Description
The NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver weighs six point two ounces and is one and an eighth inches of barrel long. That is the whole pitch. North American Arms part number NAA22MS, five rounds of 22 WMR, stainless steel barrel, frame and cylinder throughout, and a rosewood birdshead grip.
Guns this size occupy a category of one. It is not a backup to a duty pistol so much as a gun for the days and the clothes where any real pistol was staying at home. The NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver goes in a watch pocket, a jacket lining, a boot or a closed hand, and as a stainless birdshead grip revolver it shrugs off sweat and neglect.
What the NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver gives you
- 22 WMR, five shot cylinder
- 1.13 inch stainless steel barrel
- Stainless steel frame and cylinder
- Rosewood birdshead grip
- Exposed hammer, single action
- Fixed sights
- 6.2 ounces
- X-large frame designation in North American Arms own catalogue
- California compliant
Why a 5 shot pocket revolver of this kind still sells
- At 6.2 ounces there is no excuse not to have it with you
- Stainless steel throughout survives pocket carry and perspiration
- A revolver does not care how it is held, jammed against something or fired from a pocket
- Nothing to rack, no safety to find, no magazine to seat
- It costs less than most holsters for a full size pistol
North American Arms NAA22MS specifications
- Manufacturer part number: NAA22MS
- Caliber: 22 WMR
- Cylinder capacity: 5
- Barrel length: 1.12 inches
- Barrel and frame finish: stainless
- Grip: rosewood, birdshead
- Sights: fixed
- Hammer: standard, exposed
- Trigger: standard
- Weight: 6.2 ounces
Ammunition matters more on a 22 WMR mini revolver than on anything else we sell
The NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver has a 1.13 inch barrel, which gives powder almost no time to burn. Most 22 WMR loads were designed around rifle barrels and a great deal of their advertised performance simply does not happen from a barrel this short. CCI Uppercut 40 grain JHP is the exception worth knowing about: it is built specifically for short barreled 22 Magnum handguns. If you carry this gun loaded, carry it loaded with something designed for it.
For practice, Armscor 22 WMR 40 grain JHP and CCI Maxi-Mag 40 grain JHP are the volume options and we hold both deep. Shoot enough of it to know where the gun actually hits, because with fixed sights on a 1.13 inch barrel the answer is rarely where you expect.
A 22 WMR mini revolver in single action, and what that asks of you
The NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver is a single action revolver with an exposed hammer. The hammer is cocked by thumb for every shot, and the cylinder is removed to load and unload rather than swinging out. That is slower than anything else in the case, and it is the trade for a gun that weighs six point two ounces. Read North American Arms own manual on carrying and handling before you carry it loaded, and ask us if anything in it is unclear. On a gun this small the handling details are not optional reading.
The honest conversation about a 5 shot pocket revolver
A NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver is not a substitute for a real defensive handgun and nobody at North American Arms claims it is. As a 5 shot pocket revolver it offers five rounds of rimfire, fixed sights you can barely see, a single action lockwork and a grip you hold with two fingers add up to a very short list of situations it solves well. If you can carry something bigger, carry something bigger.
What it does solve, it solves better than anything else. It is the gun you have when a real pistol was not going to be carried at all. The NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver fits in a watch pocket, a jacket lining or a hand. There is a reason these have been in continuous production for decades with nothing much changed.
A stainless birdshead grip revolver in the wider NAA line
The plain grip 22 WMR mini is the same mechanism as the NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver without the rosewood. The NAA 22M, the 22 Mag Mini and the 22 Magnum Mini are barrel length and grip variations on the same frame. There is also a 22 LR version with a boot grip if you would rather feed it cheaper ammunition.
Worth knowing before you buy
- 22 WMR is a SAAMI standardized cartridge, so factory ammunition is consistent across brands. See the SAAMI published standards.
- Velocity from a 1.13 inch barrel is far below the figures printed on a box tested in a rifle. Plan around that.
- Single action means the hammer is cocked for every shot. Practice that before you need it.
- Loading and unloading is done by removing the cylinder, not by swinging it out.
Buy the NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver as the gun that is always there, not as the gun you would choose in a fight. Bought with that understanding it is one of the most genuinely useful objects in the case, and the stainless and rosewood version is the one people keep for thirty years.
MAG5 Firearms is a licensed dealer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Every firearm ships to your FFL. If you are looking at a NAA 22MS Mini-Revolver as a first or only defensive gun, tell us, and we will talk you through what it does and does not do before you spend the money.
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