and a side-by-side look tells me that the new Viper's frame is slightly larger than that of my old Police Positive Special. It looks, in fact, like a somewhat more robust verson of the D-frame.

Here, from the Colt website, is a picture of it. Mine is a 4.25" barrel. It also comes with a 3" barrel.

My brother has a King Cobra and except for the barrel and the grips, it is essentially the same gun. He told me that the trigger pull on his is good. On mine, it is superb, being very smooth and without the 'staginess' that old timers like myself often associate with the Colt name.

I think I'll enjoy mine.

When I get a chance to shoot it, I'll do a more complete review, this, like I said at the beginning, just being the initial impression.

 

[gerhard1]

I put a set of the old-style D-frame grips on it as I am used to them, having shot many rounds through my Police Positive Special over many years.
C&P from OSA

FINALLY!!! I got to shoot the Viper.

The main purpose of today's session was to function-fire the little Colt, with the object of seeing how reliable it was using an ammuntion brand that has given me lots of problems with a few S&W revolvers; namely, Winchester.

I put 96 rounds of WWB 130 FMJ through the Colt and was please to see that they all went 'bang'.

Since this was, like I said earlier, primarily intended to test the reliability with a brand that has harder primers, I didn't pay too much attention to accuracy, but even there the Viper did well. Since this is a fixed sight fighting gun, the range at which I shot was fairly short (5 yards). Accuracy was very adequate for the primary purpose of the gun, as I clearly ruined the bad guy's (an NYPD-style silhouette) day.

I now have a new hot-weather carry gun.

 

[ILGAC]

Your Viper is a good looking revolver!
I haven't tried any of the new production Colts but it seems that they are pretty high quality.

I like the feel of target grips but those service grips just look right.

 

[gerhard1]

My stepson tool me to Range 54 on Wichita yesterday and I put over 120 rounds through my Viper. I think that the function firing is done as I have established that it will shoot Winchesters with their harder primers reliably.

The one problem that I see with the Viper is the ejection of fired cases. They frequently get hung up and I have to pick them out with my fingers. Here, I may not be hitting the extractor rod hard enough to knock the cases out of the cylinder, as I don't want to lose the cases past the line. I reload them, thus, I want to keep them.

Also, using my HKS speedloaders is hard, but there are other options for reloading such as speed strips.

Still, the light weight, size and strength of the Viper make it an easy gun to carry, especially during hot weather.

Now, I have to look at good holster options.

 

[Goodtime Charlie]

@gerhard1 The cylinder chambers might be a little rough. You might try to polish them a bit and smooth them out, that might solve your extraction hangup. Just an idea.

 

[gerhard1]

I'll check it out. Thanks.