North American Arms = GARBAGE!

[TruthTellers]

I use to like their little mini revolvers, but after owning a MiniMaster, I've come to realize these revolvers are the weakest, most sensitive pieces of crap I've ever touched. I swear, if you so much as breath on the cylinder while you pull the hammer back and it's rotating, it's guaranteed to knock the piece of chickenwire they call a hand spring out of the hand's groove and require you to either send it back in to pay them to fix it, or you have to put aside about 4 hours to do it yourself.

That's BS.

You'd think after all the decades that NAA has owned the design of the mini revolver they'd bother to engineer a better way, a more robust way of having the hand rotate the cylinder... but no. No, they got their cash cow and rely on ignorant people who see a tiny gun and hand their money over for a finicky stainless wonder of a gun without knowing what a POS it is.

For anyone considering owning an NAA for its small size and "high quality" don't bother. Get a J frame, get and LCR, whatever you get, don't get NAA.

[mk70ss]

Well you are in the minority. Thousands of people own, shoot, and carry NAA mini revolvers without the issue you have. I have had a .22 magnum Pug for years and it functions just fine. If these problems were so blatant, I dont think they would sell so many of these fine little guns.

[CajunBass]

Never heard that before.

[45_auto]

That's a pretty obnoxious title for a post. I would imagine that the vast majority of Freedom Arms and NAA owners are going to disagree with your "garbage" and "POS" opinion of the little revolvers. I do, and I know about a dozen people who own them that would also.

It sounds like your gun may need a little tweak to the handspring to keep it in it's groove. An old post on the NAA forum describes it in the link below, but it's obviously easier for you to call names than to try to find a solution. Click on the top link when it loads:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=naa+handspring+problem

Of course, if you hold the cylinder then try to force it to turn by cocking the hammer, you can pretty much screw up any revolver. Lots of leverage against some very small parts. Probably a good thing that the only thing that happens to an NAA is popping a spring out of a groove without breaking anything.

Personally, I've had a very enjoyable experience with my NAA. I've had an NAA .22LR since the early 1990's. Carried it in my shirt pocket as a deputy sheriff as "deep backup" until Kel-Tec came out with their P32. Sent it back in for the free safety cylinder upgrade (notched cylinder) about 15 years ago and NAA included a new set of gorgeous grips when they returned it.

Probably the most popular gun I own. Kids, new shooters and women seem to love it (it's "cute") although no one can hit anything with it. Everyone has to try it at least once. It went to the range every time my kids or their friends went shooting with me, now it goes every time my grand kids and their friends go shooting with me. It has had a LOT of rounds through it. Probably averaged at least a box of 50 or so every time it goes out, it's easily been out once a week in the last 25 years, so well over 50,000 rounds mostly from very inexperienced shooters through it. Never had any problem at all with it, maybe I've been lucky that they've all been keeping their fingers off the cylinder when they cock it?

I'll have to play with it this weekend just to see what happens if I try to drag the cylinder.

EDIT:

Just pulled mine out of the safe and tried to cock it while holding the cylinder. DUDE, YOU MUST BE A GORILLA!!! It's obvious by the amount of force required to even move the hammer that something will have to bend or break!

[CDR_Glock]

I love mine. It's very solid and reliable. I certainly wouldn't want to be hit with a 22 WMR.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Model12Win]

You're ruining your credibility on this forum, Truthy T.

[Lohman446]

Its possible that the OP has a particular firearm that does not live up to the normal reputation of the NAA revolvers.

[zipspyder]

I have to agree about branding the entire company as bad is not prudent. Any model from any manufacturer can have lemons. It happens but there are enough reviews and forum opinions to get an idea before you buy to know whether you are getting a good brand. If not that is where you find out how good their customer service is to make it right.

[Targa]

Never owned one but this is the first time I have ever heard anyone proclaim what garbage they are.

[44 AMP]

Every maker of everything sometimes has a lemon get out the door. We encourage people to relate their bad experiences to us, tell us what went wrong, and what was done to fix it. Tell us how the maker worked with you, or didn't, to resolve your issues.

IF the defective gun in your hands is a piece of crap, tis fine to tell us. Branding everything the maker produces as crap is an invalid opinion, unless you can prove it!

Companies simply don't stay in business 30+ years if everything they make is crap, unless they are government supported, and sometimes, not even then.

There are several names for people who judge everything or everyone based on a single bad individual. None of them are complimentary.

[V-fib]

sorry my naa mini with the clip grip is a great little gun. you didn't say anything about contacting CS I'm sure they would be happy to help you with your prob.

v-fib

[roashooter]

You're ruining your credibility on this forum, Truthy T.

yah think????

[Bob Wright]

Anyone with experience with handguns will immediately recognize the fact that a Mini Revolver is not a serious handgun for any practical purpose. Cute, interesting, but not something you would want to protect your hide with.

If you want a handgun that can be reasonably expected to put rounds on target, whatever that might be, choose a gun appropriate to the task.

Bob Wright

[fastbolt]

Originally Posted by 45_auto

... Click on the top link when it loads:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=naa+handspring+problem

Of course, if you hold the cylinder then try to force it to turn by cocking the hammer, you can pretty much screw up any revolver. Lots of leverage against some very small parts. ...

EDIT:

Just pulled mine out of the safe and tried to cock it while holding the cylinder. DUDE, YOU MUST BE A GORILLA!!! It's obvious by the amount of force required to even move the hammer that something will have to bend or break!

Thanks for the embedded links for detailed disassembly & reassembly by that gunsmith.

As a S&W revolver armorer, and an armorer for several other guns (assorted pistols, 870 & AR/M16), I can easily agree that virtually every gun ever made can be susceptible to an owner/user doing something, manipulation-wise, not anticipated (let alone recommended) by the gun maker, that can cause them grief at some point.

Little springs can be tedious. Look at how some kitchen table tinkerers don't realize how the hand spring of a S&W revolver is supposed to be installed. (You ought to try installing a new torque lock spring in the locking arm of a S&W revolver equipped with the ILS. That spring is SMALL, and forcing one end past the itty bitty nub/nipple of the locking arm's itty bitty slot is ... interesting. Fortunately, it's only something I've ever had to do for the armorer class, and for personal practice, using spare parts I'd ordered, later on. )

I rather think the Freedom Arms/NAA mini revolver design is ingenious, and it seems a rather robust little revolver, despite the collection of small parts and springs involved.

From my limited dealings with the fine folks at NAA, they seem to be a pretty reasonable, friendly and helpful bunch.

I tend to think of my little .22LR, .22MAG and BW 2" (with both cylinders) as being what were formerly loosely called "Onion Field" type hideouts.

[Screwball]

I love my NAA Sidewinder Convertible. Very well made, and when you pick it up, you can tell that.

[TruthTellers]

The reason I branded the entire company as garbage is because most of what they make is the same thing, just in different sizes. The base design of the hand, spring, hammer, etc. remains the same throughout all the models, meaning that more than likely, this issue can affect EVERY model that NAA makes of the mini revolver.

Guardian doesn't apply, but nobody buys those anyway.

This is the third or fourth time I've had to dick with the hand spring issue and I'm sick of it. Sometimes it happens when I'm simply inserting the cylinder and I have to pull the hammer back slightly to fully push the cylinder pin in and when I pull the hammer back, cylinder doesn't rotate because... the piece of chickenwire popped out of the groove.

The first time it happened was when I had the hammer pulled back, but not cocked and rotated the cylinder to see how freely it spun. That popped the spring out.

I have no confidence that this thing will work when I need it to. When you lose confidence that a gun will do its job when you ask it to, that's when I decide it's time to call a spade a spade, fix the POS, and sell it to the next NAA sucker born that minute.

[UncleEd]

Re: Bob Wright's comments----

----if I recall correctly the minis gained popularity after The Onion Field murder in L.A. It was argued that police with a mini firearm hidden beneath belt,etc.
could give an officer a chance.

In other words, the mini was seen as a last ditch option.

[V-fib]

Mr. Wright with all due respect do you have a NAA mini? If not why would you comment on something you don't have? You are Wright (pun intended) they are not a target guns, though some shooters I've seen on youtube were very proficient at shooting them at long distances. However I'm not one of them. I do practice with mine as a backup at a couple of yards with CCI stingers. I 'm able to routinely hit the head and neck (silhouette target) and at that range enough to stop a BG from harming me and able to get away. In fact I read an article about a nurse on his way to work one morning accosted my two thugs one of which was on top of him beating the living daylights out of him. He was able to pull his NAA mini out and killed the thug. Another thing, the grips that come with the NAA mini are much too small. I would recommend anyone getting one to add the clip grip. It's night and day more useful than the original grips.

v-fib

[Lohman446]

The reason I branded the entire company as garbage is because most of what they make is the same thing, just in different sizes. The base design of the hand, spring, hammer, etc. remains the same throughout all the models, meaning that more than likely, this issue can affect EVERY model that NAA makes of the mini revolver.

Guardian doesn't apply, but nobody buys those anyway.

This is the third or fourth time I've had to dick with the hand spring issue and I'm sick of it. Sometimes it happens when I'm simply inserting the cylinder and I have to pull the hammer back slightly to fully push the cylinder pin in and when I pull the hammer back, cylinder doesn't rotate because... the piece of chickenwire popped out of the groove.

If this was a company wide issue and was not related to your particular firearm wouldn't you think there would be more people then just you noting such issues?

I don't have those 50K rounds through my NAA mini but I have never ran into that issue and I have loaded and unloaded it countless times. Others share experiences more similar to mine than yours. Your falling into the trap of a small sample size.

[V-fib]

fix the POS, and sell it to the next NAA sucker born that minute.

__________________


to tell the truth(pun intended), I would never sell a defective firearm to another person without telling them what's wrong with it! and I would not trust you to be able to fix it properly. Again I ask, why have you not contacted CS? If something was wrong with it I'm sure they would fix it, probably free of charge.

v-fib

[DPris]

Before NAA & I severed a professional relationship some time back, I worked with about a dozen of their small revolvers across several models & in four calibers, over a period of 15 years or so.

I carried one as a shirt-pocket absolutely-last-ditch-proposition in uniform for the last two or three years of a police career.
I still have that one & one other.

I was under no illusions about what they were & were not.

The only two problems I ever encountered with NAA revolvers were tumbling bullets in a .17-caliber version test gun, and some misfires in my own .22 Mag gun.

I drove the .22 Mag down to the plant & had 'em change the hammer nose angle while I waited. After corrections, no further problems.

I've never had one fall apart & I don't consider them junk.
Denis

[smee78]

Well mine all seem to work fine and so does my 32acp Guardian! Guess your just cursed with bad luck and the world is over because your gun is broken. Boy, I cant wait to see what happens when a Smith or Ruger you own breaks.....

[Bill DeShivs]

I have had 2 .22 short mini revolvers since around 1976. I carried one of them for years.
Never had a problem with either.
My Guardian shoots very well, but it's heavy.
Why don't you get your gun fixed, instead of proclaiming all of them are garbage?

[TruthTellers]

^ I'm going to send it in if I can't get the hand spring to function properly. It's possible that the groove in the hammer or the groove in the hand where the spring goes could have been cut too deep or shallow and even the slightest amount of force exerted on the hand will pop the spring out.

I think given how often this has happened, I will contact NAA and make them fix it and replace the screw and sideplate that's all scratched up now.

[DPris]

One could easily be tempted to say "Duh!"
Denis