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Tristar Cobra Tactical?? Anybody have one? or pump....

60K views 25 replies 20 participants last post by  Neanderthal 
#1 ·
Hey I saw one of these in my local gun shop for pretty cheap. Are they any good? Has a spring assisted return on the pump.. kinda cool. I figure you can't really "mess up" a pump shotgun. Can't seem to find any reviews about them. Any help would be great

thanks.
 
#4 ·
here is what their website says

"The Cobra Tactical delivers reliability and firepower with a 5 + 1 capacity magazine. This easy to maneuver, short barrel pump shotgun comes with a standard molded stock. The Cobra Tactical has one feature that truly separates it from the competition (aside from its incredibly low price); it comes with a return spring in the forearm. This allows the user to pull back on the forearm to eject the shell and then simply release. The spring returns the forearm back to position and shucks another shell into the chamber in one extremely fast motion, allowing for a quicker reload."

http://www.tristarsportingarms.com/product_cobra.html
 
#25 ·
here is what their website says

"The Cobra Tactical delivers reliability and firepower with a 5 + 1 capacity magazine. This easy to maneuver, short barrel pump shotgun comes with a standard molded stock. The Cobra Tactical has one feature that truly separates it from the competition (aside from its incredibly low price); it comes with a return spring in the forearm. This allows the user to pull back on the forearm to eject the shell and then simply release. The spring returns the forearm back to position and shucks another shell into the chamber in one extremely fast motion, allowing for a quicker reload."

http://www.tristarsportingarms.com/product_cobra.html
My for-end broke and have been having a hell of a time finding after market for-end for the cobra 3 seeing if any one new of some comparing parts that can fit
 
#6 ·
If the spring assist is because pumping it forward takes too much energy or force, that's redundant because it will now take twice as much force to push back the forend with the spring in place. Without the spring the forend is already pretty easy to operate, but now it'll be forcing it back against a spring.
 
#7 ·
I have one.Its pretty good for the money,but I recommend a stouter buttstock (the OEM is hollow) if your going to use more powerful loads.Fired some winchester supreme 3inch mag number 4 buck with 41 copperplated .24 pellets-kicked like a pissed off mule!
The spring assist is actually not too evil to work,tho it is a bit different than traditional pumps.Yes,it is strong enough to bring a shell into battery,and it is a bit of a pain to hold the action open......It hasnt caused any kind of malfunctions in firing,even when rapid firing,its just a bit 'different'.Riding the forearm with spring assist does actually make things a little faster.The spring is not so powerful as to yank the forearm out of your hand or make the opening stroke difficult at all.

The overall fit and finish is quality.
For the money,its an ok ****** with a bit of a twist......

My only real complaint is the magazine capacity,which seems to be a little restricted for a tube as long as it is-should hold 1 or 2 more shells.....oh well,it'll keep the spring in good shape.

This shotgun makes an excellent and economical home defence peice,you can keep it loaded and not worry about the spring in the mag.....

BTW,it was featured on the front of this magazine,wish I had the story,but I dont.....


"SPRING-LOADED SNAKE
Cobra Tactical Pump Shotgun
S.W.A.T. recently requested and received a new shotgun for test and evaluation-the Cobra Pump Tactical-from TriStar Sporting Arms. Manufactured in Turkey and imported by TriStar, the Cobra at first glance appears to be a traditional 12-gauge, slide-action (pump) shotgun. But it's got a few tricks up its sleeve.
by Denny Hansen"
 
#8 ·
Yeah, just bought one about 3 weeks ago. I bought it at Academy Sports and Outdoors, came WITH the folding stock that you normally have to buy separately for $50.00 and it came with the regular stock (which sucks, feels cheap), but the folding unit is all steel. In all I paid $249.00 plus tax for it. Not a bad deal at all, but the damn magazine tube is a WASTE OF SPACE!!! Yes, like others have said, it SHOULD be able to hold AT LEAST 2 or 3, 2 3/4" rounds, but if you have one, notice that the diameter of the magazine tube gets smaller after, or beyond the screw cap that attaches the mag. so, there is no way in hell you can modify it to hold any more rounds. Actually, when I bought mine, It would only hold 4, 3" rounds plus one in the chamber. But by reversing the little (cheap plastic) plug where you insert the rounds into the mag I was able to load 5, 3" rounds plus one in the chamber, but, still can only load 5, 2 3/4 rounds in the mag. and one in the chamber. Makes better sense to stick to 3" rounds, even though they "kick like a pissed off mule" LOL !!!!! good one!
At one point I got frustrated and thought about sticking a long-*** 7/8 drill bit and drill the magazine so at least the INNER diameters would be the same for the whold mag. But I'm afraid I'd f**ck it up!! Does anybody know if TriStar sells replacement mags? That way I could try it and let you all know if it works and have a spare mag tube in case I screw it up. Let me know anybody and I'll try it. :twisted:
 
#9 ·
BTW, Stoeger makes a tactical 12 ga. that has an 18" barrel and a pistol grip stock, also available at ACADEMY Sports etc., I asked the clerk to see if the mag cap from a Bennelli would fit the Stoeger and they ARE interchangable, fit perfectly. Does that mean that a Magazine extension tube from a Bennelli will fit? I'll let you know. I bought the Stoeger ($299.00) and I ordered a bennelli 4 round extension tube from brownells. Lets see what happens. I'll keep you posted if it works or not.
Has anybody ever tried this setup ?????
 
#10 ·
J.T. said:
BTW, Stoeger makes a tactical 12 ga. that has an 18" barrel and a pistol grip stock, also available at ACADEMY Sports etc., I asked the clerk to see if the mag cap from a Bennelli would fit the Stoeger and they ARE interchangable, fit perfectly. Does that mean that a Magazine extension tube from a Bennelli will fit? I'll let you know. I bought the Stoeger ($299.00) and I ordered a bennelli 4 round extension tube from brownells. Lets see what happens. I'll keep you posted if it works or not.
Has anybody ever tried this setup ?????
what kind of Benelli cap did you try? I've tried Nova and Benelli semi auto extensions on my stoeger and couldn't get either to work.
 
#12 ·
Just some comments:
-I just read a post elsewhere that one person sent their Tristar Cobra to the distributor and they removed some crimp-thing from the mag extention and now it holds 7 rounds, instead of 5. The poster thought it could be done at home by a person with reasonable skills, but he used the dist. for warrantee reasons.

- If you don't like the return spring 'feel', just remove the spring and it acts like a regular pump. I like it tho.

- Has anyone had luck finding an aftemarket stock for these Cobras? The top-folding stock for these guns says that it also fits the Mossberg 500. So I figured it was compatible. I ordered an ATI tactical stock that fits a bunch of shotguns, including the Mossy 500, but it will not mate up no matter what adapter piece I try. I wanted to move to a sturdy pistol-grip stock. Anyone have luck with this?
 
#13 ·
Wookie-me and a buddy of mine made that ATI stock work with some custom fitting via dremel tool.....
The stock is actually quite good,if were talking about the same one-the solid ATI pistol grip?
Also got the ATI side saddle and have it on the stock-wish I could find one that would mount on the receiver......
I would love to see what the deal is with that mag tube-if a 'crimp' is the issue,and can be flattened,or removed or whatever-I can do it myself.

Update-I decided to ask TriStar about the magazine capacity issue,and whether or not they would remove the crimp for me or sell me a tube with the crimp removed and here is the response-

By federal law, because we are in an importer we are not allowed to import
any shotgun that holds more than 5 shells in the magazine tube. It is
extremely illegal to remove the crimp or to sell any mag. tube that holds
more shells that 5 to anybody, unless they are law enforcement, military,
or goverment official.

TriStar Sporting Arms
I don't know,but this sounds very conflicting to me as Wookie stated that TriStar removed a crimp for someone else.........
I'm not saying they did or did not,and I don't know for sure about the 'federal law' being related here-but being that fedzilla has made and will violently enforce MANY silly little arbitrary rules like this one,I would say that unless a lawyer points it out otherwise,it would be safe to go with what the manufacturer and/or importer is claiming said arbitrary restriction to be,as they are the ones intimately involved with the fedgov regarding the small trite nuances of the myriad stupid and petty gun laws.

"Shall not be infringed" indeed.............
 
#14 ·
That's interesting about the legality issue on the mag tube, never heard that before...I saw one of these the other day at a local gun shop and checked it out. Nice gun, felt very light, but also seemed to have alot of plastic. The spring action on the forend was nice. I like it. It had a SWEET front sight on it. I would like to get ahold of one of those sights, dont know who makes it...For the money the cobra seems like a no lose deal. Oh, if anybody knows where I can get that sight (or one like it) for a reasonable price, I would love to know.
 
#16 ·
just figured i'd throw in my bit of experience with this gun.

i picked one up mid summer after having been burglarized 2x within 6months. unfortunately due to a new baby and various other issues, i haven't had a chance to shoot it until this past weekend.

3" shells had some MAJOR KICK (never shot a shotgun before, so this is my first time experience), and the 2 3/4" shells were fairly "comfortable" compared to the 3" shells.

i have to say that the sight was fairly accurate. every shot pattern center was consistently about 2" below where i aimed (most likely due to the way i was looking at the sight, but at least i was consistent).

and since i never shot a shotgun before, i didn't seem to be bothered by the spring assisted pump action. i can hold the action open fairly simple and one-handed after getting used to it.

the only problem that i had with it (not sure if it's something i was doing, or if the gun needs to be "broken in", or if it was a flaw, but i had 2 shells jam up on me out of approximate 55-60ish rounds. so overall i don't think that's bad, but i don't know what the jam rate for other guns is.
and when they jamed, it was almost like they just "missed" the opening in the barrel, so all i did was pull back on the forehand (i think that's what it's called) and slightly rotated the gun and then let go, and the shell went right in.
as i said, it could have been something that i was doing since it was my first time handling a shotgun.

i would like to get a folding stock and some of the other "cool" accessories to visually enhance the shotgun, but that's mostly because i have it hanging in plain sight on the wall and would like to make it look a little nicer.
 
#17 ·
hi i just bought a tristar cobra and i had the same problem about not being able to lock the pump but thats not my main concerns right now ...i love the shot gun it is my fisrt that i bought but i never got a manual for it...so i figured out on my own how to take it apart and im in the military so cleaning it is very simple....but i cant figure out how to put a folding stock or a six point adjustible on it .....i havent even figuered out how to take the stock off...i also cant find any rails to go on top cause there is no holes to screw them in ....basically all i want to do is acceserise it out and i have no idea what to do can anyone help...
 
G
#18 ·
i also cant find any rails to go on top cause there is no holes to screw them in ....basically all i want to do is acceserise it out and i have no idea what to do can anyone help...
Well, I can help of sorts. If you want to use the weapon for what it was intended - self defense, leave it alone. Or make basic mods that make it more reliable and functional. If you want a toy, I can't help you much.

TempestV....Is the mag capacity mod issue true for the mfg or the individual? After all, you can extend the capacity of a Benelli. (The guys running 14 rounds in 3-gun?) I thought federal law restricted ALL shotguns to three rounds at the point of sale. Am I just confused or is my memory failing again? :(
 
#19 ·
The law is 922r. It applies to both pump and auto shotguns. You can't have any "non-sporting" features on a shotgun if more than 10 listed parts are imported. That is an oversimplification, but that is the gist of it. There is a good site on the topic here:
http://home.comcast.net/~navy87guy/home/922r.html

So when you see stuff like 982's with pistol grips and extended mags, there is a fair chance they are 922r violators. Same goes for a lot of Saiga, and Benelli builds.
 
#21 ·
I have the Tristar Viper G2 tactical, its the semi auto. Its been a great gun for me so far. I bought it as a HD gun but it goes out to the range with me every time I go and I usually run a dozen or so rounds through it each time.

I have shot 2 3/4" and 3" shells including magnum loads. It cycles the light #8 loads fine, but not at first when it was new...Wasnt broken it. Some 3" heavy loads and a few 3" magnums and all is well.

I talked with tristar awhile back and found out some of the Viper G2 series parts interchange...Stocks, Barrels, forends and trigger groups
 
#22 ·
(1st time posting / long time reading)

just thought i'd add to this thread; i've had a tristar cobra for a while now and this 922r import law alwaze bugged me.
I asked another shotgunner how he managed the legality of adding a mag extension to his M4 Benelli. He showed me an atf opinion letter where they count 13 imported parts comprising his shotgun. He had to replace his stock, foregrip, and mag follower with US parts to bring hs count to 10.

Looking at the list; the cobra appears to have 11 import parts... So, I can prolly get away with a magazine follower to legally make this pump gun hold over 5 rounds.

I'm no lawyer, so I will try to research this farther before proceeding.
 
#24 ·
I have one of these shotguns, mine is stamped Webly&Scott, but its the same as the Tristar, I filec off the lip in the end of the mag tube and found a mag extension that fits a Beneli SuperNova I think, it screwed right on, there was some play, but i used a sling ring as a spacer and it works great, i havent had any proplems with it yet
 
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