Best mini-revolver for concealed carry

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One of my wife's friends carried a NAA in .22 WMR for years. When recently divorced, she wanted to shoot it at the club range. I took them - enjoying the 'hen' party - for a bit. Then it was all business. Her NAA had 100% ftf's! The gun had been left in the glove box of her Miada for years - then her purse. I had unloaded it and inspected her dull brass cases before she attempted shooting it the first time - then reloaded them, ultimately to prove a point - keep fresh ammo in your CCW. We reloaded with fresh new box ammo from a gunstore - and had 100% fired! That continued cylinder after cylinder full - never another problem, other than I couldn't hit a 2L pop bottle full of water at 7 yd - she could, of course! In any case, they aint my cup-o-tea.

Here is my idea of a mini Magnum:

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At 7 yd, I can almost dot an 'I' with my 632 Pro, a six shot .327 Federal Magnum. It shares 'loud and flashy' with the .22 WMR NAA, but adds a bit of recoil, particularly with 115gr Gold Dots.

Merry Christmas!

Stainz

PS It carries in a Mika pocket holster within my cargo pants pockets quite well - like my 642, just heavier... and louder... and flashier...
 
One of my wife's friends carried a NAA in .22 WMR for years. When recently divorced, she wanted to shoot it at the club range. I took them - enjoying the 'hen' party - for a bit. Then it was all business. Her NAA had 100% ftf's! The gun had been left in the glove box of her Miada for years - then her purse. I had unloaded it and inspected her dull brass cases before she attempted shooting it the first time - then reloaded them, ultimately to prove a point - keep fresh ammo in your CCW. We reloaded with fresh new box ammo from a gunstore - and had 100% fired! That continued cylinder after cylinder full - never another problem, other than I couldn't hit a 2L pop bottle full of water at 7 yd - she could, of course! In any case, they aint my cup-o-tea.

Here is my idea of a mini Magnum:


I worked with a female secret service agent who opened up to me about an embarrassing experience she had on one of her quarterly shooting qualifications at the range. She pulled her service semiautomatic out of her handbag and realized she couldn't cycle the action. It was as if the slide was glued in place!

After a minute or two of struggling, she shamefacedly took the pistol to the range-master. After another minute of struggling with the gun, he allowed her to qualify with his pistol. Afterward, they looked over the gun and figured out that she had somehow, at some time, activated a can of hair spray in her handbag, dousing the gun and effectively lacquering it shut. He very kindly thoroughly cleaned the gun for her and told her never to keep the gun and hair spray in the same purse again. blush.gif


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I worked with a female secret service agent who opened up to me about an embarrassing experience...

Here's a classic example of a "professional" that doesn't care one bit about their firearm. I'm sure that if she hadn't been mandated to qualify with that specific gun, she would've blithely carried it for months or longer. Only when she may have needed it to protect her or another's life would she discover too late she had rendered it inert.

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon and is not gender related. It is a matter of mindset. A remarkable number of people, including professionals, simply have no clue.
 
An ex-LEO-turned-pastor went to the shooting range with me once - brought a Glock and two loaded Sig mags - wondered why they wouldn't fit. Oh - .40 Glock & 9mm Sig, too! At the club range, open to National Guard and Sheriff's Deputy use, I watched as a lady Deputy answered her cell phone and scratched her head/fluffed her hair with her loaded weapon - finger in the guard - as she walked away from her shooting lane! The only two there, I left!

Stainz
 
Here's a classic example of a "professional" that doesn't care one bit about their firearm. I'm sure that if she hadn't been mandated to qualify with that specific gun, she would've blithely carried it for months or longer. Only when she may have needed it to protect her or another's life would she discover too late she had rendered it inert.

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon and is not gender related. It is a matter of mindset. A remarkable number of people, including professionals, simply have no clue.


Yup...I've met a few federal agents that were actually handy with their firearms, and a rare couple who were even "into guns." But in general, my sense was that they viewed their firearms with about the same regard as they would any other accoutrement of the job, like a spiral notebook or a government-issued ballpoint-pen.


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I'm actually thinking of getting a NAA Pug. I have other .22mags (rifle and handgun) so I always keep ammo on hand. Anyone have any comments to make on the Pug? If so, you better stop me before I order one.
 
I won a local lawman shootout open to all law enforcement in a 5 county area once. I was invited by my friend in the gun club who was the city PD training officer at the time. Including my buddy, the only real competition there was another civilian. ROFL. But, hey, these guys do an important job. I just wish they took their profession a little more seriously.

OTOH, I shot IDPA with a lot of SERIOUS LEOs out of the Houston area for quite a while. Lots of experts in that crowd and several serious master class shooters. I finally made it to a slow expert before I quit going over there. Some of these fellows were SWAT types. I also had a couple of LEO friends who are VERY good, one's a constable in my former prescient before I moved to Corpus. The other was a DPS officer who's moved. Oh, also a certain game warden in our club was quite good. So, you can't say ALL LEOs are lame on the shooting line. I'd say, though, too many of 'em are. Like I say, they should take the tools of the trade more seriously.

On the subject, I cycle my ammo out of my miini revolvers regularly. Remfire doesn't seem to do well long term carry in a sweaty south Texas pocket, especially down on the humid coast. I've found that after about a month in a sweaty pocket, my LR version will get a few misfires. .22LR being cheap, I just cycle 'em out every Sunday and shoot 'em up at the range. I don't carry the magnum all THAT much, usually just to church on sunday, so I fire it often enough in practice to keep it from becoming stale. I don't have this problem with centerfire ammunition, even reloads.
 
I'm actually thinking of getting a NAA Pug. I have other .22mags (rifle and handgun) so I always keep ammo on hand. Anyone have any comments to make on the Pug? If so, you better stop me before I order one.

I don't have a Pug, but I have a Black Widow with the Pug grip....I like the grip -- it sort of splits the difference between the relative beefiness of the BW grip, with a small enough form factor to take advantage of the size of the NAA minis while still being reasonably "grippable."

I don't know what sort of velocity the .22 mag will do out of a 1" barrel, but the pop should be quite stimulating... :cool: I like the Tritium front sight you can get in one of the configurations -- could prove a handy asset in low-light conditions...


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I own a PUG and I absolutely love it. Lots of fun to shoot. Concealibility is obviously a non issue although I prefer a pocket holster. 22mag, while not the best defense round out there will certainly do the job. The PUG is finicky about ammo but mine runs flawlessly with CCI. Too bad 22mag is so expensive. Big dot front sight makes aiming easy but realistically this is nothing more than a belly gun.
 
@ Harmon Rabb:

I've concealed my NAA mini-magnum wearing nothing but a Speedo at a water park. Try THAT with a J-frame or even a P32 Keltec.

ETA: Not the 'banana hammock' style Speedo, the kind that looks like cargo shorts.
Thanks for clearing that up. When I saw speedo I did picture a banana hammock :eek:
 
I purchased some of the new Speer Gold Dot ammunition for my .22wmr Mini with 1 5/8" barrel today. It is the first .22wmr load I have tested out of the gun that fully expanded at subsonic velocities and it retained all of its petals. It also penetrates well next to comparable CCI and Winchester loads.

I feel comfortable with it for daily carry, and the gun is carried daily.

-Jake
 
I carried with the factory lanyard set up, the Mini with 1 5/8 bbl, loaded with standard pressure 40 gr lead round nose.

These "may" have been worn in a crotch holster for a last ditch effort as everything had gone south, or around the neck, or in a shirt pocket, or pack of smokes, or...and...or.

Basically retired from "that life" but I ain't forget what worked. Never will.
 
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