NAA Guardian .380 Reviews

by **agonist** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:07 pm

Im unfamiliar with .320 cartridge. Seems to me if youre gonna bother with a .380 powder charge you may as well be pushing a .380 cal bullet. Most experts seem to agree that a .380 is the smallest possible bullet to make a body shot effective and its quesionable at that. 32 and smaller you gotta go for a face shot. Lets hear it for the .22 short Deringer! One shot for each eye!

by **tigwelder56** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:52 am

I carry a NAA 22 LR five shot derringer with CCI Quick Shok ammunition. Its one of those little things that you pick up with your pocket change etc. People may laugh but I always have that little jewel with me wherever I go and a well placed headshot with it would probably ruin that bad guys day! It serves as a back up to a back up but one thing is that its always there!

by **XXOXX** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 5:51 am

Yeah theres the argument that the gun youll carry is much more deadly than the one you wont lug around.

Ive shopped and shopped . . . traded, sold, re-fitted.

I like the Kahr MK9 -- 9mm and about the size of the Berretta Tomcat or Colt Mustang.

I like the NAA Guardian in 32 ACP, but only in polite company.

If I were going to go for the NAA Mini Revolver, itd be in 22 magnum with serious hollow-point ammo.

Im currently intrigued with the Bond Derringer in 45/410 gauge, with the longer, 4 1/4 inch barrel. The Snake Slayer IV.

But its the size of a compact 1911. I like the idea of a small shotgun though -- which is what this gun is all about.

If youre going to go for the 380 ACP Guardian, have a serious look at the Kahr MK9 or the same gun in polymer.

by **agonist** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 9:25 am

I ve fired the bond derringer in 410ga with the shorter barrel. At ten feet the pattern was very wide and unpredictable. Kicked a little too. The longer barrel might work better but at the size increase of the gun it might make sense just to carry a compact 9mm or .380.

by **tigwelder56** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:47 pm

I find myself carrying my AMT 380 in a IWB holster more often than my Glock 23 because its so simple, light and very small. I agree with xxoxx regarding carrying something youre willing to versus something that you hesitate to pick up for whatever reason. Anything is preferable to nothing.

by **XXOXX** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:24 am

We can beat this to death . . .

I've had a CCW for about a decade now. Most days, most places, I don't carry anything. When I first got the CCW I was into carrying the 1911 Sub-Compact. Carried a Para-Ord P1045 or some such, which was smaller. Then a Smith Mod. 60, smaller, then a Kahr MK9, smaller

Kel-Tek P32 is hot stuff. I had one. Well made, well designed. I just had a hard time thinking of it as a "gun." It feels like a toy.

NAA Guardian, 32 ACP -- I'll toss it in the car, in the stash pocket on the console. I'll stick it in a pocket. It gets carried.

Mostly I don't have to think about it much. No "hiding," no holster, no "printing" issues. I just toss it in a pocket and go.

I don't get assaulted much . . . Never has happened. Mostly I don't feel compelled to carry a defense gun, or even a knife. But the NAA Guardian is there if the need arises.

Well made, nicely finished, good customer service/warranty. The Kel-Tek P32 is the other option, and a good choice. NAA Mini Revolver is smaller . . .

These calibers are not going to "drop" the assailant. But I'm betting that anyone you shoot with a 32 ACP or even 22 Mag will "break off the attack." And that's the whole idea.

by **j2342** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:52 pm

caveat emptor? I own one of these and well I would regard it as better then nothing, really its decently built , its heavy and feels solid. it fits a pocket well but way to heavy so swings like mad.

now for the bad news. with a stock trigger pull you will probably not hit anything unless the guy is literaly within arms reach. with a LOT of practice you can be decent with the gun. after you drop the pull down to more like 8 lbs , i set mine around 7 and smoothed it up a lot. stock pulls some have been unreadable as in max. out the scale at the gun shop. 14lbs! is not unheard of.

think of the wieght of this gun and its long pull at 14lbs and you can understand its horrible. it gets worse, this in not the type of gun you can practice a lot with. serious design flaw is the trigger return spring, you can smooth the edges that will try to harm it during installation an duse, but it still seem sto have a short and unpredictable service life. I have had them go from 150 rounds or so up to about 400 rounds i think it was. i also had one snap at about 30 rounds and i went to thier forum and some people have had thiers go on the first box also. one person has the firing pin assembly come out of the gun and smacl him in the kisser while shooting. I did a lot of neat stuff with this gun from a gunsmithing experiment kind of way, but it was easy to determine from my experiences and those of others.

This gun is not for self defense!, self defense has to work as close to 99% of the time , hopefully 100%. this gun has a design flaw that left me pulling air several times, trigger connected but did not return, and I have under 1000 rounds through it, it also is one to frequently jam ramp polishing HELPS not fixes this. many stove pipe the last round. last round doesn't bother me really, its annoying, however its the only gun i ever saw pop out a live round and pick up the next one and this was in its stock condition, its seems to have been built to throw the brass at the shooter, I would not want to shoot this without eye protection ever. your bad guy gonna wait for you to get your eyes on? it was after all these issues.

i wrote off ever relying on this gun. NAA has great customer support it seems but to me that didn't matter, i could not see a good way to replace the trigger return design. without that it was nothing but a curiosity. sending it to NAA would have gotten me a new spring but that would not change what it is.

oh and the toys , the laser pointer , save yourself the money. its worthless it changes as your grip changes, so as you pull the trigger it moves, I made custom grips that stopped this (hard mounted the back of the LASER), and was going to make more stuff for it when this gun was made obsolete.

by Kahrs smallest 9MM and the fact in our state off duty police must carry a bigger caliber weapon. if you want one cheap let me know, mine is working and for sale cheap:)

did I mention it kicks like a 9mm with that blowback operation? save yourself time money and aggravation. get a kahr or smarter still smith n wessons tiniest 357 and put some 38plus p's or if your really love recoil of outragious proprtions 357s, gun can take it , human hands ?? but think its lighter, smaller jamming is extremely unlikely and its a man stopper, or if you tame your ammo a man discourager, all ammo can kill of course , but few do so as well as a 357M.

mini-micro platforms semi autos just don't make sense to me. tolerances and timings get more critical and thats the enemy of reliability. also you only getting a few more rounds sometimes only 1 or 2 for all that added risk of a jam and you have to clear it. not just pull again.

kahr pm9 and baby glock 26,27,33 is small as I would go. if seecamp is just like these, as they seem to be , i would not own one of them either unless free

by **tigwelder56** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:54 pm

Thank you for the input. I was seriously thinking about one of these because of its similarity to the Seecamp. I'm still curious if someone owns a Seecamp and can give us a comparison. The trigger pull on this sounds a lot like the pull on my AMT 380. It's a bear to pull and keep on target but like you said I'm thinking that I'm going to be within 10 feet if I have to use it. I find myself carrying it or a Beretta 21 or 950 because they're so light and you don't know they're there until you need them, if you need them. I also carry either a Glock 23 or Taurus 850 but I have to admit that more often than not I only have a NAA 22LR mini revolver in my pocket with custom ammo. At least it's something, not much but something. I like my Glock alot but this AMT is really convenient and reliable with ball ammo. I'm using Glaser Safety Slugs in it now and feel confident that they'll do the job if necessary. Thanks again for your post! I love SC, used to live in Charleston years ago and wish I had never left the area. Nice people and a nice state!

by **vermonter** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 1:39 am

I have the Guardian .32 ACP pistol. I have fired about 200 rounds witout any malfunctions (Ball Ammo), and if I did NAA has the BEST customer service of ANY handgun Mfgr. This pistol is 100% reliable and I have no trouble concealing it ANYWHERE on my person. I would rather have 12 rounds (extra mag in pocket) of reliable .32 ACP carried on me, than my .45 left in the car or at home. I have been CCWing since 1983 and lets face it carrying can be a REAL BIG P.I.A. some of the time. It is never a P.I.A. to carry the .32 ACP Guardian, EVER! There is no excuse not to slip this tiny gem into a pocket. Ammo is cheaper and easier to get than the .25 or .32 NAA round. While on that subject the rather lengthy negative review by the earlier poster was for the .32 NAA round I would assume, NOT the .32 ACP that I have. The .25 and .32 NAA rounds are punishing to the small frames of the dimunitive pistols. I have no doubt there may be "flying springs" and other breakages associated with trying to cram a potent bottleneck round into a tiny package. I can ASSURE you the .32 ACP is very reliable and can hold up to MANY fired rounds in it's lifetime. I also have no doubt 6 rounds of .32 ACP will stop most attackers at CLOSE defensive ranges. As for the trigger pull this is NOT a target pistol. Is is a ultra concealable business gun. Consider the .32 ACP instead. I am an NRA LE Instructor and former military armorer since 1979.

by **tigwelder56** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:36 am

Hi Vermonter, welcome to the forum! You made an excellent post, thank you! You provided the kind of information that we're looking for on this forum. You make your story almost visible. I can see you take your instructors training serious. I'm really pleased to hear your report regarding the Guardian 32acp. I've had one in my sites for awhile. I completely agree that you'll use what you have a lot better than what you left in your gunsafe because you didn't want to lug around a heavy gun. Everything has its time and place. You made a very valid point, one easy to support.