North American Arms Mini Revolver 22 WMR 5-Shot Stainless 1.63 in. – Superb Tough Pocket Gun

Description

The North American Arms Mini Revolver 22 WMR weighs five and a quarter ounces and has a barrel an inch and five eighths long. It is the smallest serious firearm most people will ever handle, and it exists for one reason: it is the gun you will actually have on you when a larger one stayed at home.

Everything about it is machined stainless steel. Five chambers, a single-action exposed hammer, fixed sights, rosewood grips. There is no safety catch, no trigger guard and no double-action pull. It is a nineteenth-century mechanism built to modern tolerances, and it works.

What the North American Arms Mini Revolver 22 WMR actually is

• Five shots of 22 WMR from a 1.63 inch barrel.
• 5.25 ounces. That is lighter than most phones.
• Stainless steel frame, cylinder and barrel; rosewood grips.
• Single action only: the hammer is cocked by thumb for every shot.
• Fixed sights, which on a gun this size means a notch and a nub.

Read the manual before you carry it

• There is no manual safety. On this pattern of revolver the hammer is meant to rest in a notch cut between the chambers, not on a loaded chamber. Learn that from the factory manual, practice it unloaded, and do not skip it.
• There is no trigger guard, so the holster matters more than it does on any other gun we sell. Use one made for this revolver.
• Reloading means taking the cylinder out. It is slow and it is meant to be. Five shots is what you have.

North American Arms Mini Revolver 22 WMR specifications

• Caliber: 22 WMR (22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire)
• Capacity: five chambers
• Barrel: 1.65 in.
• Frame, cylinder and barrel: stainless steel
• Grips: wood
• Hammer: exposed, standard; single action
• Sights: fixed
• Weight: 5.25 oz
• Manufacturer part number: NAA22M. UPC: 744253000133
• No sale to California

Rimfire cartridge dimensions and pressure standards are published by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute.

Why the North American Arms Mini Revolver 22 WMR earns its place

• It goes where nothing else goes: a watch pocket, a jacket lining, an ankle rig, a boot. The gun you carry beats the gun you left at home.
• Stainless throughout, so pocket lint and sweat do not ruin it.
• A revolver cannot fail to feed, and there is no magazine spring to take a set.
• 22 WMR rather than 22 LR. Even out of a short barrel it is a step up in energy, and it is far less prone to the dud rounds rimfire is known for.
• It is genuinely fun, which is a poor reason to buy a defensive gun and a perfectly good reason to own this one.

Now the honest part, and it matters more here than on most listings. 22 WMR is a rifle cartridge. Its advertised velocities come from barrels twenty inches long.

Out of 1.65 inches a North American Arms Mini Revolver 22 WMR loses a great deal of that, and what it does not lose as velocity you get back as muzzle flash and blast, because a magnum powder charge has nowhere to finish burning. A North American Arms Mini Revolver 22 WMR fired at night will blind you briefly. Shoot it in daylight first and know what it does.

That is also why the ammunition choice is not cosmetic. CCI Uppercut 22 WMR is loaded specifically for short barrels and is the one to buy for carry. CCI Maxi-Mag is the volume load for practice, and Armscor 22 WMR is the cheaper option. Practice with what is affordable, carry what is designed for the barrel you have.

Be clear-eyed about what the North American Arms Mini Revolver 22 WMR is for. Five rounds of short-barreled rimfire, a sight picture the size of a grain of rice, a grip you hold with two fingers and a hammer you cock by thumb between shots.

This is a contact-distance last resort, not a defensive handgun in the ordinary sense, and it is not a first gun for anybody. If this is the only gun you are buying, buy something bigger. If it is the fifth, and the question is whether you carry anything at all on a given day, it is one of the best answers there is.

If you want the same idea from North American Arms in other forms, the NAA Wasp is the same caliber with a different grip and barrel, the Mini Revolver in 22 LR is cheaper to feed and milder, and the NAA Sidewinder has a swing-out cylinder so you are not removing a pin to reload.

This SKU cannot be sold into California. Tell us the destination when you order and we will check before we take your money.