...i tossed in my two cents, the primary gist of which is this: you might own and usually carry the bestest most powerfulest handgun in the world in the awesomest holster/carry rig made...but somebody in the comments said that carrying is like wearing your seat belt; you may never need it and probably won't...but if you do, and it's on one of those quick trips to the store, gas station, etc. and it was just too much trouble to pack your main carry weapon...what then? how much good is that wonderful piece with the great ballistics and mag full of hydrashocks going to do you when it's locked up at home and you're two miles away at the hess station?
that is why, even though i usually have my old colt cobra revolver on me...since i got my first one in 1978 when they still had the black micarta grips...i ALWAYS have this naa in my pocket...my dad used to say, when i or one of my brothers asked him if he had his pocket knife with him, "i've got my pants on, don't i"? that's how it is for me with the items in the pic; if i'm dressed, my wallet, phone, keys, my dad's tiny old browning 2-blade...and my north american arms .22lr revolver...are in my pocket.
push come to shove...it's my mouse gun and me...but i prefer minigun, i really don't have much of a beef with mice; it's the rats of the world one has to be ready for...all of the time.
jtc
10 comments:
The P3AT is as small as I like to go physically. Since it exists, works, and I can shoot it adequately, .380 has become my minimum caliber. If I had to drop to a smaller caliber to get to that size I would, but I'm glad I don't.
Only problem is that my wife took my P3AT (after not wanting to buy one) so .38 has become my effective minimum...
i do like ruger's new .380 and have one on order with clint at my old shop...as soon as he has filled all the retail buyer's orders (he does a lot of le business, and more than twenty of the little rugers are going to them).
still, that won't be my normal carryon...i like my .38 snubbie colt for that...the point of the naa is that it is always with me, whether or not i'm carrying my regular piece, and it has given me comfort many times to know it is there...jtc
P3AT isn't my normal carry either, I'm more likely to carry an XD40. P3AT is for when I'm too lazy. If the pocket is too small for the P3AT, it is too small for my hand to get in to retrieve the P3AT with any reasonable speed.
exactly; pulling even the smallest .380 out of a tight pocket can be tricky to do quickly...the naa can be cradled inside my palm and slides out as easy as a pocket knife, completely hidden and ready (God forbid) to jam under a scum's chin and fire before he sees anything.
over the thirty years that i was an ffl, i carried at least a dozen different handguns from 1911's to an s&w m66 to a glock 27, a kimber ultracarry, and more in shoulder rigs, paddles, ankles, and bareback...and through them all, the naa has been my constant backup starting in 1978; it is my friend.
you might have guessed that i'm a fan, and i am...it is cheap, about $150, maintenance free stainless, and a simple trouble-free sao design. and here's another reason: i've carried four of them over the years, and never had a failure or even a problem, and i sold probably a couple hundred over 30 years also with no problems that i'm aware of. but five or six years ago, a guy brought one in that was jammed up tight; nothing would move...i could see the sideplate screws were buggered and asked if he had done any home gunsmiffin'...he sheepishly said yes. i gave him $40 trade towards a ruger i think, and sent the naa in to the factory with a note explaining what happened. less than two weeks later it was returned, and if the serial number didn't match i would have thought it was brand new; they even included the zipper rug, owner's manual, and box that is included with the new guns...the charge? zip, not even the return shipping...that went over pretty big with me...
jtc
Thanks for this post, it's given me a lot to think about. I plan to get a S&W 642 or 638 sometime in the next couple of months, but this NAA is something I could acquire immediately even on my meager pay.
Is that one the .22LR or the .22Mag?
I have the combo Mini, and carry it with the Mag cylinder, although for an under the chin shot I figure either would work.
I've looked at them as well for the exct same reason. You can conceal the NAA if all you wear is a loin cloth. How does it shoot? I'm sure it's no tack driver, but it's not supposed to be.
BTW, I have read a self defense story - don't remember where - where a man shot two scumbags who were robbing the barber shop where he was getting his hair cut. He used a NAA like yours in .22 Mag and fired twice scoring two headshots. He said he practiced often.
bob: you can't go wrong with either of those ltwt smiths...if i wasn't in love with the little 15oz cobra that was traded to me for a freakin' glock by a local deputy, and which turned out to have been made in '54, the same year i debuted...i'd carry one of those ss smiths. but do get one of the naa's...you can get it immediately and carry it till you get your s&w, and also as a last-ditch backup afterwards.
kevin: mine is fifteen years old, and they didn't make the combo mini then, so it's l.r., but i have carried the slightly larger-frame magnum model; i like the additional firepower, but i did find the heavier recoil more problematic with a two-finger grip...but as you said, upcloseandpersonal either will work.
ctone: nope, it ain't no target gun, but at a range measured in inches rather than feet, it's controllable...i gotta say, though, the guy in the barber shop is a better (or luckier) man than me...damn!
jtc
Something in the hand is better than nothing, in time of trouble. My preferred carry piece is a compact 1911, but sometimes it's pretty hard to conceal. I recently got one of the Ruger LCP, and so far it's been reliable, and easy to carry. Made a pocket holster to keep it upright, and no complaints so far.
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