North American Arms Mini-Revolvers

[Jeff82]

Is anyone familiar with these small pocket pistols? They seem like they'd be fun to shoot at short ranges. Does anyone have any experience with these, good or bad?

Thanks,

-Jeff

[John Allen]

Jeff, I have two of them the cap n ball and the 4" barrel Earl. They are nice little fin guns. If you want a neat toy they are great for this if you expect any realy kind of accuracy buy a smith kit gun. They are strictly 5 yard guns but a lot of fun.

[nagantguy]

Have a set of them with the mag cylinders. Love em, a five yard gun maybe, five feet is there intended range and from there to muzzle contact they are great.

[Hunter]

I have one with a .22LR a .22 Magnum cylinder. A bit of a novelty but in my opinion worth having.

[Tatume]

They come with a long hammer spur. I occasionally carry one concealed and one day found the hammer had moved to half cock. This concerned me, so I contacted NAA. They asked me to ship the revolver back to them, and they bobbed the hammer and installed a stiffer spring. The gun is still easy enough to cock, and no longer has a tendency to inadvertently cock.

They are great little guns for their intended purpose. Sometimes the consequences of being detected outweigh the disadvantage of the inadequate cartridge.

[Bulldogger]

I have a .22Mag stainless one I carry when I'm traveling light and a snubby or compact 9 is too much for where I'm going. Being a rifle cartridge, .22mag issues a huge gout of flame from the bbl when fired.
Since no one can SEE the pistol, it's so small, they only see 2' of flames billowing out of your hand. This draws attention and questions.
I thought it was odd, more than one person came to see what I was shooting when I fired the NAA .22mag, but no one stopped by right after or before when I was shooting a 1927 Broomhandle mauser...

They're good little BUGs, or as deterrents. As others said, they are good to 5 yards maybe. I figure it's better than nothing, and it will serve as a sort of exclamation point to me shouting "go away".

Bulldogger

[nwellons]

I really like my short barreled .22/.22 Mag. It is easy to carry in a pocket holster (I would not bother to carry a bigger gun) and gives me peace of mind while walking with my daughter on our acreage each day.

The NAA revolvers seem to be very well constructed and finished, too.

[siamese4570]

I have one of the 22/22mag models with the longer (1 1/2"?) barrels. As previously mentioned it's a 3-5 yard gun just because of the sights or lack of. Mine has no rear sight. I have seen a very small laser sight that mounts on the top strap. That might extend you useable range a bit. Used to carry mine all the time until I got my Ruger LCP. Almost as easy to hide and more cartridge.
siamese4570

[Jupiter7]

I've had 3. The 1 5/8th 22lr, black widow 22mag and still own the 1 1/8th 22mag. Practical accuracy with it is 2liter bottle at 5 yards. It is only a extreme back up carry pistol and fun for newbs seeing such a small pistol. I carry mine in places I usually couldn't carry normally. The new sidewinder with actually crane and side drop cylinder is neat, I'd wait for a longer barrel.

[Texantothecore]

I wonder how many they sell each year. There is a very long history of .22 pistols used for defense and they are consistant with those small pistols.

[historicfirearms]

My good friend had one. I found it somewhat cumbersome to shoot, so much so that I wouldn't want to use it for self defense. It would be better than nothing, but one of the little pocket 380's isn't much bigger and is a whole lot easier to use. I liked the NAA, don't get me wrong, but I think I'd use it more for fun/ novelty, not that there is anything wrong with having a gun just for fun.

[Jeff82]

They must be pretty popular. The factory has a two to eight month backlog. I put in an order for a magnum with conversion cylinder and a 1.625" barrel. All-in-all it should work well for my intended purpose. They make a "boot grip" that adds about half an inch to the handle. I might try that to make it a bit easier to grip.

Thanks for the responses!

[Jeff82]

They must be pretty popular. The factory has a two to eight month backlog. I put in an order for a magnum with conversion cylinder and a 1.625" barrel. All-in-all it should work well for my intended purpose. They make a "boot grip" that adds about half an inch to the handle. I might try that to make it a bit easier to grip.

Thanks for the responses!

[Apocalypse]

I have one of the "Canadian" versions with 4.2" barrel. The .22 magnum is super fun to shoot, but would probably only be useful defensively to deafen or frighten your attacker. Even with the 'long' barrel the accuracy is not there. The .22 LR is a bit more accurate, but not enough to matter.

[gandydancer]

785377853878539 I had the real small one for years. with ritis in my gun hand traded up to the 22 mag pug. Apocalypse hit the nail on the head. this puppy is super loud. sounds like a much larger caliber.

information on the NAA Pug.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=hptb&va=naa+pug

[TheGrimReaper]

I got a NAA Pug and I love the little bugger!!! Sits in my front pocket and you don't know it is there.

[freebullet]

7854178542

[WilliamDahl]

I have one (.22LR and .22mag) that I bought for my wife many years ago. I carry it when I'm going to an extremely leftist area that attempts to infringe up our basic human rights of bearing arms (e.g. NYC, Chicago, etc). They are probably the most concealable firearm that you can carry. Of course, they are a last ditch type of defense. Treat them as an slightly extended range Phillips head screwdriver or ice pick -- one in which you will get at most 5 "stabs" at your assailant. If you luck out and hit a vital area, a .22LR round will kill someone. At the very least, I figure it will slow them down enough that I can escape. If I saw someone robbing the restaurant I was eating at, I would not confront them with the NAA min-revolver (although I would with my normal carry handgun), but if the situation was such that the lives of myself or my family was in immediate danger, I would use it. It will easily fit in the watch pocket on a pair of jeans and if your shirt is not tucked in, no one will notice you have it. If you are wearing a winter jacket, you can have it in the pocket and no one will notice it. In such a situation, you can have your hand on it and shoot through the pocket of your jacket easily. What with those blood-borne diseases that kill you these days, I really don't want to be getting close enough to my assailant to be exposed to his blood as might happen if I had to resort of just a knife. The NAA mini-revolver allows a slight bit of standoff distance.

[smokeywolf]

35+ years ago I carried one as an emergency backup (think "The Onion Field"), in a pocket stitched into the throat of my Wellington boot when I worked in LE. My mother worked in the County Court system and carried one in her purse for nearly 20 years. They are purpose specific as WilliamDahl points out, and are excellent for that purpose.

[rintinglen]

I'm not a fan. At least not for defensive purposes.

I had a 22 LR with the short barrel and it is too little to be of use as a firearm, at least for defensive purposes. As a toy, they make noise just like a gun, but are very difficult to hit anything with. The handle and trigger reach are so small that my large glove-size hands can not deploy one in a hurry. My brother has a 4 inch barreled 22 mag with a larger handle that is a better, if bigger, choice, but I would rather gamble on one of the Kel-tec 32 ACP's or one of the smaller 380's.

[snowwolfe]

I've owned several and finally got smart and quit selling them off. Currently I own a Black Widow with both .22 cylinders and I just bought one of their new Side winders in .22 mag.
Great little piece for carrying in the back pack while hunting to use for small game for the camp. Slip one into your pocket during a walk in the woods and you will never notice it is there. Great little snake killers.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I have had the 4" bbl .22LR Mini-Master for many years. I don't shoot it often, but it is coke bottle accurate easily to 25 yds.

I have been going to send it back to the factory to get the .22 Mag cylinder fitted to it. The .22 mag version is MUCH more powerful than the .22LR models. This gun is as accurate as any other 4" bbl. revolver, and at 10 oz. it is a good "hiking gun", which is what I bought it for in the first place.

It also has excellent sights. I added the large rubber grips that they gave me at the SHOT Show a couple of years ago. Still could use a little larger grip so that your pinky could be on there as well.

Quality and workmanship is excellent on these guns.

I would like to have a Pug for a deep carry gun. And no one is going to want to be shot by a .22 Magnum at 5 yds. or less.

Randy

[bgw45]

Shortly after CCW was legalized in Kentucky, a bank was robbed on Bardstown Road. The person-of-interest was leaving the bank with the money when he was shot by a citizen with an NAA .22 and subdued till the police arrived.

The single shot stop was done with the belt buckle model from across the parking lot. I didn't care if it was luck or skill since the robbery was stopped.

[snowwolfe]

They are very easy to conceal:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/loaded-gun-in-vagina-sentencing-576342

Just don't get caught:)

[WilliamDahl]

Shortly after CCW was legalized in Kentucky, a bank was robbed on Bardstown Road. The person-of-interest was leaving the bank with the money when he was shot by a citizen with an NAA .22 and subdued till the police arrived.

The single shot stop was done with the belt buckle model from across the parking lot. I didn't care if it was luck or skill since the robbery was stopped.

The only one that I saw that fit in a belt buckle was the .22short model. Considering the sight radius on that model, (for me at least) that would be a lucky shot. But then again, like everything else, our parking lots are bigger in Texas. :)

[NoZombies]

I've got one of the C&B versions. It's a hoot. I have carried it on the rare occasion that I couldn't carry the sig.

[snowwolfe]

The only one that I saw that fit in a belt buckle was the .22short model. Considering the sight radius on that model, (for me at least) that would be a lucky shot. But then again, like everything else, our parking lots are bigger in Texas. :)

Yea, and if Alaska were cut in half Texas would be the third largest state, lol.

[WilliamDahl]

Yea, and if Alaska were cut in half Texas would be the third largest state, lol.

Yeah, but does Alaska even have any parking lots? :)

Frozen lakes and tundra do not count.

[Jupiter7]

There's a gentleman in south Africa who defended himself and his family against 3 armed thugs with a 22mag NAA, one center mass sternum shot proved fatal for one attacker. I carry mine with the 45gr hornady critical defense, optimized for short barrels, 900fps+ from 1 1/8th" barrel. Speer makes a short barrel gold dot 22wmr and Winchester makes pdx1 22wmr. All show enough penetration to incapacitate if proper shot is landed.

Here's the genelmans account from south Africa, a
good read

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=433867&highlight=proud+boer

[BCRider]

I've got a 4.2 inch Earl thanks to a company up here in Canada working with NAA to come up with a variant that fits within our handgun laws.

I love shooting it at the range. And once I got to where I knew how to correctly hold the gun it's not unusual to get sub 2 inch groups at 12'ish yards. And I've managed 1.5 inch groups at 12 on occasion when I was "in the zone".... well, as "in the zone" as I can get with "old guy's eyes"..... :D The guns themselves are actually decently accurate. The challenge is to figure out how to hold the darn things.

It's been great fun and the gun itself has been dead nutz reliable other than some initial leading up issues. But once the bore burnished in from a couple of hundred rounds it's been fine.

In the picture below you can see why I bought it. Talk about a "family portrait" ! ! ! ! ! :D The Uberti 1858's flanking "Jr" came first for my cowboy action shooting. So Jr was simply a slam dunk decision when they became available.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/BCRider/Gun%20pictures/Family.jpg (http://s7.photobucket.com/user/BCRider/media/Gun%20pictures/Family.jpg.html)

[Jeff82]

Two very interesting articles. It would be difficult to conceal my Ruger Blackhawk in a similar fashion.

[44minimum]

We have one called the Sheriff. It looks very much like the Earl, but it has a 2 1/2 inch barrel and no loading lever beneath. Seems to be a nicely put together little revolver, and after 200 rounds or so there have been no malfunctions. If it was any bigger it would not hardly fit in a pocket and if it was any smaller there wouldn't be much to hang on to. I did a little writeup about it, if you care to see it. http://semiredneck.blogspot.com/2013/06/north-american-arms-sheriff-review.html

everyone seems to love the little critter

[Jeff82]

Nice write-up. Thanks. I'm thinking of adding the "boot grips" to improve the hold. I'll have to wait until I get it to see how well it feels in my hand.

[SingleBarrel]

The only one that I saw that fit in a belt buckle was the .22short model. Considering the sight radius on that model, (for me at least) that would be a lucky shot. But then again, like everything else, our parking lots are bigger in Texas. :)


There is a Buckle for the LR edition.
http://northamericanarms.com/accessories/l-accessories/l-cc/belt-buckle-enclosed.html

As well as a "skeleton buckle" for the magnum
http://northamericanarms.com/accessories/m-accessories/m-cc/bbs-m.html


I have had a 22 mag for over a decade, I think I paid 120$ for it. Once upon a time I let the hammer fall between the cylinders and get a dent in the part of the hammer that hits the rim of the bullet and I would occasionally fail to fire. I called NAA and told them what had happened and they told me to send them the gun with a check for 20$, if memory servers.

When I got the gun back two weeks later it had basically been rebuilt, it came with a list of replaced parts which was basically every part except the barrel and sights. It had been refinished it even had new grips. If it weren't for the list that came with it I would have thought they took a new gun and put my serial number on it.

All this to correct a problem that I told them was my fault. I still carry it occasionally, normally when I wouldn't be carrying anything, like at church. I think everybody should own one, and I think every gun company should model their CS.


Forgive spelling and grammer, I blame errors on iPhones auto-correct