25 Acp vs 25 NAA vs 32 ACP vs 32 NAA

[SimplyChad]

My wife through some cosmic alignment random decided she wants some from NAA. I thought fine a pocket revolver for her summer wear thats fine Houston gets too hot for over shirts. Then she decided it needed to be one of the simiautos. I guess it comes down this I know and trust 32 ACP. (The wife doesn't miss so ill take shot placement over caliber here). But does anyone have the experience to compare these apples to apples?

 

[Deus Machina]

No first-hand, but from looking at the very limited info, .25 NAA and .32 NAA do better than the ACP's. I still wouldn't trust the .25's, and NAA rounds are almost impossible to find in the store. So, if it were me, stick with hot .32 ACP.

I personally would also prefer something bigger, but I'm also of the school that shot placement > caliber. So if you want small, stick with something with variety.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Um, you have issues with it being a specialty round with 1-2 ammo sources?

But, I would say, if you want .380 get it, I find that .32 is GREAT for a little gun, as it has enough punch for social work, and is 'shootable' and accurate.

 

[sm]

All I can share is based on my real life experiences.

We did not have the other offerings back in my day. I am from the deep south and know all too well about the heat and humidity, including Houston and nearby areas.

Yep, me and mine carried .25 ACP Beretta Jetfires, and Beretta 21 A's chambered for .25 ACP ( and .22 lr) along with other offerings...

I and mine were in high risk, serious work. While I respect the late Col. Jeff Cooper, I and mine have "been there, and done that".

I ain't gotta problem today carrying a .25 ACP or .22 lr either...

Time passes and "some I folks run with" did do some testing and evaluation of the newer offerings mentioned.

For a fact, one, based on his experiences when still active in Special Forces, still has "reasons" for the .32 ACP. [His experiences like others whom have btdt are the reasons I too like .32 ACP]. It has to do with what is "normal", allows one to "blend in" and legal/political reasons.
[Keep in mind, some countries do not allow the private sector to have what police/military use].

Understand, I and mine, for what we did, often had to be "discreet". This was before NPE's and other stuff came to be. This includes Internet forums and Internet Kiddies, posting stuff about things they have, and will never have real world experiences with.

The gist was/is...when some folks did some testing and evaluation, with some guns, including the ones in original post and I was involved...

The .25 ACP ( and .22 lr) still have a viable place in today's world. The Jetfire is "that" damn reliable and accurate, and affords deep concealment. So does the 21 A in both caliber offerings.

I am not that old at age 56, just I started too damn young in some serious stuff. While I have IT education from college, my real deal world experiences are greater.

All I can share...

But one would be very very wise to have mindset and skill sets before tool sets. I don't care if the "tool set" is a .44 mag, 45 ACP. .38 spl or anything else, including a "mouse gun"

I am the only one left alive of a work I was born into and did for decades...

My two cents, for what it is worth.

 

[Owen Sparks]

A man near my town had a .25 emptied into his chest and he was still able to beat the crap out of the shooter, never mind that he almost died in the hospital that night several hours later. Another took multiple hits from a .32 auto and still drove himself to the hospital. Small puncture wounds can be deadly though they will not usually stop a detirmined man. Then again I have seen people panic and scramble for the door when "shot" with blanks because they were in a neutral mind set when the stupid prank was pulled.

 

[Shadow 7D]

ok
So, what Owen meant to say is

"Shot placement is very important, and more so, with smaller calibers"

 

[kozak6]

The .25 NAA and .32 NAA are weird, unpopular, expensive, and hard to find. Who knows if you will even be able to get ammo for them in 5 or 10 years?

While .32 acp isn't ideal, at least it's widely available.

 

[jimniowa]

My wife carries a Taurus 2" 32 H&R mag. I believe it is comparable to a .38sp with similar loads. Factory ammo is available on the shelf at most stores. I reload for it using 95 gr jfp bullets. This gun can shoot the full line of .32 ammo. I would like to see a 4 to 6 inch revolver come out in .327, be a great target cartridge.
Jim

 

[jiminhobesound]

My wife does not like revolvers. I gave her a .32 acp semiauto. She likes the feel and the recoil is acceptable. I loaded it with Buffalo ammo which is about as potent .32 acp you can get. She can shoot it. It is at the upper end of her recoil sensitibit.y and she feels confident with it

 

[SimplyChad]

Thank you all for the advice. I myself love to 32acp but I really need someone with experience with the NAA rounds. Mods could you please move this to general discussions. Maybe the bigger audience can shed some light.

 

[orionengnr]

Back when I owned Kel-Tecs, I had a P32 and a P3AT.

Shooting these two similarly sized-and-weighted semi autos back-to-back re-inforced Newton's Third Law, and convinced me that I will never carry a .32 or smaller cartridge.
The .380 is a snappy round--borderline unpleasant to shoot in this platform. The 32 is a popcorn fart in comparison.

Back to Newton's Third Law--handgun size/weight being similar (or nearly identical in this case) the power of the cartridge is directly proportional to the recoil.
I own a .380 but only carry it once or twice per year. A .32? No. not now, not ever.

And before someone starts with the "do you want to be shot with one?" I will say, that God forbid it should ever come down to that, yes...I hope my opponent is armed with a .25/.32.380. Because I will be returning fire with a more capable cartridge...

 

[hso]

Let her pick without interference.

9mm is better than .380, .380 is better than .32, which is better than .22lr.
.25 is better than nothing, but not better than .22 win mag.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

If she goes with a 32 ACP I suggest you look into buying 60gr Fiocchi JHP ammo. (not the XTP ammo) It's loaded a little hotter than the American ammo and is rated @1,100 fps. When I carry a Kel-Tec P-32 that's what I load it with. (YES, I know I won't get 1100 fps from such a short barrel but when you start out higher you end up higher too)

 

[BIGGBAY90]

Well the .32 naa has been out since 2002 and there is still ammo for is at (ammo to go) or the naa website so i guess all those who said there will be no more ammo for it in a few years are wrong----9 years and counting

 

[Shadow 7D]

Ok, so how bout in another 9 years
Do you really want a caliber like 9 police/ultra
.41 Mag
or 10mm

A round that yes is there, somewhere, and you will PAY for it, I mean, .32 is expensive enough, you really want a gun that shoots a custom round, as many of those guns and rounds now reside in 'collector status' cause those who got them, can't even shoot them, and if they do, the ammo is so expensive, what's the point.

 

[natman]

Bottlenecked cartridges get a lot better performance for caliber than straight walled cartridges. So for top performance regardless of anything else, get the 32 NAA. For practical shooting get the 32 ACP because ammo is a LOT cheaper and more widely available.

 

[Geckgo]

.25 acp is very comparible with .22lr, just sayin
.32 acp offers a bit more, just sayin

When it comes to what she feels comfortable carying, I would not make an outcry argument for caliber until she gets up past .37 (or actually .355/.356 if you want to be snooty), but rather put emphasis on lots of target practice and some classes. If thems was my choices I'd get the .22 just so that I could practice 8 times as much for the same price.

just my 2 coppers

 

[BIGGBAY90]

QUOTE: SHADOW 7D-----Ok, so how bout in another 9 years
WELL WE HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE--I'M SURE THERE ARE GUNS THAT YOU HAVE NOT SHOT IN MANY YEARS OR PUT THOUSAND OF ROUNDS THROUGH---THE 32 NAA OR MOST SMALL GUNS DO NOT GO THROUGH THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF ROUNDS

QUOTE: GECKGOI'd get the .22 just so that I could practice 8 times as much for the same price.
THATS A GOOD CHOISE FOR PRICE WISE

 

[Shadow 7D]

HUH
whats with the yelling
see, you don't disagree that it's a specialty round
and while you may not shoot thousands of round out of your CCW (and please go read S&T to see why that's not right)

The point is that it's a specialty ammo, with ONLY ONE MANUFACTURE

And that, and that the NAA guardian isn't known for being the nicest beastie out there...
would be enough for me to avoid it, esp. in a 'novelty' caliber.

 

[MICHAEL T]

Yea and I bet they don't sell 500 of these 2 odd ball calibers a year.. Why carry a 32 size pistol and shoot 25 size bullet. Just carry the 32 acp Cheaper ammo and better selection. Same with the 32 NAA its in the 380 frame so carry a 380 can buy ammo every where and have a good selection Not just Corbon

 

[357reloading]

IMO the 32 acp is a back up or boot gun.

 

[Onmilo]

HSO got it right.
I love shooting and collecting .32 acp pistols.
I normally choose a 9mm over any of them if I know I will be going in harms way.

The .25 and .32NAA are proprietary cartridges.
Hard to find at any 'ye olde towne gonneshoppe", expensive, and a bit more lethal than the standard run of the mill .25 or .32, especially in the size packages they are offered in.
If you need one, you really need one.
If you don't, skip it.

 

[303tom]

I have two Guardians in .25 & .32 , both with 10 round extended magazines , love em . The .32naa if you ask me is better than it`s parent , and ammo hard to get , I picked up a 100 rds. last weekend in Columbia for under 50 bucks . So yes well worth taking a look at !

 

[Dogguy]

I've kinda been tossing around the idea of a .32 auto for a little pocket gun. Seecamp, NAA, Kel-Tec, etc., make some pretty tiny pistols in .32ACP--some of them smaller than the Beretta .22LR I now own.

There's a good bit of penetration/expansion test results on the round available on the net. So what. It means very little in the Real World.

Marshall and Sanow found the .32 had surprisingly good results in the shootings they studied. It was in the same range as the .38 Special out of a snubby. I know people question their studies but I haven't seen any other studies of actual shootings that show their results to be too far off. But, still...Real World results are variable. Some people survive multiple .44 Magnum hits and continue being a threat, others fall down dead with one shot from a .22 Short.

Then you get into the history of the round and how it was used by police and military in Europe for decades and, apparently it worked pretty well. Cops, criminals, Nazis and Resistance fighters used it pretty effectively in shooting each other. I don't figure human physiology has changed a whole helluva lot in recent years.

Having a pistol the size of a .25 in a caliber with a much better track record seems like a pretty decent idea. Especially if you have times when you can't carry a 9mm or .45ACP. Especially since the likelihood that you'll have to face down a hoard of zombie gangbangers is good script for Hollywood but not for most of us in the Real World.

 

[MICHAEL T]

First the NAA are heavy,Have terrible trigger and more recoil than a KelTec 32 .
The 25 NAA is built on a 32 frame and the 32 on the 380 frame. So buy those caliber to start with..

Either the 32 or the 380 If you must have a NAA pistol . Corbon or reloading your choice for ammo. I ve never saw in store. You order from Corbon or I believe you can get from NAA also.

If you want a 25 The little Beretta is a great pistol I have 2 of the 950 BS, 1 model 20 , and 2 of the model 21. I wold and have carried all of them (not at same time of course)
The 32 KelTec is the better pistol and 1/2 the price . The 380 KelTec for all the horror about recoil is still better than the 380 guardian in recoil .
My wife and daughters have all went KT in 32 .
Buy the NAA if she wants and can't live with out but get in 32 not the NAA 32