Rhodesian Cobra SMG/Carbine

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The Cobra was one of a variety of semiautomatic compact carbines designed and manufactured in Rhodesia in the latter half of the 1970s for sale as civilian self-defense weapons (primarily for rural farming families). Unlike most of these guns, the Cobra was designed as a hammer-fired, closed bolt action. It is chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum, and uses standard Uzi magazines. The action is blowback, with the hammer intended to provide additional delay to the bolt opening. In our experience with the example, however, the delay was insufficient, and empty cases showed signed of dangerously high pressure during extraction (bulges and pierced primers).
The Cobra was designed by two men, Tommy Steele and Bruce Whyte. They formed a company called Stellyte, which suffered from delays in getting production started and subsequently went bankrupt a month after the guns became available in the spring of 1977. Production was picked up by Bulawayo Armoury, and a total of about 2500 examples were ultimately produced. The vast majority have a horizontal front grip, while this very early example has a vertical front grip instead.
Many thanks to the anonymous collector who generously allowed me access to bring this one to you - and who risked his face shooting it!
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85704

[@tigerslashii7097]

"Hey Al, what's 'semi-auto' mean?" "I think it means automatic but only sometimes." "Gotcha!"

[@xmm-cf5eg]

So, Fully-Semi-Automatic then? _Maybe CNN got SOMETHING right!_

[@diamondflaw]

@@xmm-cf5eg More like Semi-Fully-Automatic

[@iamdanyboy1]

@@vemundr9263 haha. Me too. Thanks. Stealing this.

[@dearcastiel4667]

@@vemundr9263 I'll say single shot would mean you have to to something else than pushing the trigger after a shot to get another one, basically the only machine is the trigger and you have to reset something with your muscles. Semi-auto would mean the only thing you have to do to get a bullet out is press the trigger, the gun then reset automatically but not fully as you still nood to push the trigger once more to get the next shot out. Full auto is just once you press the trigger the gun shoots automatically, you don't have to do anything other than hold the trigger as long as you want to shoot, there's no new muscle action required inbetween shots.

[@TheChuckfuc]

I'm sure you can make it full auto. Same as an SKS. It's semi auto but it can be made full auto.

[@Yuzral]

For those interested, I grabbed the audio of that 5 round burst. There's a bit of variation, but the gap between firing sounds is about 28-30ms, suggesting a rate of fire of 33-35 rounds a second or 2,000-2,100 rounds per minute.

[@Tunkkis]

Christ.

[@alekxu]

So with an extended mag of 50 round and dual wielding you can match the fire power of a M-134? Dayum.

[@jamallabarge2665]

Considerable faster than a Mac10 I suppose?

[@theme7363]

Jamal Labarge a little bit worse than double

[@Roma_Wade]

Well that’s very wrong lmao for a lot of reasons lmao

[@robertfish9271]

“Unfortunately it dumped all five rounds, which is really bad.” *dumps five rounds real quick* *giggles*

[@hdog9046]

That rate of fire when it malfunctioned is ridiculous, but that's what you would expect with such a light bolt

[@axelord4ever]

I liked the bit too, and I'm saving a clip of 11:35 to 12:15 for posterity (and sharing).

[@corwinhyatt519]

Really bad as in not operating as designed. The giggle sounded a bit like a "Welp, here's something else going wrong" stress giggle.

[@jarroddraper5140]

Miss fire is not a good thing

[@mattorama]

I wonder what the rate of fire was on that dump. Sounded insane, well over 1000 rpm.

[@tlb963]

Rhodesia's guns have this aesthetic that pleases me for some reason.

[@patrickneary8446]

The angles are oddly familiar with everyday items like filing cabinets and can openers.

[@Govanmauler]

Wheelie bin aesthetic

[@GetsugaTensho85]

Why the hell would they make this semi auto?

[@cam2351]

Getsuga Tenshō because it was designed for Civilian sales

[@IndianaJoe3]

It's that shade of green paint, isn't it?

[@baron8107]

Barrel shrouds and green paint make everything 200% cooler.

[@atsonaga5520]

Not forgetting the cobra logo

[@ajcastellon5903]

Rhodesian guns were intentionally made to be scary, guns from the non PC action movie era ☺️

[@regularfather4708]

This is scientifically correct

[@Stellar001100]

Worked for the Swedish K.

[@awol354]

Just like the Swedish K-pist M45/B.

[@AngelSamael]

It's an RND weapon, it averages out as a semi-auto might you might get unlucky and have it function as a bolt-action but you might get lucky and have it function as a full-auto.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@G58 Depends on how much of the mag are hits in 0.75 secs.

[@temmie9430]

R&d? Is that a deep rock referance?

[@BrianOblivionB]

An uzi/grease gun with the liberator's look, absolutely awful, would buy one.

[@Shepard_AU]

Except it shoots from a closed bolt, which makes it pretty cool considering it resembles those guns.

[@zachbrummett9672]

I'd say tec9 mac11 with a uzi mag and pps43 stock but yeah I agree

[@isaacheiss1565]

TheKnight OfCydonia I just got done playing Crysis 3, maximum disappointment

[@BrianOblivionB]

isaac phone that's why you should only play the first/ expansion

[@Chris_FMS_Redfield]

No, they're similar but the Uzi is Israeli and the Mac is American. Also the Uzi costs more and is a better build quality.

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

Pistol version called Scorpion? *Insert thousands of Czecks hissing*

[@Davivd2]

The Klobb!

[@LordStarbeard]

hssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

Lukas Holy, Great, 1999 to go. ;-)

[@Ikarias1]

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, kurvafix.

[@mortisCZ]

ssssssssssssssss! *angrily drinks beer*

[@mattbarkley5037]

As soon as I saw that trigger group, first thing I thought was, "only semi auto if you want it to be"

[@Internetzspacezshipz]

Matt Barkley yeah haha, just cut off a bit of it and suddenly intentional brrrrt.

[@EchosTackyTiki]

You dawg, I hear you like disconnectors. So I disconnected your disconnector so you could disconnect from the NFA and disconnect tyranny from our pursuit of happiness.

[@DarkestVampire92]

Thats a very interesting fireselector that the Rhodesians came up with there. If you fire civilian ammo its semiautomatic, if you fire FMJ military sort of bullets you get full auto. Very clever!

[@andrewsuryali8540]

Actually, if you fire civvie it's mostly bolt-action.

[@EchosTackyTiki]

​@@andrewsuryali8540 fuckin' dead m8 😂😂😂

[@alfaholic3]

My grandmother had a gun similar to one of these. Hers was called a commando. It managed to save them a few times and they couldn't afford anything else.

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

The phrase 'Rough as a badger's arse' springs to mind. It functions a bit like Zimbabwe - under a lot of pressure, erratic and unpredictable.

[@jason127x99]

Ian Macfarlane sounds about right! Lol

[@VargVikernes1488]

I wouldn't use words "functions" and "Zimbabwe" in the same sentence.

[@antonjanssen3549]

Ian Macfarlane I think you misspelled occupied Rhodesia...

[@xmm-cf5eg]

That comment's going to get them all blocked on this one, just like the FAL video, lmao.

[@Spanishinquisition98]

@@xmm-cf5eg what happened on the fal video?

[@omardumbrell435]

"Cool gun.How many rpm?" "All of them."

[@AusMasterProductions]

All the rounds in no minutes. xD

[@EvanDickersonM81]

Thats a trigger malfunction I can get behind

[@ArtyTheta]

Evan Dickerson Better behind than in front amirite

[@redwolfexr]

"How many times can I shoot it?" (slots full 20 Round mag) "Once."

[@JCGver]

@@redwolfexr "Anywhere between 20 and once, depending how lucky you are"

[@WhiskyCardinalWes]

12:10 went full giggle mode. Makes me smile with many teeth!!

[@chicagoguy81]

The aesthetics looks like it comes with sylvester stallone with every purchase.

[@jamallabarge2665]

Well..... Sylvester hates guns in private hands. He wants house to house searches and mass confiscation. None the less, I could see Rambo using one.

[@jamallabarge2665]

@@olisk-jy9rz I agree..... he said it in a newspaper interview in the UK. "House to house... take 'em all". He's from Philly, I"m told. They're different there.

[@dscrappygolani7981]

😁

[@markaxworthy2281]

Nice, clear articulate presentation. These SMGs were largely designed for civilian use in rural areas, usually for personal protection in vehicles or farmhouses They might be a family's second, third or fourth fire arm. Production of 2,500-ish shows good penetration of a market where there were only about 4,500 commercial farmers.

[@ComputingCactus]

That was pretty fast firing for a semi auto. Brrrt.

[@Shepard_AU]

It's almost like it had that AN94 feature to burst shoot before you experience the recoil, except that it was a rather dangerous malfunction on the gun.

[@UXB1000]

Or as one would call it, "full semi-automatic". 😎

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

Cactus Warthog rather than Cobra.

[@jam9297]

It's called a quintuple tap...

[@marksams1037]

Probably so fast because of that light bolt

[@davidgreen40]

I love the moment of Evil Genius laughter after it went full auto.

[@zackbobby5550]

It occurred to me that Ian does a lot of testing of old and forgotten weapons. Governments like weapons, and thus they are only really forgotten when there is some serious flaw in their design. Watching that thing dump all 5 rounds like a mini-gun really made me realize that Ian has got to be prepared for extreme and potentially very dangerous malfunctions. A semi-auto only carbine suddenly going 1200 (or whatever it was) RPM is not for the faint of heart!

[@WingMaster562]

Karl once patched him up after a weapon malfunction and got ian injured himself.

[@mixererunio1757]

Tommy Steel and Bruce White. Sounds like 90s Sci-Fi films characters

[@gunner678]

mixererunio tommy steel singing 'the little white bull'-awayo.....

[@Lazyguy22]

Ooh then crash bang wallop what a failure! Boom what a failure, what a ruptured case! Poor old bloke, blimey what a joke, face blown off in a cloud of smoke!

[@hjp14]

I think of Double Dragon and Streets of Rage when I hear their names lol

[@Lazyguy22]

Paul Alexander arf a six-gun Is better than arf a derringer Is better than arf a matchlock Is better than none!

[@connorwilliams3451]

I think I finally understand how the Cobray Company happened... The Cobra sewer pipe SMG appears in Rhodesia in the 70's and then out of nowhere the Terminator, the Street Sweeper, and let's not forget the ever popular Ladies Home Companion magically show up on the US market in the 80's. Coincidence??? Hell, now I think about it, did anyone ever look into PA Luty's secret African heritage?

[@SaginawGS]

You may be on to something here

[@TheActionBastard]

I owned one of Cobray's M10 guns. M10 in 9mm which baffled me at the time since I had assumed Cobray only was making the .45 version (shows how accurate my info is lol). It was uhm... functional. We were missing one of the pins that held the whole thing together so we used a bic pen (you read that right, a bic pen) and that worked remarkably well (as long as you held the pen in firmly... nice side grip I guess?)... ah good times as a much younger man with far less sense.

[@vintageyamahasquid]

Sometimes the failures tell you more than the successes. That burst made the video. Glad you didn't get hurt though. Thank you for putting yourself at risk so we can see awesome and obscure guns.

[@hellmonja]

You just unwittingly converted it into a five-round burst fire. Well done! Great video too...

[@salokin3087]

Alright, it looks beautiful, I want one so badly

[@davidgrover5996]

It wouldn’t be hard to build yourself a U.S. legal copy/lookalike Salokin. If you live here you could make your own.

[@camden7281]

I agree, I really like the barebones / pragmatic look.

[@aries_9130]

That grip moulding is so freaking corny.. I love it!

[@mnguy98]

The more videos I watch about obscure firearms like this, the more I realize why many of these weapons were forgotten.

[@Trogdor390]

I can't be the only one seeing the irony of a company making their gun's logo resemble the Rod of Asclepius, a symbol long associated with medicine.

[@SaginawGS]

Lead is the perfect pill for commies

[@jamestarbet9608]

Both Guillotin and Gatling were medical doctors

[@jonathanrees3765]

The dumping of 5 rounds and incorrect operation were likely mostly caused by a failed return spring. I think Rhodesia had a problem manufacturing quality springs. I had a R76 that I bought second hand (in Rhodesia) in the 70s. Did not work properly when I got it, return springs and simplistic feed ramp stuffed. I made a solid steel feed ramp that properly centered and ramped the round and did not crack like factory original. Replaced the springs - that had to be custom cut to get reliable feed and no run away firing. Worked very well after that - even the simple none adjusting sites gave accuracy to hit a falling plate from 100 Meters. The gun had been carried extensively in operational areas by the previous owner - so fully cocked a lot of the time - extra stress on return springs (open bolt).

[@gregkosinski2303]

Crazy to think it might have taken a number of lives.

[@TheActionBastard]

That buzzsaw sound was awesome. The fact it was able to fire like that at all is impressive (aside from it also being terrifying since you had zero intention for that to happen)... you would expect something so "affordable" to not be capable of such a high rate of fire under any condition. Good on you for having all your bits still after that. This gun looked homemade and I'd shoot it as a dare, but not more than once and with not more than 1 round total in the gun. :P

[@TheActionBastard]

8 months ago? I saw this 8 months ago? Damn it. Now there's two comments...

[@gooondie]

Tommy Steel?? Sounds like a porn star name

[@jukkatalari3896]

OK, slightly different spelling, but still... kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHq0poSpgZxsgbc

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Steele

[@gooieboerseun]

Michael Cuellar....Tommy retired to Cape Town South Africa , i see him walking his dog occasionally , his Rhodesian camo jacket very prominent. I admire Rhodesians...they fought a good fight...were let down by the SA government and the British.....

[@antonoosthuizen1467]

Brings back memories!!! I note that when you used ammo more like what we had in those days, the weapon performed almost as it was designed to: a fully automatic cheap "uzzi" that had a cyclic rate of 550 to 600 rounds per minute. Great channel and always interesting!

[@Christoff1996]

Great video as always, also after being subbed for 2 years to this channel I’ve finally become a patreon supporter! Glad I’m finally able to do my part to help this channel :)

[@ForgottenWeapons]

Thanks!

[@crasy4lifes]

Really cool design, not to bash Rhodesian design, but i can mostlikley build this in my garage. also im sure these are ment for Standard 9mm Uzi rounds, Basicly full metal jacket +p ammo with a hard Primer.

[@Booozy3050]

Reminds me of Weaver Arms Nighthawk, growing up in 70's-80's I loved reading Combat Arms and American Survival magazine the number of advertisements for weapons all over the world was really cool. I seem to remember lots of pages devoted to rhodesia. Still got many mags from back then gonna have to start looking at em again.

[@Mamiya645]

Holy crap that BRRT will become my new notification tone.

[@andrewsuryali8540]

It's not even a BRRT. More like a BT.

[@downhillchris2809]

Both the weapon and the designers have names that are straight from the porn industry. I love it.

[@AmbiguousEntity]

Wild Bill I’ve seen the African action movies, i wonder if the porn would be just as cheesy.

[@chonqmonk]

Master Piece Arms makes a top-cocker semi auto "Defender" that is almost exactly this gun but well made and with a heavier bolt and a different safety. I have the side-cocker Defender, and the charging handle doesn't move when you shoot it, but it's the same design inside. Cool guns.

[@stefanosemisa9288]

Thanks to you and your KZbin channel that is for me the best firearms channel on the whole website!!

[@mattsamoto4451]

i like the trigger desing on this, it looks like it would be easyer than some youve shown.

[@matthewsanchez4047]

So this is the very beginning of my scorpion evo. Beautiful history for a great cqc weapon

[@TTMR1986]

Honestly Ian, the failed firing was more interesting, I've been thinking about something like this as a basement project and seeing the problems will help if I ever do

[@ArmandKarlsen]

12:10 A small swarm of somewhat larger angry bees! :P

[@Seelenschmiede]

Armand Karlsen I see what you did there ;)

[@troubledturtle2332]

Crashing through the sky Comes the fearful cry... COBRA! COBRA! Armies of the night Evil taking flight COBRA! COBRA!

[@crazyfvck]

+troubledturtle2332 "COBRA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!" :D

[@calamusgladiofortior2814]

If these were issued to platoon leaders, they’d be Cobra commanders...

[@travisreed1730]

Cobras for Cobra!

[@davidallen2058]

Failures are still valuable to see Ian.

[@battonfive]

Best results for videos are the failures with these :-) big thanks for the share

[@JohnMorley1]

It might have performed a lot better with new springs.

[@TheAkaish]

Those simple SMG like Cobra are awesome. Simple but reliable design, low price and little size make such pieces of firearms really good choice for fun shooting or home defense.

[@therideneverends1697]

Something Awful at what point in this video did you see reliable? Just wondering because I saw either jams or uncontrollable full auto

[@hideyoshimatsuo3200]

Longing for Ian to make one about the Canadian Lee-Enfield N°4 Mk.1* (T) with N°67 “C” Mk.1 scope and Monte Carlo stock!

[@landobrown186]

Ima give you a like to support your cause as a fellow Enfield nerd. Heres hoping you get more.

[@keenanmcbreen7073]

Cobra: brrrttt Ian: Healthy chuckle omg turn on the CC for that part (rapid fire intensifies)(Ian giggles) roflrofl

[@lbh002]

Awesome! Thx Ian!

[@EtherFox]

I get the impression that the springs across the entire firearm have weakened over time. Spring creep is much more likely to affect the parts of a machine with such humble origins as this. It would explain pretty much all of the behaviors noted while attempting to fire it.

[@altair1983]

12:09 i don't see problem there

[@abcdefghijkl123454]

altair1983 now we just need to get it to stop BEFORE it dumps all the rounds in the magazine

[@richardkuhn9795]

Hi Ian I was in school with Bruce white's son, Michael. Mike was my best friend and sadly killed in a vehicle accident going home for school holiday.. Shows the personal strength of character that Uncle Bruce's Mom, Mikes Granny drove over to visit me and tell me personaly that Mike had passed away. Mikes cousin who was in the same school told me that their Land Rover triggered a land mine just near their farm near Bulawayo. Sad foot note to your very interesting channel, Thank you Ian.

[@monroetoolman]

Very cool the way you could diagnose the problem by the way the brass was deformed. Would watch an entire video on that. (hint hint)

[@dezeekat]

Thank you GunJesus, very cool

[@planesrift]

Its beauty is breathtaking...

[@brunofurukawa2299]

Otima explicação!!! Adoramos as legendas em Português... Brasileiros sabem muito sobre armas... traz mais videos com legendas assim!!

[@pillowsocket]

That 5 round burst was great

[@Tunkkis]

I very much like Rhodesian small arms, and wish to see more in the future.

[@zendell37]

I love that in every controlled scenario, an accidental full auto burst is followed by a chuckle or giggle.

[@JonathanChappell]

I like how even after that firing footage ian describes it as "fully functional" at the end of the video.

[@Meldonator]

Maybe that's one of those "full semi-automatics guns" we heard of lately 🤔😁 Anyway another awesome video! Really interesting! 👍

[@Tekdruid]

Now that's quality!

[@balazstorok9265]

Looks like a lovechild of an old Soviet tank interior and a garage project.

[@mueffe1357]

5 rounds dump in 200ms? 1500rpm lol

[@Ostenjager]

This looks like something that was built in somebody's garage, especially those grips. A buddy of mine made a vertical front grip that pretty much looked the same using resin he cast in the bathroom of his studio apartment.

[@vihannes3]

I also think that the cobra marking is Very Cool

[@richardscales9560]

Looks like it would qualify as Agricultural equipment

[@jmitchell8439]

From Bulawayo - so I think it was built in a garage that serviced farm machinery.

[@Dabadi4834]

Love your channel bro

[@Greger88]

Damn, Ian is getting good at fast tapping the trigger. ;)

[@yuriyromaniw6629]

"Extremely quickly" is more like "nigh instantaneously" with that accidental 5 round burst

[@elsoldadomarquez]

looks a lot like the Mendoza HM3 than was featured in the blog (in documents only) a while ago, also Mendoza actually has semiauto smg called Cobra and a short version called Bulldog.

[@nopeweeb5511]

Rhodesia lives on in our hearts

[@SebastianHonsa]

12:09 It has a great giggle factor!

[@fee_lo8346]

ATF loophole? 😁

[@hawks1ish]

So if you put in a stronger bolt spring you could slow down the fire rate and fix the ejection problems and get a functional sub gun? Hmm

[@Tunkkis]

Joshua Lansell-Kenny The return spring doesn't do very much in the way of delaying the bolt opening, but rather just slowing it down, stopping it in the end of it's travel and returning it to battery.

[@on1yadam]

Fee_ Lo lmaooo

[@millwaterpublishing1387]

It's already an NFA short barreled rifle to begin with, no?

[@pennsylvaniafellow4409]

Yeah, its already an sbr.

[@xenophon3681]

Your mention of the Confederacy / Rhodesia made me think of the Draka series by SM Stirling!

[@OlujaDoTokija]

Can we expect to see videos about all the other funky Rhodesian SMGs in the future?

[@davidfranzkoch9789]

Man, thoseh machining marks on the bolt look rough. No kidding when Ian said they were making these under difficult conditions.

[@veryberrykeri]

ian: very cool to have gotten a chance to take a look at THIS one, which is still live and-- me: IN CONCERT

[@jamesjanson6129]

I remember these being for sale in the Uk around 1980/82 for awhile, advertised in the old Guns Review magazine.The cobra was going for about £300 STG.Steep enough for the time,and questionable value,if it had those sort of problems.

[@PHURHXD]

The back portion looks like a mac 10. The front version (before the barrel) looks like a micro uzi, the grip looks like an uzi. And the barrel looks like a sterling.

[@richardturk7162]

Very cool thanks

[@elementalist1984]

I found one of their pistols in a box of gun parts i found in a storage unit once. It was in pieces, mostly complete but the reciever both had been cut in pieces. Probably because the original storage unit owner thought it was a machine gun

[@agoogleaccount2861]

OD green factory finish...in the 70s way ahead of its time .. Quite stylish

[@Oblithian]

I like that 5 round burst.

[@caccadu12]

Looks like straight out of Mad Max

[@harrychung433]

See why they were deactivated, with that finicky feed/load issues. This will certainly make the perfect companion for a three gun competition, Ian. Can see you running the course with the Cobra, along with the Cobray Terminator. But what to choose for the rifle?

[@davidhonfi2683]

12:10 You have a really quick triggerfinger if you can dumb five rounds like that with a semiauto!

[@masaharumorimoto4761]

I like the shooting failures! Shows how things can go wrong and why it's harder to design a reliable firearm than just slapping some metal together.

[@pfitz9346]

12:08 For one brief moment that thing sounded like it was firing close to 3000 rpm.

[@Bloodreign137]

This reminds me of a Mac with one of those oversized uppers on it

[@colewyman9413]

Just make sure you’re on target for that unpredictable five round burst

[@chuckbridgeland6181]

scary fired brass.

[@corwinhyatt519]

It looks like the trigger disconnect relies on a part of the extractor to engage it, might want to check there for filing or wear marks.

[@natelulek4680]

First time I saw one of these was when I was deployed to Mozambique. I didn't know that they were supposed semi-auto. I also thought it was a homemade firearm that looked like the fugly offspring of an Uzi and a MAC.

[@jameskoch9567]

Ah the famous 'Quintuple Tap' trick. Classic.

[@2tommyrad]

The burst of 5 sounded like 2000 rounds per minute

[@jamespotter3334]

Kind of reminds me of the P.A Luty sub machine gun. Almost looks like a craft produced gun

[@acomingextinction]

That disassembly process is insane for a gun they tried to sell to the military. Fiddly, delicate components flying in all directions.