New owner with specific questions and concerns

[email protected] · February-06-13 07:02

Thanks in advance for taking the time to reply.

I am not new to firearms, I shoot well and have been doing so since a child.

I recently purchased the 1 5/8" mag with holster grip.

I've been shooting CCI Maxi and Hornady Crit Defense from it.

I have fired 1800 rounds from it since having purchased it last month with thorough cleanings and lube after every range visit.

I have also purchased the birds head and boot grips to try out.

I am having problems with trigger press and I am disappointed in the quality of the grips. I press the trigger and the firearm pivots inside the grip. All of the grips are machined smaller than the cutout of the firearms skeleton and regardless of how much I torque the screw on the grips, they still rock because of the gap. I assume this is the case for everyone since all three grip styles I have purchased do this. The holster grip is the worst, the boot grip is second wost and is chipping where it slams against the inside of the firearms frame from recoil. The birds head grip not only rocks back and forth but one scale is much larger than the other.

The fire arms itself is a bit off. The barrel crown is is noticeably canted like this " / ". The inside of the barrel is not centered. It was reamed such that the bottom left wall is much thinner than the rest. Again, so much so that it is visible, no need to break out a micrometer to measure the variation in wall thickness. In the instruction manual that came with the firearm from the factory it states under aiming to, "simply align the front post in the center of the notch on the rear of the frame ensuring the front post is even in height with sides of the notch". Now, I assume no one follows this advice. When I bench tested for accuracy this has the gun shooting at the ground. One must sight down the top strap. But if it were accurate advice, the rear notch sides are visually noticeably uneven in height. Then the cylinder... two of the chambers are smaller in diameter than the other three. Not visibly (I had to measure), but I had my suspicions when it was exceedingly difficult to remove spent casings from those two cylinders.

Is my firearm defective or does every ones firearms have these faults? Are all three of my grips defective or is this the norm for NAA?

Thanks again for your time and consideration.

heyjoe · February-06-13 09:02

call NAA. They will tell you to send it back.

cedarview kid · February-06-13 11:02

Welcome to the board! It's always great to hear a new voice.

Here's the deal. Since each NAA mini is finished by hand, the grip shape that's required can sometimes vary slightly. That makes for a nice finished product, but can sometimes give you a challenge with getting grips to fit snugly. The problem is that the inside of the grips sometimes are slightly larger than the metal frame--at least that's my experience.

Not to worry, though, there's an easy solution. Take the grips off and see where there is a gap between the gun frame and the inside of the grip. I have found that the boot grip usually suffers the largest gap, which seems to match what you're saying. What you need to do is add some filler inside the grip to make it so it doesn't have any play. You can use anything, but I use a piece of folded-up paper. You fold it a number of times until it's hard and matches the size of the gap. Make it tight so that it may be hard to insert. You might have to use a pair of small pliers to get it into place. Then put the other grip back on and see if it moves any.

Once you get that gap filled, you can tighten the grips screws and there will be no more play in the grip. If you want something a little more permanent, you could apply some wood filler putty, but I've never tried that. It should work, though. I've found the folded-up paper method works rather well and isn't permanent, if you end up wanting to swap the grips to a different gun. What you're basically doing is shimming the grip.

This solution may sound a little hokey, but I assure you that it works well. If you like, I could supply some photos of some that I "modified" in this way. It really does a good job in tightening up the grip, especially the boot grips.

Wolfar · February-06-13 11:02

Man that is not normal call NAA.

cedarview kid · February-06-13 11:02

Quote from: Wolfar on February-06-13 11:02
Man that is not normal call NAA.

Actually, this is why NAA finishes the grips along with the frame. So, as I understand it, each grip is actually tailored to fit each mini in the final stages of completion. The grip is placed on the revolver before the last polishing steps are done. So, if you replace the grip with a different one that what came from the factory, you run the chance of the grip being slightly loose. Since the only minis that come with boot grips (as far as I know) are the buntlines, any boot grip is not guaranteed to fit well.

That's my experience, anyway.

It doesn't create a big deal, tho, it just means you may have to customize the non-factory grip a little bit. That's just the nature of our "hand-made" minis. The tolerances for these minis has to be VERY SMALL, unlike many other manufacturers guns that are factory finished. I don't think there's any way around this.

45flint · February-06-13 14:02

All of what NAA Collector says is very true. I have made quite a few custom grips for myself and each gun can be slightly different. It is usually not enough so that I can't interchange grips but you may notice differences. When I get wobble I take it out with Epoxey Resin. Permanent and hard. Just build out the area of slippage wait till it almost set up. Grease the frame and put the grip on for final forming. Take off totally cure over night. I personally think grip fitting is getting looser and less time is spent hand fitting. My only criticism of the Sidewinder.

RogueTS1 · February-06-13 16:02

No problems with any of my guns so far. The grips on the other hand; I have had to shim with paper every grip replaced. In my experience it is something that comes along with new grips on just about any gun. They usually need to be shimmed. Once done it is done though.

Bluelitenin · February-06-13 17:02

I only have a mini master, the grips on it are larger than the frame so they surround the frame. I have never had any slippage. the sites are also dead on. I have not had to adjust them since new. the gun is very acurrate. I have noticed that some shells are more difficult to remove than others though. It has never been so difficult that I thought anything was wrong. I would contact NAA and send it back.

[email protected] · February-06-13 17:02

Thank you folks, all points taken. I'll consider fitting of grips to be normal since the consensus is that the firearm itself is one at a time hand finished. It would make sense that a universal perfectly fitting grip would not be possible. If the inside diameter of the skeleton handle is approximate from firearm to firearm then the only recourse for offering grips after the initial sale would for them to always be a little off.

As far as the machining on the firearm itself is concerned, I'll contact NAA customer service.

MikeSSS · February-06-13 23:02

A few days ago I looked at two mini mags with 1 5/8" barrels, the bores were offcentered toward the left, left with the gun pointing toward the eye. One was more offcenter than the other. My Short has the bore slightly offcenter in the same direction. When you are aiming the gun, the offcenter is toward the guns right.

On my short the front of the barrel is not squared off. The barrel is longer on the right and top, if the gun is viewed from behind, as when shooting it. Perhaps the bore is actually centered and the offcenter is an optical artifact caused by the barrel not being squared off at the muzzle.

In any case, the little short hits pretty much where the sights aim. Sight alignment is: top strap flat, not elevated or depressed, front sight aligned with firing pin. Because the sight radius is so very short and the trigger pull is so notchy, it is difficult to determine the true accuracy of the little Short. The top strap is higher on the right side, as seen from behind the gun.

I have had two Beretta 21As and one Beretta Minx, all required a lot of home gunsmithing to become reliable shooters and then the relibility is not good enough for social work. The NAA Short has been much more reliable than the Berettas and the only thing I have done to it is unsharpening the edges.

Bottom line is: I'm much happier with the NAA short than with the Berettas. Besides, the NAA mini eats ammo a lot slower than those Berettas.

[email protected] · February-07-13 06:02

Quote from: MikeSSS on February-06-13 23:02
A few days ago I looked at two mini mags with 1 5/8" barrels, the bores were offcentered toward the left, left with the gun pointing toward the eye. One was more offcenter than the other. My Short has the bore slightly offcenter in the same direction. When you are aiming the gun, the offcenter is toward the guns right.

On my short the front of the barrel is not squared off. The barrel is longer on the right and top, if the gun is viewed from behind, as when shooting it. Perhaps the bore is actually centered and the offcenter is an optical artifact caused by the barrel not being squared off at the muzzle.

In any case, the little short hits pretty much where the sights aim. Sight alignment is: top strap flat, not elevated or depressed, front sight aligned with firing pin. Because the sight radius is so very short and the trigger pull is so notchy, it is difficult to determine the true accuracy of the little Short. The top strap is higher on the right side, as seen from behind the gun.

I have had two Beretta 21As and one Beretta Minx, all required a lot of home gunsmithing to become reliable shooters and then the relibility is not good enough for social work. The NAA Short has been much more reliable than the Berettas and the only thing I have done to it is unsharpening the edges.

Bottom line is: I'm much happier with the NAA short than with the Berettas. Besides, the NAA mini eats ammo a lot slower than those Berettas.

Sounds like my experience is par for the course. I was surprised at how pronounced the rifling in the bore is. It looks good. I've never experienced a modern firearm in need of and home finishing or with such loose tolerances. They have all been machined near perfect and I guess that this is what I have come to expect. Even my old Nagant revolver has it's bore centered in the barrel and its stamped 1923. I understand hand made though, I repaired stringed instruments for over twelve years.