3 things I like about NAA minis

[bouncey]

Three things I like about my NAA mini:

1. It hides in my pocket and goes bang when (and only when) I want it to.

2. It's cheap *and* fun to practice with.  At the range the other shooters are going BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG with a rain of expended (read: expensive) brass.  Me, I'm going pew pew pew.  The range safety officers grin so big it almost breaks their faces.

3. Having a mini means never having to apologize for even thinking about the mere possibility of maybe someday entertaining the notion of theoretically using .22 LR for self defense.  Trying to look up info online about real world use of .22 for defense can be pretty demoralizing.  Serious knee-jerk caliber snobbery out there.  But I gotta NAA mini.  Yeah, so it won't shoot a bigger bullet.  So what?  It's small but it's *mine*.  Good luck guessing which pocket it's in.

This weapon was crafted from 100% pure awesomeness.

[bouncey]

Summary:
1. Reliable
2. Cheap & fun to shoot
3. Stealth overcomes arguments about muzzle velocity

[OLD and GRUMPY]

Size? 

Way too much concern about size.

They all laugh at my mini until I let them fire it. That shuts them up. On the bad day I would like my 12ga but that would look odd shoved down my pants. "Is that a gun in your pocket? Or you just happy to see me?"  Wish I could get THAT happy!

Back during the gun buying panic I would watch the faces of the guys in the shops. Judging by the body language and tone of voice I decided that most were not buying guns. They were buying "extenders", a few extra inches of man hood. Me and mini are doing just fine.

[To Old To Run]

I would add one to the list....comfortable....I'm sitting here this morning having my morning coffee and it's loaded and resting nicely in my pocket.

[top dog]

In all honesty,what is there NOT to like with the minis?  I have two PUGS on me right now.

                                                                                            Top Dog

[seaotter]

3 things I like about my minis:

1. I like being able to conceal my 22lr in my hand as I travel through sketchy areas. It just totally disappears in my fist, and its right there if I need it.
2. I like the sights on my Black Widow. It is the only pocket pistol that I own that has real sights on it; well sights that I can actually use that is!
3. I like the way that the minis holster. They feel far more comfortable and secure to carry than anything else I have ever tried. I like to hike, and I can carry my BW without ever noticing it. I love my Taurus Mellenium G2: it's light, reliable, and fires an effective round (12 times!), and reloads quickly and easily, but carrying it on my hip or in my bag is just too much hassle after 10 or 12 miles. The BW (with the 22lr as backup) carries very easily.

I realize that the minis are a compromise. They aren't for everybody. But they work just fine for me!

[boone123]

seaotter..
You say minis aren't for everybody. I say they are for everybody. Thing is, everybody don't know that yet...
Just me..

[tocsn40]

1 - I like that I can carry all the time with out even feeling like I'm carrying

2 - I like that they are very well made. And if need repaired NAA steps up to the plate. With a smile  to fix them

3 - you can't just have one

[seaotter]

Boone123:
Lol! Yeah, I would agree with you there: everybody needs a mini! Or two or three...
IMHO, though, the only Mini that I NEED is the BW. For me, it offers the best compromise of size, fire power, usability, concealability, and " presence". The other minis I don't need, I just WANT them! Although I am pretty sure that I need a 1.62 inch mini mag with a boot grip. I don't know why I need it yet, but I will come up with a reason, I am sure!

[bouncey]

I hear ya about needing more than one.  I've been watching the ranger 2 saga with keen interest.  If that doesn't work out, there's always the sidewinder...  I also have my eye on a few .22 models from Taurus, Beretta, and Bersa.  Except they all seem to be as rare as hens teeth around here.

Pocket pistols are so much fun!  Except when they break.  Reminds me, my P3AT needs new recoil springs.  Sigh.  But the mini keeps on ticking.

[boone123]

seaotter
I think the BW is about perfect, small enough to carry, big enough to make for better aiming.
As for what I carry everyday, its a 22LR. Its always there, and has been for more years than I want to talk about.  When I leave my safe area, which is still pretty safe I grab my Pug or the BW as  a backup.
  The BW  holds my interest better than the Pug when shooting.  For fun and games, and forty yards its my Earl or Mini Master.
I live in a pretty safe and free place. There are other places I have been that I would carry more, and bigger.

[seaotter]

my daughter and I sometimes work at concerts together (my son in law owns a sound company), and we like to play the "who is carrying concealed" game. It usually isn't hard to figure out who is carrying those compact 9mms, and even the pocket 380s are pretty easy to ID. But no one would ever be able to pick out my 22lr mini. It's smaller and thinner than my wallet. I like my BW best, but I carry my 22lr more often. Usually I have both of them on me (note to NSA: where I am someplace it's legal to carry, of course  )

[willr]

Best of all, you can get it with 22mag -- almost as good as bigger calibers.
willr

[seaotter]

Bouncy, I assume from your list that you are looking at the Taurus PT22. Mine is one of my favorite pocket pistols, for reasons most people would disagree with! I like the manual safety. I know it is redundant, but I like anything I carry in my pocket to be REALLY safe! And it is easy to turn off. I also like the true double action trigger, with the double strike capability, especially in a rim fire fire arm. mine is extremely accurate. I can hit regularly out to 25 yards, in spite of my eyes being less than they used to be. And the grips are wide enough to shoot comfortably.
On the down side, it is hard to rack (although the tip-up barrel helps mitigate that), the sights are hard for me to see, and it is ammo picky (mini mags work well, as usual, but it is not built for hyper velocity ammo. I carry it fairly often, in a De Santiago Nemisis (I think that's the right model)

[bouncey]

PT22 is near the top of my list of things to look at if I can ever find one.  Last week I was at Cabela's pestering the gun counter employees.  Got to hold a beretta .32 with tip up barrel.  It's a chunk but it's a satisfying sort of chunk.  Know what I mean?

I have a strange fascination with pocket pistols in .22 LR.  Mostly because they're so much fun to plink with.  Pew!  Pew!  But also because I know a fair number of people who simply can't afford the standard ".380 or bigger" advice.  Its nice to know that more affordable options exist for them.

Someone on a tight budget could do a lot worse than a base model NAA mini and a small brick of .22 LR...

[zburkett]

Bouncey, I beg to differ.  I carry a mini for self defense almost constantly.  About twice a year I need it.  My threats are usually snakes but I can attest to the pucker factor of a charge by a rabid fox.  The one time in my life I had to pull my gun on a human threat the fact that I had one to pull ended the confrontation. (That was a .25 in the days before I had a mini.)  Is there any time that I would choose a .22 mini for a true confrontation?  No.  In the last several years have I ever had anything but my mini with me when I had to have a gun?  No.  When your wife runs across a copperhead in the garden there it isn't judicious to say "Hold on dear while I run into the house for the 12.  When a couple of large people have blocked your car with theirs and are coming at you there isn't time for 911./

[bouncey]

Sorry, awkward turn of phrase on my part.  What I meant was someone who can't afford a bigger gun would be well served by a NAA mini.  I agree with you actually.  The awkward full size nine and the scary black rifle are in the safe.  My .380 is out of service until new recoil springs arrive.  But the mini is in my pocket...

[zburkett]

In my case I replaced Derringers in larger caliber because they are not snake head accurate.  I have a Ruger LCP but the trigger pull makes it hard to stay snake head accurate.  My 3" Earl is a little to big to fit comfortably in my front pocket. My .44 Super Blackhawk is never there when I need it.  I keep a 9mm in my truck but when I have "needed" a gun it is the mini that is there.

[Mr.Ed131a]

1.  Concealable
2.  Controllable
3.  Con-blasted-fun-able

What's not to love?

[boots]

Some in my family carry a Glock19, Glock 30S or 1911 but all carry a NAA and most carry the Black Widow.

[seaotter]

It has been said by others before, but my NAA is my primary defensive firearm, because  It is the easiest and quickest one to get to. If the BW doesn't resolve the issue, I can always fall back on my secondary arm, my TCP 380. Depending on the situation, of course.

[Bigbird48]

My BW Mag or my Black Jack Talo is always with me. was Funny the other day went to lunch with a lady friend, she sat down with her back against the wall leaving me the seat facing her and the door. She said she sat there purposely so I could see the door, I asked why she said your armed aren't you, I said of course and she said so you can watch the door. I then said but shouldn't I watch the cash register she got up and swapped seats. I just thought it kinda funny.

[Scott Free]

1. I'm pretty sure no one has mentioned anything about aesthetics yet. I think a Black Widow with cvang or thingmeister grips is a very cool looking gun. There is no shortage of pics of interesting and beautiful little revolvers on this forum. (Thank you to those who post them.)

2. I have other revolvers in other calibers. My big .22 revolver is a Ruger SP101. I certainly like it. It's accurate and solid and just a great gun. It's also just a little bit boring compared to my Black Widow. There's just something about the BW that makes it a really fun plinker.

3. On the downside, I've had two issues that required service. On the plus side, if you ever need to deal with NAA, it is extremely easy, friendly, efficient and fast. Perhaps there are other gun companies that are equal to NAA for service, but it would be pretty much impossible to surpass them.

[Bigbird48]

My BW again LOL been a while since I posted a Picture

[lefty dude]

My EDC;

[OLD and GRUMPY]

This shows why I like Mini.  Hope it posts right.   Does this guy look like Justin Bieber?

[Canoeal]

1 real sights,
2 goes bang! (22 mag)
3 fits in my pocket...

[Uncle_Lee]

Small
Stainless steel
Hard punch for its size

[Texduk3]

My 3 reasons why I love my .22lr/mag,  1 5/8 revolver:
1.  totaly concealable
2. affordable to shoot
3.  quality workmanship

I love my other handguns too
Browning (25 yrs old) Buckmark 22lr
Glock 43 9mm
Ruger LC9S Pro 9mm
still on the hunt for another NAA !!

[Bigbird48]

Its always with me
nobody knows I have it
its always with me LOL 

[Trailblazer]

Like several have said, Minis are easy to carry so they have a better chance to be with you always than a larger gun. I normally carry my Mini Mag 365 days every year - except last year - I carried 366 days. I carried my larger guns ( S&W 6906, SP101, and Security Six) a combined total of fewer than 250 days each year. And, yes, every time I carried one of the larger guns, I had my Mini as backup. If I didn't have a Mini, I would have carried a larger gun more often, but still not EVERY day. Having a gun is always better than not having a gun.