NAA Mini vs knife

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At belt buckle range I think I can bring the mini into the fight easier than many larger guns. Plus it may be deployed from a non-standard location (I have carried the mini in front pocket, back pocket, leg pocket, boot, even in a little pocket inside my hat).

And no, my situational awareness is not flawless, but the mini plays a role here, too. As I've said before, I often carry it IN MY HAND even in condition yellow (no specific threat present). There are squeeze points in time and place where the risk is elevated. If I'm walking 3 blocks to the car after a downtown show, the mini is in my hand.

No handgun is going to give you everything you want. I recognize the NAA's limitations and its strengths, then try to minimize one while maximizing the other.
 
my wife got me a stainless steel kershaw made kinfe BUT it is nicely ruger firearms decaled from the sturm ruger store for christmas. Its a assisted opening blade and very sharp. Nice knife check it out. I carry it with my NAA mini. Which is a magnum version and after some backyard ballistics and performace testing I can assure would cause damage more so than a sharp pencil.
 
I believe old Jim Bowie took 2 pistol balls & was run thru with a sword cane, afterward he killed 2 men &wounded 1! He almost died from his wounds, but as we all know he recovered & was killed later. Yes he used a big knife, but at the time it was a regular item to carry. One other item. In Aug. of 88 I road the bus from Tennessee to Oregon 3days & 3 nites. I had a DWA.s 6" .357 mag. in my Duffel bag. I was carrying a NAA. MINI ROV. on my person. I was with my cousin &when we got to Denver Co. he wanted to get a drink. As it was about midnight &I didnot think it was a good idea, but he was going anyway! One guy on the bus went along.The only bar that was open was not for gringos! It was made clear we were in the wrong place! As we left 5 men followed us! It was clear what was in store for us! I asked my cousin & the other guy if they were armed. They only had small pocket knives! I pulled out my mini rov. & held it in my hand so it could be seen. The 5 men turned around &went back to the bar. I saw that at least 2 had knives. I geuss they didn't like the odds! My NAA ROV.has saved me more than once. But I carry my CRKT -M16-14Z also!
 
krupparms said:
I believe old Jim Bowie took 2 pistol balls & was run thru with a sword cane, afterward he killed 2 men &wounded 1! He almost died from his wounds, but as we all know he recovered & was killed later. Yes he used a big knife, but at the time it was a regular item to carry. One other item. In Aug. of 88 I road the bus from Tennessee to Oregon 3days & 3 nites. I had a DWA.s 6" .357 mag. in my Duffel bag. I was carrying a NAA. MINI ROV. on my person. I was with my cousin &when we got to Denver Co. he wanted to get a drink. As it was about midnight &I didnot think it was a good idea, but he was going anyway! One guy on the bus went along.The only bar that was open was not for gringos! It was made clear we were in the wrong place! As we left 5 men followed us! It was clear what was in store for us! I asked my cousin & the other guy if they were armed. They only had small pocket knives! I pulled out my mini rov. & held it in my hand so it could be seen. The 5 men turned around &went back to the bar. I saw that at least 2 had knives. I geuss they didn't like the odds! My NAA ROV.has saved me more than once. But I carry my CRKT -M16-14Z also!
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I know this is just more anecdotal reference -- but it does seem to reinforce the point that the presentation of a firearm -- almost any firearm -- has more intimidation value than a knife.


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ghitch75
Mini hands down!!....i can hit you at 30y with it but i couldn't with a knife.....by the way i'm cheatin' to mines a Mini Mag....
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Um, did you mean 30 FEET? 'Cause @ 30 yards a 22LR out of a Mini Revolver would be going around 350 fps max...9 lbs...
 
With the new wiz-bang Speer Short Barrel 22 MAG cartridges, a 40gr bullet will be going around 450 fps at 30 yards. Energy is going to be about 17 lbs. Even at 30 feet it'll only be going 700 fps. 22LR and even 22 MAG are not meant to be shot out of 1" or 2" barrels. If they are shot out of short little barrels, it needs to be up close and personal - 10 feet max.
 
Yes, I'd chrono'd my NAA 22LR Mag and 22LR last summer. Both have the 1 1/8 barrels. The results were pretty underwhelming. The numbers I'd quoted were for 2" barrels. Moved me enough to carry the P32 on a regular basis. I wish I could carry something bigger but office environments are horrible for being PC.

You don't necessarily have to do your own tests. Here' a link to NAA's own data.

http://www.northamericanarms.com/ballistics

They didn't have data for the new Speer stuff, though... I think it'll give you a good idea nevertheless. When I do carry the NAAs it is with the Speer Short Barrel 22 Mag and the Aquila SSS 60 gr 22LR.
 
I used to own a .22LR NAA mini-revolver. It was a fine piece of craftsmanship, but I eventually sold it because I had little confidence in it as an effective weapon.

A lot of people underestimate the accuracy the NAA mini is capable of; I found that COM hits at 7 to 15 yards were pretty easy.

However, a lot of people who haven't worked with them much have little conception of how abysmally slow they are to shoot, especially when firing one-handed. They are single-action, and are hard to thumb-cock quickly without shifting your grip due to the tiny hammer spur, and you are holding the main body of the gun with two fingers. If someone is inside of 30 feet with a knife, they will be on you by the time you fire a couple of shots, and you have to thumb-cock prior to the first shot as well. Not an easy thing to do quickly and under stress.

The NAA mini is a fantastic little range toy and example of the gunmaker's art, and as a backup gun of last resort it is unmatched for concealability. But something like a Kel-Tec P32 is nearly as concealable and vastly more effective as a one-handed defensive tool, IMO.
 
I'd vote for carrying a good knife. At street ranges, and against a 22LR, there's really nothing in favor of the handgun. Knife+Kevlar would equal one very dismembered pistoleer.
 
knife 'cause a.22 has horrible stopping power

At the effective range of a naa gun, 10-15', even a couple com shots may not stop a knife wielding assailant in time.
 
PoserHoser said:
Try digging that little gun out of your pocket while someone is running at you with a knife
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I'm not following the logic here. Are you opposed to ALL pocket pistols? Because wouldn't you have to be "digging" one out of your pocket regardless of whether it is an NAA, LCP, Kel-Tec, or Seecamp? :confused:

For that matter, how is the presentation any different than a full-sized pistol? And if the answer is that a full-sized pistol is maintained at a quicker level of presentation, why can't the NAA (or any pocket pistol) be kept at the same level of presentation?


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Those pie plates are really dangerous, especially when still and glaring at you.

Not picking on anyone here, just a general pet peeve of mine. Reality isnt those tight little groups you leisurely shoot at "round" targets at the range. Its what what you can do on demand, under stress. How are you with it when you and the target are moving under "realistic" time constraints?
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I wasn't saying that hitting a moving target or under stress would be easy. I was just responding to someone who stated that NAAs weren't accurate. I'd rather say that individual is not an accurate shooter with one.
It all comes down to mindset, training, repetition and confidence.
 
JFrame, try handling an NAA and you'll see what he meant. It's tiny, and has some sharpish edges that catch on things. The grips are tiny and you have to get your hands just so in order to keep your fingers away from danger zones, and it's difficult to shoot one-handed. None of these are insurmountable, but they all take time. Can some people here do all that faster than some other people here draw and open a knife? Probably. Can everyone? Probably not, and I'd expect the percentage to drop when under crisis conditions.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
 
dev_null said:
JFrame, try handling an NAA and you'll see what he meant. It's tiny, and has some sharpish edges that catch on things. The grips are tiny and you have to get your hands just so in order to keep your fingers away from danger zones, and it's difficult to shoot one-handed. None of these are insurmountable, but they all take time. Can some people here do all that faster than some other people here draw and open a knife? Probably. Can everyone? Probably not, and I'd expect the percentage to drop when under crisis conditions.
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Hey, dev_null -- I have three, as posted in this other thread.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=636881

I really don't see how they are appreciably harder to handle than most any other pocket pistol. Perhaps some people just have larger hands than mine? :confused: With the proper pocket holster (I will grant that a couple of those depicted in my photo are not those... :D ), I really don't see how presentation is made a significantly greater issue...But YMMV. I will never apply universal dicta to how anyone perceives a handgun (or any other tool, for that matter).
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
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What...? :confused:


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Because wouldn't you have to be "digging" one out of your pocket regardless of whether it is an NAA, LCP, Kel-Tec, or Seecamp?

For that matter, how is the presentation any different than a full-sized pistol? And if the answer is that a full-sized pistol is maintained at a quicker level of presentation, why can't the NAA (or any pocket pistol) be kept at the same level of presentation?
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The NAA has a much smaller grip than other pocket pistols (Kel-Tec P32, Beretta Tomcat, etc.), that allows perhaps a middle-finger-and-half-of-ring-finger grip with the index finger in register and the thumb on the snag-prone hammer spur. At least that's how it was for me, and I have small hands.

The other issue is that the NAA mini requires a thumb-cock (and for most people, a minor grip shift) between initiation of the draw stroke and the capability to fire. And then you have to thumb-cock again before you can fire shot 2. And then again before shot 3. And so on.

It is a fantastic little range gun or go-anywhere trail gun/snake gun (but loaded with solids or HP for snakes, not shotshells), but it is definitely slower to employ than a double-action gun, and is more prone to snag than typical .32's. The only pocket gun I have tried that would be slower to deploy would be a semiauto that has to be carried chamber-empty for safety reasons, e.g. the old Raven .25.
 
I think the concept of a mini is that you shoot your armed assailant in the face and then run like hell while he's screaming about being shot in the face.

The concept of a knife is that you grapple with an armed assailant and hope he bleeds out before you do.

All in all, I'll take a mini.

Given a third choice, I'll take a .45.
 
I would like to see someone draw the NAA Mini from concealment upon receiving a signal and fire two or three shots as quickly as possible at a torso sized steel target at seven yards, observe someone doing the same thing with a reasonably proportioned semiautomatic pistol or DA revolver, and compare the shot timer records.

I believe he or she would then opt for a larger firearm. I would; heck, I would prefer my blackthorn over either a knife or a NAA Mini for defense against a knife attack.
 
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