NAA Mini Revolver Info

[Mykltn]

Just purchased an NAA .22 Mag mini revolver today with the extra .22lr cylinder. It is the 1 5/8 inch barrel. A buddy has one and I got a chance to shoot his a few years ago and have been Jonesin' for one ever since. Questions are for those that have them, what is your prefered ammo for self defence and why? Also has anyone had any issues with them? It is my understanding that they are a reliable pistol but I like to hear it from the horses mouth so to speak. Thanks in advance for any info.

[Guest The Highlander]

I hope you get some answers! I've always wanted one of these little buggers too. I have a Scottish friend (living in Tennessee) that wears a kilt much of the time. He carries one in the little bag thing they wear that isn't a purse, to go with the kilt, that isn't a dress. Neat little guns.

[Guest DeadEye]

They are better than nothing up close! The best ammo to use is the Stinger ammo! No probs have ever been known, there are not enough parts to mess up, single-action!

[MacGyver]

If you got the mag version, the best rounds are the CCI mini-mag +V's. NAA publishes the data on their site, and they chronograph about 100fps faster out of that short barrel. I do carry one as a backup from time to time, and pretty regularly when I run.

Use the safety notch between the cylinders. I've never had the hammer come back without me pulling it back.

[Guest AlzRuger]

I have 4 of them, and all 4 have LR and Mag cylinders.

A Blackwidow, a 1 5/8, a 1 1/8, and a Pug. All are fun

to shoot. Can 't recommend PD ammo because I don't

use as a carry gun. If I did, it would be Magnum!

[dats82]

I usually carry mine with the CCI mags, whatever they call them, or snake shot. Just try to get the heaviest bullet you can in a hollow point for PD. Most the time I am carrying mine is when I am on the farm or on the river and snakes are more of the concern; however, I do keep a mixed cylinder in the event of a more personal threat.

I have never had any issues with mine. It sees some pretty dusty pockets at times, and it has always gone bang when I have pulled it out to use it. It is not my ideal weapon for personal protection, but it is certainly better than the .45 I had to leave in the truck.

[Oh Shoot]

They are better than nothing up close! The best ammo to use is the Stinger ammo! No probs have ever been known, there are not enough parts to mess up, single-action!

Stingers disintegrate, not penetrate.

A dependable round nose plated 40 gr. bullet like in a MiniMag is likely the best choice on a humanoid, IMO.

No hollow points period.

- OS

[enfield]

I keep mine stoked with CCI's with the Speer Gold Dot bullet. Never failed to fire.

[iyaoyas98]

You can see a lot of chrono data and ballistic gel testing on the NAA site, and they have a forum chock full of good info.

[Mykltn]

Thanks all for the info. Hopefully will get it to the range this week to see how it shoots.

[JAB]

I have a mini with the 1 5/8 inch barrel that I carry a lot as a BUG. I'd say choose ammo for it based on the best constructed ammo that is reasonably accurate from your mini. I include those two criteria because, strangely enough, Winchester Dynapoints seem to be the most accurate from mine but I'm not really interested in giving up a true, jacketed bullet in favor of a washed one like used in .22LR. Winchester Super X JHPs are more accurate from mine than the CCI Maxi-mags but I do have some concerns about them getting enough penetration from the short barrel. The Maxi-Mags, while not as accurate for me from my mini as Dynapoints and Win. Super X, are decently accurate from ~5 to 7 yards (which, with practice to find an optimum grip, is doable with the mini) and I think they would penetrate better.

In very limited water jug tests I did, the Maxi-Mag hp appeared to fail to expand even from a 6.5 inch revolver barrel. I say 'appeard to fail' as I didn't recover the bullet because - from the 6.5 inch barrel - it zipped right through four jugs and kept going, just like the FMJ version of the Maxi-Mag did. I haven't had a chance to do any penetration tests with the mini, yet.

Just FYI, I did test shotshells out of it a few weeks back. I made a couple of newspaper 'snakes' to see what kind of pattern I could get. I coiled one up like a snake getting ready to strike and just laid the other out like a snake crawling towards me. I shot them once each, from about six feet, with CCI shotshells. The pics show what I got (I think the top and bottom pics are of the coiled piece and the middle pic is the one that was lying straight but I can't remember, for sure,)

Edited August 23, 2010 by JAB

[Guest Jamie]

Thanks all for the info. Hopefully will get it to the range this week to see how it shoots.

I'll be curious to see if yours shoots as low as mine does. I've gotta hold the entire front sight up in the notch ( what little of the notch there actually is ) and use the base of the front sight as the aiming point, to hit point-of-aim at 15 yards or so.

As for carry ammo, I'm still using up a couple of boxes of 40 grain Winchester Super X jacketed hollow point .22 mags that I've had laying around for eons...

I figure that even if the bullet doesn't do exactly what I'd like, and disintegrates instead of penetrating, then sticking the gun up the bad guy's nose and setting it off should persuade him to seek his fortune elsewhere.

One way or the other, it's a gun that I always have with me, so it's got that on everything else I own.

J.

[JAB]

I'll be curious to see if yours shoots as low as mine does. I've gotta hold the entire front sight up in the notch ( what little of the notch there actually is ) and use the base of the front sight as the aiming point, to hit point-of-aim at 15 yards or so.

As for carry ammo, I'm still using up a couple of boxes of 40 grain Winchester Super X jacketed hollow point .22 mags that I've had laying around for eons...

I figure that even if the bullet doesn't do exactly what I'd like, and disintegrates instead of penetrating, then sticking the gun up the bad guy's nose and setting it off should persuade him to seek his fortune elsewhere.

One way or the other, it's a gun that I always have with me, so it's got that on everything else I own.

J.

I'm impressed that you can hit POA from 15 yards or so using any sight picture. I can get all 'head shots' on a B-27 target out to five yards shooting it about as quickly as I can - or seven yards if I'm doing really well and I might put two or three somewhere on a paper plate from a little farther, shooting strong hand, but that's about it. Of course, carrying it as a weak-hand BUG, I figure if I ever have to use it then it will be a contact situation, anyhow. A guy on another forum calls the minis 'ear, nose and throat' guns because he feels the best use for them is to stick them in the BG's ear, up his nose or against his throat and fire.

I've held a mini that had the wooden boot grips and will be getting those for mine. I don't think they would make it appreciably more bulky, etc. than the little birdshead grips but will give a much better grip. Some folks like the oversized, rubber grips like on the Black Widow but to me those add so much bulk as to kind of defeat the purpose of the mini.

Edited August 23, 2010 by JAB

[safeandsecure]

Jamie, I've had two, and currently have the one with interchangable cylinders. Your are absolutely right about aiming ... use the bottom of the front sight in the groove for semi-accurate at 10+ yards. But I suspect that pointing this 'lil thing is much more likely than aiming it. And +1 for sticking it up a nose (or in an eye socket) ... ... I haven't had to use it (yet), but I suspect that even a puny .22 would make someone think twice or four times if that tiny barrel was stuck in his face.

I keep the mag cylinder in, with CCI maxi-mags and magnum shot shells interspersed (for both 2-legged snakes and the ones with no legs).

[Guest Jamie]

Y'know, I have thought about contacting NAA and seeing if they'll sell me one of the fixed rear sights that they put on the mini-master and the Black Widow... 'Cause I figure if I can get a local 'smith to install that, it'd raise the POI to just about the right spot for me. Problem is, I don't see that sight listed in any parts list on their site.

Yeah, I know the gun will likely be a point-and-shoot device, if it ever comes down to a SD situation, but I still wanna be able to pop pine cones at a distance with it, out in the back yard.

Oh, and my gun came with one of those folding holster grip things, but I took it off and put the rubber slip-on bird's head grips on it.

J.

[waynesan]

I'd be interested to see how this would work. They've been advertising the laser for the mini revolver for awhile now, but I haven't heard how they shoot with one.

[Guest Bonedaddy]

Stingers disintegrate, not penetrate.

A dependable round nose plated 40 gr. bullet like in a MiniMag is likely the best choice on a humanoid, IMO.

No hollow points period.

- OS

Man, where do you get your ballistic info from? Have you ever experimented? HP .22 in the like of CCI will go slam thru 1 inch of OSB and several layers of 16g. corrugated tin. It should have no problem goin' thru someone's skull. Hell, even Federal will do the job with a ZIINNNNGGGGG!!!! out into neverland, although not as accurate as the CCI.

[whiskey]

I'd be interested to see how this would work. They've been advertising the laser for the mini revolver for awhile now, but I haven't heard how they shoot with one.

COOL! I haven't seen those yet, but I am going to seriously consider getting one for S&G's.

[whiskey]

OMG!

[Guest Jamie]

OMG!

Looks like a really good way to screw up your cylinder pin, to me... and also to injure one's self during reloads.

J.

[waynesan]

Here is a short video of someone shooting the gun with the laser:

YouTube - LaserLyte North American Arms Laser NAA-1

[Oh Shoot]

Man, where do you get your ballistic info from? Have you ever experimented? HP .22 in the like of CCI will go slam thru 1 inch of OSB and several layers of 16g. corrugated tin. It should have no problem goin' thru someone's skull. Hell, even Federal will do the job with a ZIINNNNGGGGG!!!! out into neverland, although not as accurate as the CCI.

CCI Stingers are fast (and light), but fragment majorly and shallowly in game and gel. CCI Mini Mag hollow points penetrate okay, but the round nose do it better.

On humanoid, you want expansion, but you NEED penetration.

I've found Velocitors to be the best of the hyper velocity stuff, being 40 gr., but being hollow point (I don't think they make them in round nose?) they seem to tend to break up more than normal high velocity round nose also.

- OS

Edited August 24, 2010 by OhShoot

[Guest Jamie]

CCI Stingers are fast (and light), but fragment majorly and shallowly in game and gel. CCI Mini Mag hollow points penetrate okay, but the round nose do it better.

From what barrel length?

NAA's ballistics charts show the 30 gr. Stingers to have a velocity of between 855 and 743 fps from a 1 -5/8 inch barrel. The 40 gr. Maxi-mags run between 892 and 802.

Neither of those are exactly setting the world on fire from a barrel that short, and I'd be surprised if even the 30 gr. bullet fragmented.

The 40 gr. magnum is gonna dig a little deeper, and the extra muzzle blast, especially at close range, isn't going to do your attacker any good at all. Still, neither of those things may be enough to give the mag any real advantage over the Stinger.

NAA's ballistics charts can be found here btw.

J.

[MacGyver]

Somebody needs to cook up some gel and do some conclusive testing.

All this supposition over .22 rounds is killing me. I'm going to go with OhShoot here. There isn't a hollow point commercially available in a .22 round that is going to expand in any way that's significant. Your biggest risk should you have to employ one of these mini revolvers in a social situation, is not getting the penetration you have to have because your round fragmented upon impact. You need a bullet that get's the maximum consistent penetration.

[Oh Shoot]

From what barrel length?...

Yeah, everything makes a diff, although velocity alone is far from being an overwhelming factor. But from everything I've ever read, seen, shot (admittedly not out of a sub 2" barrel though), I still think that a 40 gr. plated/washed round nose high velocity .22lr is likely the best against 2 legged predators. Same bullet type in .22mag better, of course. Then again, at near physical touching distance, even a .22 CB short should suffice, if the purpose is to merely dissuade an unarmed adversary.

- OS

Edited August 25, 2010 by OhShoot