By Jim Dickson | Contributing writer
Among handguns you have your primary defensive choices such as the Model 1911A1 and the German Luger-designs dating back more than a century-along with a host of more recent sidearms which have become popular through the changing generations.
Then you have your back-up pistols, which tend to be much smaller and hence close range affairs like the American Derringer Company’s .45 Colt double Derringer. Finally, you have the deep cover pistols where the overriding factor is getting the smallest and most concealable handgun possible. These are guns that have to be concealed and carried in places impossible for a full size pistol. They are not manstoppers but they offer a gun that will definitely get someone’s attention, in a package that lets you carry a gun where you can’t carry anything else.
Perhaps the best of these is the North American .22 short Mini Revolver. This little gem weighs all of 4 ounces. By comparison the pocket watch and chain in the picture with it also weighs 4 ounces and the old Barlow pocketknife weighs 3 ounces. One thing is for sure. If you slip this in your pocket it won’t drag your pants down.
Size wise it is incredibly small being just 3 ¾ inches long, 2 ¼ inches high, and ¾-inch thick. While they make a .22 Long Rifle version it is noticeably larger and having the smallest size means everything in a pistol of this sort. I strongly recommend that you do not go with expanding bullets in the .22 short for defensive use. You really need the extra penetration of a solid and a hollow point .22 short is not going to give you a noticeable increase in stopping power. Deep cover guns are never manstoppers as that requires a much larger-caliber handgun.
The advantage of these little guns is the seemingly limitless number of places they can be secreted on the person. Once put in the small holster that comes with them they can be taped almost anywhere on the body. The holster has a belt clip but that can be removed to make it even flatter if desired. Some people dispense with the holster and tape the gun directly to wherever they want to hide it. If you don’t want the adhesive tape sticking to the gun you can put one layer of tissue paper over the gun before taping it down. Tear off the exposed paper after taping. Make sure that the tape is holding the gun in place securely but you can still draw it. People not used to this often end up unable to get the gun loose when they need it. There seems to be no end to the places that they can be hidden. That is their purpose and they are very good at it.
This tiny revolver is of stainless steel construction, which is very important for a gun that is likely to be sweated on more than a regular sidearm. Remember that salt is ONLY soluble in water so you will have to rinse it out with water to remove the salt from the sweat and then dry it and oil it inside and out with Ballistol oil. Unlike WD-40, Ballistol will not kill primers. Instead of displacing water it forms an emulsion with it. As long as it is 5% Ballistol the water will evaporate without causing rust leaving the oil behind.
Never forget that stainless steel is merely rust resistant and not rust proof. While it gives you an extra margin of safety it still needs protecting like plain carbon steel guns.
The smaller a handgun, the harder it generally is to hit anything with it and this gun takes both to the extreme. The NAA Mini Revolver is hard to hold, especially during recoil, and hitting anything at any distance is difficult to say the least. As an intimidator it is a joke. People who don’t know exactly what it is are prone to think it is a toy.
It is a weapon of last resort, drawn and fired in one motion at ranges so close that reaction time favors the one who moves first. At these ranges if an attacker is not stopped you are at least letting the steam out of him like putting holes in a locomotive’s boiler. Most attackers do not keep coming after they’ve been shot. Running away or falling down and calling for a medic are more common. Remember, this is a tiny handgun designed for maximum concealment.
The little gun is a single-action model with a spur trigger. At this size no other configuration is possible. It is loaded by pressing in on the cylinder pin and pulling the pin out with a good tug. With the hammer back at the half cock position, the cylinder can be removed for loading. Again, this system was chosen because it enabled the smallest size gun to be made.
Shooting it is a three-fingered affair with the thumb cocking the hammer, one finger on the trigger, and one finger taking up the entire grip. It feels as awkward as it sounds but that is the price you pay for a really good deep cover gun. There is no rear sight. Only a front sight. I am sure that the little gun would deliver excellent groups at all ranges if it was locked in a Ransom Rest. Held in the hand it is quite another story.
I test fired the little beast with Remington .22 short high velocity hollowpoints because that is what I had handy. The target was typical tin can. At three yards, it was easy to hit the can. At seven yards it was much more difficult although it was still hitting what would be well within the vital area of a human attacker. This is acceptable considering the design. It will produce practical accuracy at the close range emergency encounters for which it was designed.
Trying to hold a tiny deep cover pistol to the standards of a full size pistol is as ridiculous as expecting a .25 ACP Browning vest pocket pistol to deliver the performance of a .50-caliber machinegun. Just bear in mind that you can never hide a full size pistol in the places you can hide this one and that is its reason for being.
