Range Report, new Guardian .32 ACP

[johndoe1027]

I just picked up my new (to me) CCW, a NAA Guardian in .32 ACP.

The bad news; This thing hurts. I am glad I didn't find a cheap .380! Recoil is quite snappy, and the only thing keeping the barrel down is the underside of your trigger finger. With the finger extension I can get 2 fingers on the grips. Racking the slide is tough and a little rough, trigger pull feels like it's 2 inches long at about 20 pounds, and a little rough as well. I'll be doing a lot of polishing to this thing in the near future. This is my first "pocket" gun by the way.

The good news; Very accuarate for the small sight radius. They thought of everything when it comes to carrying. Smooth styling, very comfortable. The gun is well built for the price range. Finish is good. Out of 7 mags that I sent down-range I had 2 malfunctions. One was due to ammo (no Gold Dots for this guy) and the other was a fail to eject on the last round. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but that was straight out of the box, a little oil, then shoot. The only downside to the malfunction was that this gun just came back from NAA when I bought it. Different ammo should straighten that out.

I am in no way a sharpshooter and I have no fancy test tools but here's a (bad) pic of my 3rd mag-full of Magtech ball ammo at 7 yards standing. The first two didn't look quite so good...

All in all, I'm happy. It needs a little work but I think I will grow to love this little thing.

 

[los]

Actually, that's very good grouping fired from a short barreled CCW. 15-21 feet is an exceptional distance for testing accuracy in any CCW.

I obtain the same results from my Seecamp LWS32 and LWS380.

If she's reliable,..she's a keeper!

Congrats.

 

[johndoe1027]

I agree, awesome groups so far. I'm still taking my time with each shot, and I think it will take a lot of practice to get accurate and quick with this rediculous trigger pull, but I'm committed.
The one malfunction worried me a little at first but then I thought of all of the people that dropped serious money on a 1911 (myself included) only to have multiple mafinctions the first time out.

 

[johndoe1027]

.

 

[los]

...I think it will take a lot of practice to get accurate and quick with this rediculous trigger pull, but I'm committed.

That long and heavy Trigger Pull makes the weapon pretty safe when it's carried loaded with one in the chamber.

It's a [good and safe] characteristic found in most DAO handguns.

 

[Ron James]

Most of the .32 Guardians will stove pipe on the last round. Mine does it most of the time. I have the reason for this somewhere in my notes but NAA is aware of it and simply states that s a good time to reload ( the round sticking up tells you it is empty ). Yes, the .32 has a sharp recoil, this is why it's a carrying gun and not a shooting gun. I shoot it every so often to let it know I still love it, but I shoot bigger guns for fun. NAA has a good web site and and you can get a lot info from the forums and related sites.

 

[1 old 0311]

I guess recoil is a subjective thing. My .32 Guardians, I have two, seem very mild. My .380 Guardian will get your attention after a few rounds.

 

[johndoe1027]

los, I couldn't agree more. That is why I got the DAO for a CCW. I just want to smooth out the pull a little and try to make the "bump" at the end of the pull a little lighter. I do not care to have a gun that could go off in my pocket, no matter what I do.

Ron, thanks for the info. I will not try so hard to fix that now. If your going to have a malfunction, it might as well be at the end of the mag. It's at that point when you have to decide to reload (if you have another mag) or run anyway. I agree about it not being a shooting gun (mine is a 9mm 5" all stainless 1911) but I do have to practice a lot with it until I am comfortable carrying it. Also, I'm understanding that hollow points are undesireable in .32 (not enough penetratrion) AND they don't feed well in the guardian either. Thoughts?

Kevin, you tough dude.

 

[driven]

Silvertips work OK in mine

But I do worry some about penetration with them. I think I read somewhere that you can expect about 8" to 9" in ballistic gel. Maybe alternate between Silvertips and hardball?

I also get the stovepipe on the last round with both mags very consistently.

 

[Ron James]

I've had no problems with hollow points feeding, however NAA does advise using only FMJ in their extended 10 round magazine. I'm impressed with their customer service also. Like a dummy I lost a small part, I called them to order the part and they said no, it's covered and mailed me a new one. I did like that. Also I don't thng that you can fix the last round stove piping.

 

[johndoe1027]

cool, it's great to hear that they have good service. I had heard that before I got mine as well.
I want a 10 rnd mag or two for mine. I think I will stick with FMJ for this little guy. My buddy said that a good thick leather jacket could slow down a JHP significantly in this caliber. He is usually right.