NAA mini question (I picked it up today)

Q

Quantum Singularity

New member
When I put it on "half cock" mode, should the hammer stay locked back in half cock? I can disasemble it fine, but the hammer WON'T stay back on half cock mode on mine (yet the instructions seem to imply that it should).
 
"Half cock" is there, but it's nowhere near half :)

What's happening is, "half cock" really oughta be called "1/10th cock" or even less. Generally it's about 3mm or so of actual rearwards travel back, barely enough to even notice unless you're looking for it.

Once you understand it, it's actually a cool feature. If you screw up and leave it a state where it's on "half cock" in front of a live round and it slips off half cock, the hammer ain't gonna go very far forward to strike the primer, which means no significant momentum for ignition. Unless you drop it right on the hammer and that forces ignition, it's very safe.

To understand it fully, take the cylinder out and put the pin back in, that way the action works and you can see where the firing pin ends up. With the trigger back, lowering the hammer will lower it "all the way" into a rim. Now bring it back just a hair, finger off trigger, until it clicks. The hammer is now barely back off of the primer position. THAT is "half cock". You use it mainly to put the cylinder in and out. For normal carry, you need to line one of the loaded cylinder's "special between-round safety notches" with the hammer. Once lined up, you lower the hammer WITH THE TRIGGER PULLED, dropping the hammer down past half-cock and right into any of the five safety notches. That puts the hammer somewhere other than behind a live round, and blocks the cylinder from spinning so it won't accidently put a round fully into battery.

Play with this "lower the hammer into a safety notch" with an EMPTY cylinder a few times until you've got it. That's the tricky part of dealing with a minirevolver but once it's made safe like that, it's *very* safe, I've never seen one jump into battery unless you actually cock it to fire.

Jim
 
Mr. March,

Thank you for the wonderful and helpful advice. The NAA instruction manual doesn't do a good job explaining "half cock" but your advice was very helpful. I printed your post out so I can have a written copy to add to the instruction manual. Thanks for the help!

Q.S.
 
Good thread, what do ya think about the safety of those in-between notches for putting the hammer in, thereby allowing a full cylinder of .22WRM (at least in my case that's what it is, lol)?
Seems to me it takes very little pressure to put it on a round...i could be wrong about that, any information yall have may put me at ease.
thanks very much!
 
Quantum

Your Mini has the "safety notch" cylinder, doesn't it? I purchased my Mini a long time ago. (New) It did not have the safety notch cylinder. However, NAA will install a safety notch cylinder for free if you send your pistol to them. That's exactly what I did.
I agree with the others. If you do have the safety notch cylinder, UNLOAD your Mini, and practice letting the hammer down into a safety notch. You have to pull the trigger while holding the hammer back slightly with your thumb, just enough to allow the cylinder to spin a little and move into the safety notch. The first time you do it with a loaded pistol you'll think, "My God, if the hammer slips the gun will fire"! But after a couple of times you'll become comfortable and realize what a good system it is. If the hammer is down in a safety notch there is NO way the pistol is going to accidentally go off if you drop it.
I hope I've made some sense here. I was up all night and I'm still a little groggy.

Kentucky Rifle
 
In answer to Fridge21...

Let's assume it's fully loaded, hammer all the way down into a safety notch. Now let's look at what has to go wrong to create an AD:

1) The hammer has to come back at LEAST to half-cock. The hammer springs are quite strong; they have to be, to get enough forward momentum with such a tiny hammer for ignition. (Which is one reason the BW and especially the MM are so accurate, with the right fodder: very low "lock times" (the delay between trigger pull and ignition).)

2) The cylinder has to rotate 1/10th of a turn into battery. A kydex pocket or neck holster can prevent this, although buying such a rig for the extra safety provided is, in my opinion, overkill. Still, it's available if desired.

3) The hammer has to come forward with enough momentum to FIRST defeat the half-cock stop, and then provide ignition. Well guess what? Even the MiniMaster with it's 4" tube isn't heavy enough to do that from a 6ft drop!

So long as you understand how to safely put it into it's safe carry mode, it IS safe to carry. VERY much so. One tip: practice keeping your finger off the trigger until the safety notch is aligned with the hammer! Only at that point should you even consider easing the hammer back a hair, squeezing the trigger, and dropping the hammer all the way into the safety notch.

While strange, it's the safest system that can be engineered into these micro-bangthings :).

Jim
 
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