Do these guns still misfire a lot?

battleborn2002 · March-12-15 08:03

I was wondering about the reliability of the mini revolvers these days. I have owned four different 22 mag revolvers in the past. The last one I bought was about 20 years ago. All of the NAA revolvers I have owned misfired a lot. The last one I had, a "Black Widow", I sent back to the factory twice to get it fixed, but it still misfired. I was thinking of giving NAA another chance, because I like the guns, but I have serious concerns about their reliability. Anybody else had this problem? BTW, I have also owned several of the Freedom Arms minis. None of them misfired.

ikoiko · March-12-15 10:03

The only time I've had a miss fire was when I put a LR in the mag cylinder by mistake.

coppertop · March-12-15 12:03

I've been shooting NAA minis for about 25 years. The only misfires I've has been ammo related. Clean hammer strikes but the primer never ignited, which isn't all that unusual for .22 ammo.

RogueTS1 · March-12-15 12:03

Rarely if ever that I can remember. Every once in a while, as stated by coppertop, I have had the bad .22 round that did not ignite with a good hammer strike; but never a problem with good hammer strikes. These minis are built like tanks.

OV-1D · March-12-15 13:03

Remington ammo was and still might be notorious for misfires especially that bulk golden stuff , real dirty ammo also .

Dinadan · March-12-15 17:03

Battleborn - I have put a few thousand rounds through my various NAAs. I have had two misfires that I recall, both out of the same box or Remington ammo. There may have been other misfires, but if so I do not recall them. So I would say that the five Minis that I regularly shoot are very reliable.

battleborn2002 · March-12-15 19:03

I never had any trouble with LR rounds but I had lots of trouble with magnums. I don't think I ever shot a full cylinder without a misfire in the BW. Maybe I will try one of the newer ones, Kind of like the looks of the Mini-master with the 4" barrel.

bbgun · March-12-15 21:03

I have had NAAs for more than 25 years and shot the hell out of them. Never had a misfire -- not even with Remington or cheap stuff.

Uncle_Lee · March-13-15 05:03

I don't know what is up.
I have never had any trouble with any NAA mini.

MR_22 · March-13-15 09:03

I don't think I've ever had light strikes with any of my Minis. I had issues with Blazer .380 ammo in my early Model Guardian .380 (the first one to leave the factory as a retail sale!), but NAA fixed that right up and it's been fine. Other ammo was OK, but apparently the Blazer had hard primers.

I'm surprised you had light strikes with any NAA mini, let alone multiple ones. Maybe it was bad ammo?

battleborn2002 · March-13-15 17:03

It wasn't the ammo. I tried several different brands.

kingt · March-13-15 18:03

I have not had good luck with Federal ammo--too many misfires. The primers may be too hard.
I've never tried Remington but never a misfire with Winchester or CCI.

maxmerc · March-14-15 19:03

Mine will missfire on 2 of five every time with magnums. Always the first two shots. Shots fire after being rotated. The first two strikes are lighter than the rest.

CCI and Hornaday ammo.
Never happens on 22lr.

Im calling NAA on Monday. See what they can do.

Uncle_Lee · March-15-15 05:03

They WILL fix it.

battleborn2002 · March-15-15 08:03

As I mentioned, I sent back a BW to the factory TWICE and it still malfunctioned. After viewing a couple of the comments here, I am re-thinking my desire to purchase another one. I don't want to get stuck with yet another malfunctioning revolver. NAA has a poor track record with me. I think I will look for another Freedom Arms gun instead.

MR_22 · March-15-15 09:03

Quote from: battleborn2002 on March-15-15 08:03
As I mentioned, I sent back a BW to the factory TWICE and it still malfunctioned. After viewing a couple of the comments here, I am re-thinking my desire to purchase another one. I don't want to get stuck with yet another malfunctioning revolver. NAA has a poor track record with me. I think I will look for another Freedom Arms gun instead.

Hmm. That's certainly disappointing. But I must say that I think your experience is unusual. I have been on this forum since about 1998 and have hardly ever heard reports of what you are talking about. The chance of you getting another one like that, in my opinion, is very rare.

I wish you good luck. I'm also quite sure if you are still having problems with your other one, NAA will make it right.

seaotter · March-15-15 10:03

I haven't had any at all.

Kentucky Kevin · March-15-15 14:03

I have six and have shot probably at least a couple of thousand rounds, and can not recall a failure to fire.

battleborn2002 · March-15-15 15:03

To MR22 I traded the last one off years ago. I like some of the new versions, which has brought renewed interest. I'm not so sure I will buy another one now.

bud · March-15-15 15:03

Call NAA and explain to them what is going on. No one should put up with that on a American made revolver. I feel certain they will make it up to you, repair or replace. They are good people to talk to, and I am sure they will take care of your problem to your satisfaction. Please give it ANOTHER try.

MR_22 · March-15-15 17:03

Quote from: battleborn2002 on March-15-15 15:03
To MR22 I traded the last one off years ago. I like some of the new versions, which has brought renewed interest. I'm not so sure I will buy another one now.

Sure, I understand. I wonder if it had to do with the cylinder pin. Some weird things can happen if that's damaged or not inserted all of the way.

I'm betting if you try another one, you won't have the same experience. In fact, I'd be shocked if you did!

boone123 · March-15-15 19:03

battleborn
Are your chambers clean so the shell is seated? About the only other things it could be is weak hammer spring, or short firing pin on the hammer.
I do shoot a lot of revolvers, and most, but no all FTF is caused by shells not being seated. Some of the ammo I am getting is so dirty that after a few reloads I have to seat the shells pushing them down with a plastic screwdriver handle and knock the fired cases out with a block of wood on Ruger and S&W double action revolvers. This is on guns that with some ammo I have shot hundreds of rounds,with no cleaning. Its all about where they can buy the cheapest bulk powder.

cfsharry · March-15-15 22:03

With the number of guns involved and the number of misfires I can only conclude the bullets are being inserted backwards. No other explanation comes to mind.

OV-1D · March-16-15 04:03

Quote from: battleborn2002 on March-12-15 08:03
I was wondering about the reliability of the mini revolvers these days. I have owned four different 22 mag revolvers in the past. The last one I bought was about 20 years ago. All of the NAA revolvers I have owned misfired a lot. The last one I had, a "Black Widow", I sent back to the factory twice to get it fixed, but it still misfired. I was thinking of giving NAA another chance, because I like the guns, but I have serious concerns about their reliability. Anybody else had this problem? BTW, I have also owned several of the Freedom Arms minis. None of them misfired.

When we come across a post that's hard to believe it usually is and a bunch of bull . Either your storing your ammo under water or your pushing a sale of another type of mini on the auction sites or of course you have no idea how to hold or shoot a mini gun . The whole post sounds like a hook to stir a rise . Just how could only one person , a new poster especially , out of hundreds have such rotten luck , like I said bull ! No pictures , so certainly a bunch of bunk .

Uncle_Lee · March-16-15 05:03

Quote from: battleborn2002 on March-15-15 08:03
As I mentioned, I sent back a BW to the factory TWICE and it still malfunctioned. After viewing a couple of the comments here, I am re-thinking my desire to purchase another one. I don't want to get stuck with yet another malfunctioning revolver. NAA has a poor track record with me. I think I will look for another Freedom Arms gun instead.

The front sight will fall off if you shoot it.

boone123 · March-16-15 06:03

Harry.
You could be right. I dumped a box of 22s on the table, and about half were already pointed backwards. Poor QC..

UncleS2 · March-16-15 07:03

Those ca'tridges aren't backwards! They're for shooting in the other direction!

battleborn2002 · March-16-15 08:03

I'm not here to rattle any cages or to decieve anyone. I was simply trying to determine if the quality of these guns have improved. From the comments here it looks as though it has not. It looks like I am not the only one who has had his problem.

boone123 · March-16-15 09:03

uncleS2..
I didn't know. It didn't tell me that on the box.

I have shot tens of thousands of 22 shells the last few years. I have shot most brands. A brand might put out good clean shooting ammo then all of a sudden the next batch is dirty crap. At one time I shot Remington golden bullets by the thousands. Clean and good. Then new batch, dirty, FTF, to much powder, and damaged a couple of guns with blown rims. Remington paid the bill. I now have Winchester, and Remington ammo that after a couple of cylinders full, you have to force the ammo in and pound it out. I have some Winchester M-22 that the black bullet is so soft that in a revolver making the jump from the chamber to the barrel , leaves lead all the way down the barrel. Thats in Rugers and S&Ws Then you have to drive the fired brass out. Seems to work pretty good in a semi-auto, but tried them in a single shot new Savage, and after about 3 shots the brass sticks in the chamber so hard the extractor slips off and I have to pry the case out.
I have been the route, and sometimes a brand of ammo is good, and sometimes it's not. Over all I have the best luck with Federals in the bulk packs when I can get them. They seem to have less power than some other brands, and some lots are pretty dirty, and I get some FTFs.
If I only shot a normal amount of 22s, whatever that is I would probably shoot more CCI mini-mags. To spendy for the amount of ammo shoot...
Buying 22 ammo at this point is like picking apples in the dark You can't see the worm till you take a bite.

cfsharry · March-16-15 21:03

batty,
It appears that you are challenged when it comes to comprehending other's responses to your origional post. No one has experienced the systemic problems you describe with their NAA revolvers. Most said, pretty plainly, that the opposite was true and that FTF events were, invariably, ammo related.
Reread if neccessary and if you need further help understanding what people are actually saying, professor OV will happily help you word for word.

adp3 · March-16-15 22:03

I've withheld commenting until now but when I see remarks like, "No one has seen the systemic problems that you describe", and I have to wade in. I personally had frequent misfires with three separate NAA minis, one Black Widow and two mini .22LR's, about ten years ago. I worked in a gun shop at the time, and we also had a couple returned due to misfires. The problem apparently stemmed from the rim recesses in the cylinders being too deep. Two of my three were fixed satisfactorily. One never was 100%. I haven't seen any problems with gun related misfires in minis since 2005/2006. NAA continues to improve. I've been an NAA owner for more than 20 years, and enthusiastically endorse their products. At one time keyholing was also a common problem. It still crops up from time to time but not with the frequency it once did. I think that you can purchase any NAA Mini today and expect to get a dependable firearm.

Best Regards,
ADP3

OV-1D · March-17-15 04:03

O.K. I would like to withdraw my post reflecting toward Battleborn an offer an apology , I imagine I was being too critical in my response about NAA's quality past and present . Myself I own and shot three of the 90's models with no complaints what so ever but Adp3 's post is certainly plausible in the assembly line with milling machines losing their ways . The question still remains do they misfire allot well after reading these threads and posts for years I would believe the answer is quite evident .

boone123 · March-17-15 05:03

Add to the pile.

I get some FTFs on some 22 ammo because the rim is so thin the firing pin hardly makes a dent, and some ammo thats got rims so thick that the rims drag on the back of the cylinder frame window, locking up the cylinder. Getting a stuck loaded cylinder out of a single action frame is sometimes stressful. On one Ruger, I had to open up the back of the cylinder window with a file. Have a 317 Smith that locks up with Federal Match Ammo, but will shoot about anything else.
At one time I shot a LOT of ammo through NAA guns with no more than a FTF sometimes. I had a hammer spring break in a Black Widow a couple of weeks ago that didn't miss a beat till the spring broke. A good reason to carry two if you live in a place like Chicago or on meth street.

I have sent in, or repaired, S&Ws, Colts, Rugers,and NAA guns, plus some others. The world of guns is not perfect. It goes back to everything is a trade off.

cfsharry · March-17-15 09:03

adp3,
It appears that comprehension of what one is reading is a skill many lack. Reread my post. It was in response to batty's erronious conclusion that respondents to his question were also experiencing FTF due to mechanical issues. Most definitely not the case.

Dinadan · March-17-15 16:03

All of my NAAs are fairly new (Made since 2010) with the possible exception of my BW, which I bought used and have no idea of the age. So I have no knowledge at all about the older NAAs.

If there were a lot of problems with the older NAAs they have certainly fixed the problems since I started buying mine. Which pretty much goes to the heart of Battleborn's question.