If you could own only one handgun wouldnt it be this one??

[jonahpach]

http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/gunsfs/cobray.html

[xl_target]

No way Jonah!
That looks like an accident waiting to happen.

[jonahpach]

Well, fact is it hasnt been successful. Maybe it isnt very practical in its present 'avatar' but I still like the 'dual bore' principle. Maybe it can be 're engineered' to do away with its evident faults. I still like the kind of 'out of the box' thinking that went behind its creation..

Jonah

[Vikram]

I certainly appreciate the ingenuity of the design.But, that certainly would not be the choice if I were to have only one handgun.

Best-
Vikram

[HSharief]

Definitely ingenious. IMHO, Most innovative products fail NOT because of the product itself but because of execution and/or marketing. If this was brought out by S&W or Ruger, it would be the newest rage.

But now think about it reasonably, this is what I think, others may think differently. Would I rather have 5 .22s or 3 .380s, I'm no ballistic expert but they are both equal in my view considering stopping a bad guy. You may have to shoot him twice or five times with a .22 and maybe only once or three times with the .380. That is if the bad guy is the size of Pee-Wee Herman. (I'll still want a PPK sometime in the future). So, its all a wash anyway. Now, if they "upped" it to say 5 .380s and say 3 .44s, one to carry for defense in the urban jungle and the other for bear while fishing or hiking, that "could" be a better use. I still like the Cobray, anything that goes bang is good

BTW, Did you see the Chiappa "Rhino" revolver, it fires the cylinder at the 6 o'clock position.

http://chiappafirearms.com/product/725

[The Doc]

The design is very interesting but lets see this in the Indian context Jonah , here, the licensing office people from bottom to top chair would not have even the faintest idea .......

1. whether it is a pistol or a revolver (looks more like a pistol they would argue)
2. how to endorse this two different caliber-ed revolver on a license
3. whether to count it as one firearm or two . If counted as two firearms, one would be able to keep just one more firearm (in addition to the Cobray .22/.380) legally, provided that the other firearm is not a combination firearm as well !
4. whether to endorse the other cylinder on the license or not .
5. how to divide the ammo quota between .22lr and .380 acp calibers
6. whether .380 is PB !!!!! (yes, it still is a debatable subject in those offices)

best,
Rp.

[winnie_the_pooh]

I think H&K used to make a pistol with interchangeable barrels in .22,.25,.32 and .380.Here it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_%26_Koch_HK4

[xl_target]

Frankly if I were down to choosing just one handgun, I would approach it this way.
I would get a SIG 226 in .40 S&W and then purchase a factory .357 SIG barrel. This will give you two magazines that can be used in both .40 and the .357 SIG
Then I would purchase an after-market 9mm barrel and two magazines.
SIG also sells a .22 slide and mag combo for the gun.

image from SIG's website
This would basically cover several self defense calibers that one might need plus allow you to use .22 LR for plinking, using the same grip and trigger system (in a configuration with guaranteed performance).
Kinda like the Swiss Army knife of handguns, you can do this on several SIG models (like the P229.)
However due to PB constraints and ammo availability, this might not be such a good idea for India.

If I was in India, being subject to Indian rules, I would consider the Ruger Blackhawk in .327 Federal Magnum. This will allow the firing of .32 S&W and .32 S&W long in addition of .32 Federal Mag.

image from Ruger's website

Ruger also made a Single Six in .32 H&R Mag at one time (SeeHere) which would be smaller than a Blackhawk.

image fromHere


Ruger also makes a 3 inch barreled Ruger SP101 in .327 Federal Mag.

image from Ruger's website

Winnie,
I'm sure you are aware that those HK convertibles are collectors items now and probably cost an arm and a leg and your first born. They also might be very hard to find. The concept was nice though.