Good sense, more particularly, Tactical Good Sense never being a prerequisit for me to want to fool around with something, I went looking for this 1 5/8" 22m. I learned that the mini revolvers are highly popular with every gunshop in this area having one or more of them in stock. They report selling them regularly- particularly during spikes in the CCW phenom. The only one that met my criteria of 22 magnum/ 1 5/8ths barrel had one of those clip holster/grip arrangement that I ddn't want and replaced with the "boot?" grip. First shooting was done with the mounting panels of the holster grip and the sharp rear of the cylinder removed quite a bit of skin from my thumb.
NAA was very responsive to the grip order, sending them out first class mail and I had them in about four days. The company stands out from the mass of the gun industry in dedication to customer service.
My chronographing showed somewhat higher velocities than some of those on the NAA site:
Winchester Wester 40 grain JHP- Original load
Velocity 1027 fps Energy 94 ft lbs (10) H: 1044 L: 972
CCI Maxi Mag TNT 30 grain jhp
From 2003 Velocity: 1117 Energy 83 ft l bs (10) H: 1126/ L: 1098
From 2010 Velocity: 1155 Energy 89 ft/lbs (5) HL 1214/L: 1101
CCI Maxi Mag FMJ 40 grain
From 2003 Velocity: 1038 Energy 96 ft/lbs (5) H: 1071 L: 976
From 2010 Velocity: 1017 Energy 92 ft/lbs (5) H: 1049 L: 990
Remington 40 grain JHP
Velocity 995 Energy 88 ft/lbs (10) H: 1029 L: 967
which was consistent with what I found with a 1 1/8th 22 long rifle a few years ago ( Mini-mags =790s and Stingers 898}
The CCI TNT 30 grain bullet seems particularly good as a both a seven year old lot and some new ones averaged in the 1100 fps range
and expanded enough in water jugs to indicate they would do the same in flesh. One load, the WW supreme 34 grain was particularly surprising as the first round clocked mid 1000s and the next was over 1400 fps. The case head separated leaving the body of the case in the chamber. No damage to the gun:
I stopped shooting these and had nothing similar happen with the other loads.
This one is a lot easier to use than the long rifle I had shot earlier. At ranges of two steps from the target back to five steps, it required no skill or practice to flip the gun up, cover the desired point of impact with the front sight and trip the trigger getting nice close hits:
Seven yards is a bit beyond this one's job discription and, at that range I had to hold about 10" . I shot these deliberatedly over the chronograph screens:
It appears that the NAA will do at 15-21 feet what my Baby Browning does with about the same degree of effort at 15-25 yards. The only 25 acp load that comes close is the speer gold dot 35 grain that clocks mid/high 1000s and expands very well.
The velocity and expansion of the CCI TNT compares closely with CCI mini mag hollowpoints from a standard sized 22 pistol or revolver. These will go through a jackrabbit or armadillo and kill them very well. CCI and WW original jhp loads will not expand until given several hundred fps more velocity.
If the Naa site ballistics for the 22 short version of this revolver is accurate, it is virtually identical to what you get with a cci short mini-cap from a rifle. This is sufficient to kill a squirrel and another animal that I will not name that weighs between five and ten pounds.
Rumor has it, it'll be next year, though. Guess I can wait.
