New NAA .380 - will I poke my eye out?

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DanP

New member
Eyed this one before, but never bothered to learn much about it.

Decided last weekend to find a 9 to 5 carry alternative to my Sig 239, went to the local shop during lunch looking for a Kahr or "just" settle for a Sig 232...

The Kahr was nice but not that much better than my Sig for IWB (size (width) / weight), believe it or not. At least for my body style.

They had a Colt Mustang that was really appealing... just a bit worried about the SA only bit.

The NAA felt real solid. The sights are worthless little spikes but that is fixable. Shot 50 rounds through it in about 10 minutes, alternating the nice mag with the toe and the plain one, switching grips, hands, position, etc.

Had to clear the gun (FTEs) at least a couple of times, but my test was to shoot / reload as fast as possible at 7 yds and that went well.

High hopes that after some break-in this will be a great backup / carry when you can't your other gun.

But my wrist still hurts!

BTW, the frame says "Kahr", so looks like I bought a Kahr after all! ;)

New concern: realized after 50 rounds that at least 10 ejected shells hit me directly on the head / forehead and 1 bounced off the eyewear.

Nothing bothersome, trivial shell bounces, just seems that this gun has a propensity for ejecting in the direction of the shooter.

One can only wonder at what the effect of brass hitting one's eye, albeit lightly, in a high-stress, confusion-filled situation would be....
 
One can only wonder at what the effect of brass hitting one's eye, albeit lightly, in a high-stress, confusion-filled situation would be....
Click to expand...
Not to mention flaming hot.

My honorary tribal name is Chief Runs With Scissors, I still have both of my eyes. ;) :D
 
My honorary tribal name is Chief Runs With Scissors, I still have both of my eyes

But I bet you did not leave the refrigerator door open while doing so...

:D :D
 
NAA .380 ideas

Hi DanP,

You seem to be giving your NAA .380 a good chance to prove itself. Based on good experience with my .32 Guardian I think you've made a good choice in a pocket gun. Mine sits well hidden and at the perfect angle for my hand in the right front pocket of all the pants I wear. It fits so good I don't really need a holster.

If your wrist continues to hurt (it does kick a bit) I urge you to get a set of their Hogue Pau Ferro wood grips and then replace the black screws with SS hex head set screws for solid lockdown. The extra curve of the wood grips soften the recoil and improves my shooting. I've put finger extensions on all my mags. Makes for a much bigger grip area. A dab of orange glow paint on the front sight adds a lot to quick sight acquisition, the rear is good as is.

Yes, Kahr does the precision CNC work on the slide and the frame but its still an NAA Guardian not a Kahr. The Kahrs are still big compared to the NAA Guardians. Break it in and enjoy it well.

Herb Fredricksen herbfred@cpcug.org 301 869-3987
 
Herb, thanks!

I think you understand exactly what my expectations are of this gun, and you are correct in that a simple dab of orange would settle the sights.

Curious, how many rounds have you put through yours?
 
I agree with Herb's recommendation about the Hogue wood grips for the Guardian. I put them on mine and I've seen improvement in grip purchase, recoil control, and accuracy. I'd love to upgrade my .32acp for the .380acp version. Congratulations on your purchase.

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Let me guess, most of the Failures To Eject (FTE) you had were on the last round fired. Right?

How did I know... :)

I read an excellent article in the May 2002 issue of S.W.A.T. If you hurry to your local bookstore, you might still find a copy. (June will be in the stores any day now.)

The NAA .380 Guardian has no ejector. The empty cases are ejected from the gun when the extractor pulls the empty case from the chamber and it strikes the round at the top of the magazine. This causes the empty case to be ejected from the gun, albeit somewhat randomly. After going through the magazine, the last empty case hits the magazine follower which can "give" a little, causing the FTE.

Keep shooting it and make sure it is well lubricated. You've probably got the gun almost "broken in" by now.

More useful information like this can be found in the S.W.A.T. article on page 34 by Walt Rauch.
 
Blues man........thanks for that ejector lesson.

Gettin an empty in the eye could be a genuine bummer in a time of need. Something to seriously think about. Another good reason to practice shooting wrong eyed, as well as other handed.

Sam
 
DanP, 50 rounds is a bunch in ten minutes for that little guy. I just got a Guardian .380 and have yet to put 100 rounds through it. At the range I alternate it a couple of times with my Kimber. I could shoot the Kimber all day but a little fella like that Guardian would give me a sore wrist too.

Also, that's not the first time I've heard about the Guardian throwing some brass back in your face. It hasn't happened to me yet but I expect it will. The only ejector problems I experienced were all in the first ten rounds. Since then the gun has really smoothed out. I got it for a summer carry and back up. For a guy my size that .45 is hard to conceal under a t-shirt.

Hope you enjoy your Guardian as much as I'm enjoying mine. I'll be looking into some grips too.
 
Thanks for the replies, folks.

Luckily I had heard about the last piece of brass tending to hold the slide open, neat feature when it works.

50 rounds in 10 min was absolutely too much, but I just wanted to give it a good test.

Will wrap up the break-in at a more leisurely pace over the weekend.

Stoic, that looks like the factory pocket holster, how is it working for you?
 
DanP,

You're right, that's the NAA sharkskin pocket holster. It's great! Durable and looks good. I can recommend Sharkskin leather products, especially for holsters. They wear like iron and are low maintenance.:p
 
I carry a NAA 380 Guardian as my always gun. It was one of the first beta versions and had a couple of minor kinks at first. I had NAA put Novak night sights on mine. It is a keeper. Watch-Six
 
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