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Old April 9, 2013, 10:23 AM   #1
AdamSean
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Range Report: NAA Guardian .380 ACP

I have been waiting for this big sticking my tongue out at all the nay sayers, telling me that the Guardian is too heavy and te recoil is much worse than the small, lightweight polymers. So... :-P I took her out to the range this morning and had the place to myself, awesome! I set my target up at 7 yards (21 feet, as this is a belly gun). I loaded it up with Blazer 95gr FMJ and fired my first magazine. Here are the results.

Sorry about the glare. First magazine fired through my new NAA Guardian .380 ACP


I was very impressed! Also, the recoil was very manageable. My old Ruger LCP was no fun to shoot and I could only fire about 75 round before my finger started to blister and I gave up. I continued on with 100 rounds of FMJ without any issues. I could have fired another 100. Now I know for next time. All rounds were fired off hand standing. No bench rest for me. I fired, two handed, one handed, slow and rapid fire. All without a hitch. I then ran a basic self defense drill to see how well she really performed when it counts. Standing at arms length from the target, start walking backwards, after 2 steps, draw from concealment (my pocket in this case), fire 2 rounds from the hip at center mass, continuing walking backward, fire 3 rounds center mass, stop, look around as if to check if all is clear, assume the BG is still up, fire 2 rounds to head, check for clear, end. All this is rapid firing. I was very impressed here too!

Self defense drill.


After the FMJ, I tested a couple hollow point rounds to see which performed better in the Guardian. First was the Winchester PDX1 95gr. This round functioned well, no hangups, fed well and fired. The only down side was the somewhat harsh recoil which caused my accuracy to suffer. The next round was the Hornady Critical Defense. As expected, it fed perfectly, fired perfectly, and the recoil was softer which made the accuracy dead on. And so, I believe I will be carrying the Hornady CD for personal protection, unless I can test something that performs better.

As an added note, I did polish all the internals to improve the trigger and slide function. This gun is very gritty, but after a little fluff and buff, it is very smooth. I absolutely love this gun!
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Old April 9, 2013, 04:14 PM   #2
bonefamily
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Congrats on a good purchase!!
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Old April 9, 2013, 05:43 PM   #3
spanishjames
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No picture of the gun? I'm also curious about how you polished the internals.
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Old April 9, 2013, 05:48 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamSean
I continued on with 100 rounds of FMJ without any issues
You don' got very many holes in that target for having shot 100 rounds.

(#SorryIcouldn'tresist)
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Old April 9, 2013, 06:26 PM   #5
AdamSean
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Ok, spanishjames, here is a pic of the pistol for you...lol


I polished the internals with a dremel. I have become really good at that. I also polished the sides of the slide. Looks good and is easy to draw from the holster. That I did with a rag and Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish.
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Old April 9, 2013, 06:45 PM   #6
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My jokes notwithstanding, it's a good-lookin' pistol.
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Old April 9, 2013, 07:20 PM   #7
AdamSean
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Spats, the first pic is only the first magazine, showing the out odf the box accuracy. The second was a fresh target to see how well I could perform the defense drill.
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Old April 9, 2013, 07:22 PM   #8
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I didn't actually think that you'd only gotten ~7 hits out of 100, I promise.
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Old April 9, 2013, 08:56 PM   #9
spanishjames
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Very nice gun, and good shooting as well. The LCP used to beat up my trigger finger at first, but I've since gotten used to it. I think it just needs a really tight grip. I'll have to keep my eye out for an NAA.

BTW, nice picture.
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