by John C. Krull | TheGunMag Production Manager
In at least one of my past articles about a gun from North American Arms (NAA, 2150 South 950 East, Dept. TGM, Provo, UT 84606; phone: 800- 821-5783; online: northamericanarms.com) I stated that if you look on my pistol license you will see more guns there produced by North American Arms than any other single company. This is true for several reasons, one being their generosity to me in regards to samples and also because they are damn good guns and lots of fun to shoot.
Several months ago I had called Ken Friel, NAA general manager, and told him I was looking for several guns to write an article about my daughter selecting her first carry gun, and asked if he could send out one of their Guardian pistols in .380 caliber.
The author’s daughter, Carrie, at the range shooting the NAA Guardian in .380. She also shot several other guns that day including .38 revolvers, .22 auto, and other .380 caliber chambered guns. This was for her selection of her first handgun.
Well, the article never got written that way, so I’ve going to cover the Guardian in this article along with the newest addition to the NAA minirevolver line.
All the guns produced by NAA are made from stainless steel. Some people have the misconception that because something is made of stainless steel it doesn’t require any maintenance. This isn’t really true; it may require LESS maintenance but maintenance cannot totally to be disregarded.
Most, if not all, of the guns from NAA are small enough to fit into your pocket. It’s not really a good idea to just pop a gun into your pocket and go about your business. There are some really nice holsters made for the NAAs that will allow you to put the gun into your pocket, but that will also keep the gun indexed muzzle down so that if and when you need it, you can draw the gun without fumbling around trying to get it out of your pocket.
The Guardians are produced in four calibers, two of which were designed by the people at NAA, and two which shoot commonly produced ammunition.
The .25 NAA is a necked down .32 ACP case; this is a very effective caliber. The next one is the .32 NAA which is a necked down .380 Auto case which delivers quite a punch. The one I like the best, however, is the .32 ACP. I carry this gun a lot, especially during the summer when I’m riding my bike. I carry it in an ankle holster. You don’t even know that it is there. The last caliber is the one that we had gotten for Carrie, my daughter, to try out in .380 ACP caliber.
Carrie did end up picking a .380 caliber gun out of the several guns we had, with three of them being chambered for .380. She felt that the slide on the NAA Guardian was too hard for her to rack and that the trigger pull was harder than she liked. She is right about the trigger pull, which is over 8 pounds. I say that because 8 pounds is as high as my trigger scale goes. And the slide can be difficult, but you learn how to handle these things with practice. She didn’t shoot enough rounds to make a really fair comparison. I might have gone for the .380 as my summer/backup pistol, if I hadn’t already gotten and fell for the Guardian in the .32 ACP chambering. With the great improvement in ammunition over the years .380 has become a caliber with good stopping power in a small package that can be carried in a pocket, purse, fanny pack or ankle holster.
The Guardian fires double-action-only (DAO) and does require some practice to get used to. One advantage of DAO is that each shot requires the same amount of trigger pull. The Guardian holds 6+1 rounds so it is even legal in New York State since the atrocity of the “SAFE Act” was passed. Most DAO pistols don’t have a safety and that is true of the Guardian.
There is no manual safety; you are the safety. Unfortunately, people in California are out of luck; they aren’t allowed there.
The Guardian has a price tag of $479 so while it is not cheap, it isn’t cheaply made either. You do get what you pay for.
We only had two brands of ammo to use in the Guardian. One was the Federal Premium (900 Ehlen Dr., Dept. TGM, Anoka, MN 55303; phone: 800- 322-2342; online: federalpremium.com) .380 Auto personal defense/low recoil, 90- grain Hydra Shok JHP, and some .380 Auto 90-grain JHP from Black Hills (PO Box 3090, Dept. TGM, Rapid City, DS 57709; phone: 605-348-5150; online: black-hills.com). The five-yard groups were on the average 1.25 to 1.5 inches in spread. Some very good performance for a gun with a short barrel! We didn’t have any misfires, jams, stovepipes or other malfunctions.
I also need to mention a very helpful loading tool for your magazines. It is the Baby UpLula from Butler Creek (9200 Cody St., Dept. TGM, Overland Park, KS 66214; phone 800-423-3537; online: butlercreek.com).
This is a plastic loading tool that depresses the magazine follower so that rounds of ammo can easily be inserted into the magazine without any abuse to your fingers. This is especially useful on high (normal) capacity magazines where the last few rounds can be really difficult to insert into the magazine.
Butler Creek has two models—the UpLula is for rounds between 9mm and .45 caliber and the Baby UpLula is for .22-.380 caliber. I have one of each and they really make the job so much easier. Both of mine are black, but, from what I see online, you can now also get them in pink. What next? These loaders are made in Israel and are priced between $27 and $42 retail, depending where you find them.
The second handgun from NAA is their newest addition to the minirevolver collection. It is called the Sidewinder. Anyone familiar with minirevolvers knows that for years the way to load the revolver was to pull a pin holding the cylinder in, load the rounds and replace the cylinder. It is a time consuming exercise, but justified by the fun you’ll get from shooting these guns.
A while back, NAA came out with a top break mini-revolver which I wrote about a few years ago. That was really the only other model that can be loaded without totally removing the cylinder.
The Sidewinder is very similar to a revolver with a swing out cylinder. It takes a couple of times operating it to easily open and close the cylinder. Try it out a few times, without ammo first, to get used to it. Something that is unusual about the Sidewinder is that the cylinder opens to the right rather than the left, as most revolver shooters are used to.
The Sidewinder isn’t a big revolver. It measures 5-inches in length, 2.875 inches in height, and just 1.0625 inches thick.
The barrel is just 1-inch long so it is not meant to be a target gun where you can reach out and touch someone, but I have found all of the NAA mini-revolvers to be very accurate at reasonable distances, probably up to at least 7 yards.
The cylinder holds 5 rounds. The regular Sidewinder comes chambered for the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire. This model has a retail price of $349. You do have the option of buying the NAA Sidewinder Conversion, which comes with two cylinders, one chambered for the .22 Mag and the second chambered for the .22 LR caliber. The cylinder only takes about 8 minutes to change—7.5 minutes to find the right screwdriver, and about 30 seconds to actually do the job. Thank goodness I keep all my tools together in the same place. The NAA Conversion has an MSRP of $419. Personally, I liked shooting it best in .22 LR caliber.
I am lucky enough to have a range at home in my basement. So I didn’t even have to go to the range to do my shooting.
Someday I need to clean up all the casings that are cluttering the floor.
While the Sidewinder does come with very attractive wood grips, you do have a choice of several other grip options, which you can view on their website. There you also see some different carry options.
Something that it took me years to learn, and then it was from one of my customers who bought an NAA revolver, is that the proper and safe way to carry this revolver is with the hammer dropped on one of the hammer safety slots which are in between the cartridge chambers. NAA does warn that if dropped the gun could discharge if dropped on the hammer. So buyer take heed, you have been informed.
Another warning I do want to mention to our readers is that NAA doesn’t recommend using PMC .22 Mag or .22 LR rifle ammo in their firearms. They warn of a possible double discharge, with one round being aligned with the barrel and the other not aligned. Not a good thing, so once again shooter you have been informed. Take heed! I can’t tell you when I got my first NAA .22 Magnum revolver, but it was a lot of years ago. I have a couple of times thought that my life was in possible jeopardy, where it wasn’t yet warranted or possible to draw my primary gun, but I was able to and did draw my mini-revolver and had it ready it, if I needed it. Some of you might say this is just a mouse gun.
Okay, maybe it is, but nobody wants to get shot at all regardless of caliber.
We did a lot of shooting with the Sidewinder using several brands of .22 LR and .22 Magnum ammunition. I had some PMC but didn’t use it. We used Federal Premium Gold Medal Target ammo, American Eagle (Federal) High Velocity ammo, Sellier & Bellot (a match .22 ammo produced in the Czech Republic) ammo and Winchester Super X (600 Powder Mill Rd., Dept. TGM, East Alton, IL 84050; phone: 801-876-3440; online: winchester.org) High Velocity ammo.
The one that produced the best groups was the Sellier & Bellot. We were shooting primarily from 5 yards (15 feet) and got good groups while firing the gun as fast as I could safety cock the hammer, line up the sights and pull the trigger.
We also fired the Sidewinder with several brands of .22 Magnum ammo— Winchester Supreme, Winchester Super X, CCI (2299 Snake River Ave., Dept. TGM, Lewiston, ID 83501; phone: 800-256-8685) Maxi Mag, and CCI TNT Green (which is a lead-free bullet). In general the groups from the .22 Magnum weren’t as good as those fired in .22 LR. Either way, it was lots of fun and I was actually tired when I was done. Who’d of thunk? I strongly recommend either of these pistols to my readers. If you want a backup “mouse” gun that you can trust with your life, either of these two handguns will fill the bill.
Be sure when talking to any of these manufacturers that you tell them John at TheGunMag sent you.
