Looking for thoughts on NAA mini revolvers

[Ohen Cepel]

I like them, well made as said. I like the mag with snake shot in it for yard work when I am likely to bump into poisonous biting reptiles.

The 22 short is very hard for me to use though, small enough it gets lost in my hand. I prefer the Mag frame size.

 

[Hillbilly Hydrographics]

When I'm around the house or in my shop a naa mini 22mag is what's in my pocket. Been carrying it and shooting it for many years now. I don't have no experience with there swing out or top break models but the mini revolver is very well made and feels and looks like a quality firearm. Mine had the folding grip with pocket clip when i bought it. And it does make a huge improvement for shoot ability. Cause not even a baby hand could get a good grasp on the factory wood chips. A few monthes ago I went searching the webs for grips for my naa mini. And found some 3d printed options on fleabay. And have been super happy with them. With practice these tiny wheelguns can be very accurate for any range that a gun this size would be good for. I can get pretty consistent groups out to about 15 yards. Heres pic of mine with the 3d printed grips from ebay. those grips are called eggplant style. Can't remember the exact vendor on ebay but he has several grip options in several colors for all the different models of the naa minis. Here's pocket holster I made for mine that I use daily.

 

[Boom Vang]

I've had a few of these. The Ranger had the appeal of easier loading, but trigger pull was horrendous (more so than usual), the sights and POI were abysmal, and the barrel latch inadvertently opened a couple times.

I have one left, a .22 Magnum Pug. Easily puts 5 rounds into a 4" circular target @ 5 Yards. I carry it when running. It's really the only firearm light and small enough not to bounce around be cumbersome while exercising. Carried in tiny pocket holster a stretchy flip belt under my running clothing, it's unobtrusive. Figured if I can't outrun the miscreants, if they get close enough I can distract 'em

 

[joneb]

I like the mag with snake shot in it for yard work

Not a big issue where I live but it is where I fish, river canyons in eastern Oregon are full of rattle snakes. So the 22mag shot shell would be a plus from a short barrel. I carry a stick for snakes, it's easy to push them away but if they are aggressive I like to have another option

 

[Bazoo]

I've had a couple of the NAA mini revolvers, the standard models in 22LR. My experience is they are good quality little guns. I had one that I shot a box of ammo through every time I went shooting, after about 400-500 rounds, the mainspring broke. NAA was very good about helping me out and sent me a couple springs. They said not many people shoot their guns that much.

I had another, after I swapped that one off, and the same thing happened to it.

One of them, I don't recall which, had issues with the base pin, which NAA sent without any fuss or compensation.

I shot the fire out the ones I had. I could hit a coke can at 7 yards, and I could hit a 2/3 IPSC at 15 yards. They are hard to shoot but once you get the hang of it, they aren't too bad.

I'd like another, but I want the 22 short model. My buddy has/had one, and it was more controllable and was a joy to shoot.

 

[herrwalther]

I have owned two of them, both in 22 Magnum. Great little guns when you don't want to or can't carry something bigger. Both got sold because they were the primary carry firearms of my ex-wife. If I went out to buy one right now I would get the Sidewinder model with both cylinders. I never liked sticking my finger that close to the barrel to load/unload.

 

[joneb]

The 22 mag is very, very loud and flashy

For good or bad that should be considered.

 

[Eutycus]

There have been several mentions of the main spring breaking after hundreds of shots. Are the springs this gun's weak point?

 

[joneb]

There have been several mentions of the main spring breaking after hundreds of shots. Are the springs this gun's weak point?

Please share more, I have not heard of this issue.

 

[Miami_JBT]

They're an Ear, Nose, and Throat gun. A self-defense piece meant to be shoved into your attacker's face in a phonebooth distance fight. I have a base model .22LR only and .22 Mags conversion. They're loud, extremely slow to reload, keyhole beyond 1 yard, and are hard to aim at any distance further than an arm's length.

But they serve a purpose.

I can carry mine in ways that even my Kel-Tec P32 and LW Seecamp LWS32 can't be carried because they're that small. They're the gun you carry for when you can't carry.

The quality is good for such a small thing and their more fancy ones like the top-break and swing-out are just neat to have because of the complexity.

And I will say this, loaded with rat shot, they dispatch large toads and snakes with no problem when I'm doing yard work.

 

[Ethan Verity]

There have been several mentions of the main spring breaking after hundreds of shots. Are the springs this gun's weak point?

I would say so. I didn't mention it in my post, but the mainspring in my 22 Short broke after ~850 rounds. I sent it back to NAA and they installed a new one for free. I have not racked up the same round count since then, but it's something to be aware of as a failure point.

 

[GEM]

They're an Ear, Nose, and Throat gun. A self-defense piece meant to be shoved into your attacker's face in a phonebooth distance fight. I have a base model .22LR only and .22 Mags conversion. They're loud, extremely slow to reload, keyhole beyond 1 yard, and are hard to aim at any distance further than an arm's length.

But they serve a purpose.

I can carry mine in ways that even my Kel-Tec P32 and LW Seecamp LWS32 can't be carried because they're that small. They're the gun you carry for when you can't carry.

The quality is good for such a small thing and their more fancy ones like the top-break and swing-out are just neat to have because of the complexity.

And I will say this, loaded with rat shot, they dispatch large toads and snakes with no problem when I'm doing yard work.

Did the rat shot out in TX Hill country when at a friend’s ranch. Agree with the analysis.

 

[CajunBass]

I've got one, a 22 LR, that I got with the belt buckle, mostly because I had a Mattel version as a kid. I've never worn the buckle, I got too much done-lapped gut for a buckle that big, but it's still cool.

I've never worn the buckle, but the gun itself goes most everywhere I go, where I don't have to cross the Potomac river or go through a metal detector. I put a folding grip on and it fits perfectly into a little Uncle Mikes nylon pouch that was made to hold a handful of 22 cartridges when hunting. Now it just carries the little "last ditch" gun and looks like nothing gun related.

At five yards, I can usually hit the black on a B-27 with it. It does after all, have basically no sights, no sight radius, and a trigger that takes two men, a boy, and a small dog to pull, but it's (almost) always there. It is the ultimate "fight my way back to my real gun" gun.

 

[jmorris]

in a phonebooth distance fight.

Might have to explain that to some.

It's this little box people used to go into to talk to people on a phone they dropped change into, without others having to hear their entire conversation.

 

[GEM]

It's where Superman used to take his clothes off to change!

I had a Ryba leather pocket holster for my 1 5/8 inch classic mini with their slip on rubber grips. It had a pouch for reloads (Haha). Here's the thing, the pouch would hold 22 LR rounds but if I put in the 22 mag cylinder, the pouch depth was too short for 22 mag rounds. What to do - being an extremely stable genius (hahaha), I recalled the Winchester WRF which fit 22 Mag guns and was shorter, thus that was the reload for the improbable instance of reloading the mini. Currently I used a DeSantis pocket holster for the gun and just carry 22 LR.

 

[mrelijahgardner]

I have 2 of them. I have the BP one and 22LR. They shoot better and feel better than you'd expect just looking at them. I have carried one from time to time and its a nice small gun that's better than no gun. I have a multitool holster that lets me carry it on my belt without anyone even knowing it a gun. I probably wouldn't recommend it as EDC because there are better choices.

I haven't fully decided what they are actually good for but I think they are cool.

 

[trackskippy]

If youre planning on using one for anything serious, then you need to vet it like you would anything else, and from how you plan on carrying it. And it has to work from any way you need it to work, not just one or two ways you can see it working.

Its hard enough to clear and get a full sized gun going from a holster that's on your belt, think about that with one of these and how youre carrying it. The smaller you go, the harder things generally tend to get. If you have to fiddle around getting it out and going, things likely arent going to go well.

You also need to work on that enough in practice that you can do it without thinking about doing it.

Just having a gun, of any type, really only means "you have a gun", doesn't necessarily mean you "armed".

And considering the number of people who say they cant hit anything with them, even when there's no stress involved, how do you suppose things will go when everything is falling apart? Kind of a puzzle why youre even carrying one in the first place if you cant shoot it reasonably well.

 

[Armybrat]

I like them, especially the Ranger.

 

[joneb]

I would say so. I didn't mention it in my post, but the mainspring in my 22 Short broke after ~850 rounds. I sent it back to NAA and they installed a new one for free. I have not racked up the same round count since then, but it's something to be aware of as a failure point.
View attachment 1229482

It's a good thing shot 850 wasn't defending you against a 800 lbs grizzly

 

[TTv2]

I'll read thru this later, but for now my thoughts are avoid the small frame .22 Short and LR only models and any with non adjustable/non removable sights. Basically, stick with either the Pug, Black Widow, Minimaster, or Sentinel because they will shoot light out compared to other models.

The top break is cool, nice to see NAA make it, but I don't see the benefit of the fastest reload in a gun I see as a "5 shots and run" type of doctrine.

I'm having issues with the small frame models and light strikes. Maybe NAA quality has dipped on those, so I'd avoid. I only bought because it's so small.

I love my MiniMaster, but for the short barrel models, if I could go back, I'd have only bought the Pug. Don't have a Pug, but maybe someday when I decide to move on from what I have now.

 

[Pistolay]

I had a Black Widow convertible a few years ago. Very accurate and pleasant to shoot. I considered it to be a 5-shot derringer because the odds of reloading it in a gunfight are pretty low.

 

[Eutycus]

I read a few posts back about keyholing at 1 yard. Would keyholing be so terribly bad? It's not like you're loosing anything in the accuracy department cause you wouldn't really need it. This is all close range stuff.

 

[TTv2]

I read a few posts back about keyholing at 1 yard. Would keyholing be so terribly bad? It's not like you're loosing anything in the accuracy department cause you wouldn't really need it. This is all close range stuff.

Lose potential penetration, which .22 already doesn't have much of.

One thing that sold me on the .22 Short over the LR was not just the smaller size, but that one owner on here had stated he'd never seen a keyhole from his.

Say what u will about .22 Short, but from a 1 inch barrel I doubt it makes much difference.

 

[Hookeye]

IMHO they are a novelty.

For pocket carry the least I'd go would be something like an LCP380

 

[Armybrat]

IMHO they are a novelty.

For pocket carry the least I'd go would be something like an LCP380

Agreed.
Mine are not really for carry, but like collecting fine jewelry.
Although the short barrel ones would suffice as a deep conceal back up, “get off me” gun (as we often repeat these on NAA threads).