Best range results 200 rounds

[calblacksmith]

I had the chance to spend some range time yesterday with my newly returned mini. The results were..... interesting.

   Now I never expected this to be a target pistol but from my time at the range, this (possibly it is only my revolver) mini would be better off with either the addition of a rear sight or the removal of the front sight. Due to the nature of the intended use of this gun, removing the front sight would not be a huge negative thing.

   

   It took the better part of 50 rounds to find out exactly what the sight picture need to be and once I understood it, I was able to shoot fairly well at short distances with this mini.  

   

   The first thing I had to work out was a way to hold the revolver so that it was the most stable it could be. I had switched the stock grips with the holster grip and while it afforded a much better grip on the gun, it did not lock into position with the need amount of ridgedity that good shooting requires. At first, the shots were all over the target at 10 feet, barley staying on the center 1/2 of the paper. I refined my grip to a two handed, right hand shooting position. My left hand over my right with my left index finger applying up pressure on the lower side of the frame of the revolver to give it the solidness it needed. The soot on my finger shows the proximity to the cylinder flash this grip placed my finger!

   

   After I had the grip straightened out, the issue of the sights or lack thereof had to be worked out. When I used a normal sight picture of placing the "ball" of the target "balanced" on the front sight and used the rear frame as a reference point, the impact was very low. I tried many different ways to align the sights and in the end, what I need to do was use the top of the back strap as a sight plane and ignore the front sight, which is fairly difficult when it is obscuring the target dot! As long as I could just see the length of the back strap and centered between the firing pin slot with the front sight I could achieve a fairly constant group of 5 shots.  

   

   With this grip and this sight picture I then used up the remainder of the 150 LR rounds I brought. The end of the LR rounds were shot at 25 feet and I have a pic of the results at this distance.  

   

   I next switched to mag loads and instantly the pattern got much better, so it seems that this particular mini likes mag loads much more than it likes LR rounds. That is OK as the mag provides more power anyway and will likely what I am going to carry full time.

   

   I had two different loads of mag rounds. One was a load from a "limited edition" issue of Winchester loads circa 1996 (the brown Winchester box) These were larger than LR loads (longer brass and diameter. They do not fit the LR cylinder but are not full size mag loads) but with shorter brass than the longer case that the mag loads from Federal had.

   

   The entire 150 rounds of LR I had did not have a single fail to fire while the Winchester mag loads had 2 in 50 rounds. The accuracy of the Winchester mag loads was about the same as or slightly better than the LR rounds shot but not near the same as the full size Federal loads which had a considerable louder "bark" and more felt recoil.  

   

   The 5 shot group at 15 feet with the Federal loads is shown with 3 rounds punching side by side. All in all, not bad from a 1 1/8" barrel mini revolver... even at 10 feet, which is about the longest distance I would think this firearm will be used.

   

   As a reference to the mini, I also brought my Ruger Single Six with a 6" bbl. The group from this revolver, at 25 feet can just about(and 4 of the 5 can be) be covered by the quarter shown for reference. As an aside, it was a JOY to shoot the Ruger as the sights are functional and aligned thus allowing a normal sight picture to be used!

   

   All shots on the range were at a target that was held by a cable target system, a system that lets you move the target closer and further away from you, so there was some swing in the target and I might have been able to shoot smaller groups if I had waited for the cable assembly to stop swinging from side to side, most of the time this was about an inch of side motion.

   

   

   

   So in the end, what do I think about the mini? Well, I need to work on making a way to tighten the holster grip and devise a way to add a rear sight, if it had a rear sight equal to the front sight, the sight picture would be "normal".

   

   But for a revolver that was NOT designed to be used for target work and WAS designed to be a personal protection device, the accuracy is well within what is need for self defense where you would be point and shoot for the most part and not taking the time to line up the sights like you do target shooting.  

   

   My time shooting single action firearms in Cowboy shooting events has taught me that if the front sight is on target and you quickly align the firearm to the sight, rear sights are not used nearly the same as in target shooting, you just point the front sight and just use the rear sight as a quick check for alignment. In this way, you will be on target nearly every time and in this type of use, the mini works well.

   

   I like the extra power that the mag load provide and as the firearm is .22 cal, practice should be inexpensive and often. The more you use your firearm, the more it will be "at home" when in use and you will be much more reflexive in your actions.

   

   The NAA is a well made, high quality revolver and it has earned a spot in my gun safe and on my hip, for a long time

   

[calblacksmith]

last 10 shots, LR 25 feet

[calblacksmith]

best 5 shot gp mag load, 15 feet

   3 of the 5 join to one hole.

[calblacksmith]

   Ruger single six, 6" bbl, 5 shot group, mag loads, 25 feet

[calblacksmith]

   

   NAA finger LOL!

[lovemynaa]

My grip has a little play when it is locked open as well.  I used to hold it up as you did, but I found I was more accurate to just let the gun rest and not hold it, with a light trigger squeeze. 

I have found CCI Minimags to be the best for accuracy, and Cheapie Blazzer 40 Grains work really well too but leave the gun a lot dirtier than the CCI's.  I have horrible accuracy results with CCI Stingers, but they make a more impressive flash.

I tried 60 Grain rounds once and It wasn't ending up on the paper at ten feet and when one finally hit the paper it went through the paper side ways, so those were horrible for the mini, but they work okay in my riffle.

[Kurtishok]

I had the chance to spend some range time yesterday with my newly returned mini. The results were..... interesting.

   Now I never expected this to be a target pistol but from my time at the range, this (possibly it is only my revolver) mini would be better off with either the addition of a rear sight or the removal of the front sight. Due to the nature of the intended use of this gun, removing the front sight would not be a huge negative thing.

   

   It took the better part of 50 rounds to find out exactly what the sight picture need to be and once I understood it, I was able to shoot fairly well at short distances with this mini. 

   

   The first thing I had to work out was a way to hold the revolver so that it was the most stable it could be. I had switched the stock grips with the holster grip and while it afforded a much better grip on the gun, it did not lock into position with the need amount of ridgedity that good shooting requires. At first, the shots were all over the target at 10 feet, barley staying on the center 1/2 of the paper. I refined my grip to a two handed, right hand shooting position. My left hand over my right with my left index finger applying up pressure on the lower side of the frame of the revolver to give it the solidness it needed. The soot on my finger shows the proximity to the cylinder flash this grip placed my finger!

   

   After I had the grip straightened out, the issue of the sights or lack thereof had to be worked out. When I used a normal sight picture of placing the "ball" of the target "balanced" on the front sight and used the rear frame as a reference point, the impact was very low. I tried many different ways to align the sights and in the end, what I need to do was use the top of the back strap as a sight plane and ignore the front sight, which is fairly difficult when it is obscuring the target dot! As long as I could just see the length of the back strap and centered between the firing pin slot with the front sight I could achieve a fairly constant group of 5 shots. 

   

   With this grip and this sight picture I then used up the remainder of the 150 LR rounds I brought. The end of the LR rounds were shot at 25 feet and I have a pic of the results at this distance. 

   

   I next switched to mag loads and instantly the pattern got much better, so it seems that this particular mini likes mag loads much more than it likes LR rounds. That is OK as the mag provides more power anyway and will likely what I am going to carry full time.

   

   I had two different loads of mag rounds. One was a load from a "limited edition" issue of Winchester loads circa 1996 (the brown Winchester box) These were larger than LR loads (longer brass and diameter. They do not fit the LR cylinder but are not full size mag loads) but with shorter brass than the longer case that the mag loads from Federal had.

   

   The entire 150 rounds of LR I had did not have a single fail to fire while the Winchester mag loads had 2 in 50 rounds. The accuracy of the Winchester mag loads was about the same as or slightly better than the LR rounds shot but not near the same as the full size Federal loads which had a considerable louder "bark" and more felt recoil. 

   

   The 5 shot group at 15 feet with the Federal loads is shown with 3 rounds punching side by side. All in all, not bad from a 1 1/8" barrel mini revolver... even at 10 feet, which is about the longest distance I would think this firearm will be used.

   

   As a reference to the mini, I also brought my Ruger Single Six with a 6" bbl. The group from this revolver, at 25 feet can just about(and 4 of the 5 can be) be covered by the quarter shown for reference. As an aside, it was a JOY to shoot the Ruger as the sights are functional and aligned thus allowing a normal sight picture to be used!

   

   All shots on the range were at a target that was held by a cable target system, a system that lets you move the target closer and further away from you, so there was some swing in the target and I might have been able to shoot smaller groups if I had waited for the cable assembly to stop swinging from side to side, most of the time this was about an inch of side motion.

   

   

   

   So in the end, what do I think about the mini? Well, I need to work on making a way to tighten the holster grip and devise a way to add a rear sight, if it had a rear sight equal to the front sight, the sight picture would be "normal".

   

   But for a revolver that was NOT designed to be used for target work and WAS designed to be a personal protection device, the accuracy is well within what is need for self defense where you would be point and shoot for the most part and not taking the time to line up the sights like you do target shooting. 

   

   My time shooting single action firearms in Cowboy shooting events has taught me that if the front sight is on target and you quickly align the firearm to the sight, rear sights are not used nearly the same as in target shooting, you just point the front sight and just use the rear sight as a quick check for alignment. In this way, you will be on target nearly every time and in this type of use, the mini works well.

   

   I like the extra power that the mag load provide and as the firearm is .22 cal, practice should be inexpensive and often. The more you use your firearm, the more it will be "at home" when in use and you will be much more reflexive in your actions.

   

   The NAA is a well made, high quality revolver and it has earned a spot in my gun safe and on my hip, for a long time

   <img src="./discus/messages/155/46844.jpg" alt="" />

Hi there,

I saw that you own a gun safe so I thought it's a good idea to ask for your opinion.
I am in the market for a gun safe for my guns, but I don't know much about them.
I was looking around and I bumped into a great article with the pros and cons of gun safes, but I thought it would be better to hear someone's opinion who owns one.
I hope you can help me with some advice.

Thank you