North American Arms .32/.380

S

slewis

Inactive
I was considering an ultra-small, ultra-carry weapon, and happened to look at the North American Arms .32. While I think the .32 might just annoy someone, the .380 might be just enough if worse comes to worse (what's the old line...the .25 you carry is more useful than the .44 magnum you don't).

Has anyone had any experience with these or other "pocket" guns? Can anyone recommend something better for the ultra-small, ultra-carry weapon?

Thanks.
 
good carry pistol

i just sold my north american 32. it hurt my shooting finger with its strong recoil.it worked fine .i bought a kel tec p32.its very lightweight.you may want a kel-tec p11 in 9mm.it weighs 16oz fully loaded.you should shoot a gun before you decide.

swabjocky
 
S.Lewis,
Take a look at the .32 cal
Beretta Tomcat. It's a very reliable
and trustworthy gun. Probably
priced between the NAA and Seecamp.
The Tomcat comes both Parkerized
and Stainless (Inox in Italian they
say Inoxideable ).
It's a da/sa action pistol that
has a Tip-up barrel for easy loading
or un-loading of the chamber.
There's a version that comes in
a hard lockable carry case.This
version has Ashley Night Sights and
is called The Alley Cat .
Check them out,
Ponty
 
I have an NAA .32 Guardian. It's a high quality pistol. It will fire just about anything reliably, but mine prefers Fiocchi ball and Winchester Silvertips. I've found that it will occasionally stovepipe the last round, but that's the only complaint I have. Forget about long range accuracy. It's not that type of weapon. It will hit what you're aiming at out to 10 yards or so. The sights suck, but then, this is a close-in weapon, one that you pull, present and shoot.

The Guardian is a small, blowback operation, pistol. As a result, it has, shall we say, a snappy recoil! Combine this with a 1.5-2 finger grip, (for me anyway), and it can be somewhat tiring to practice with for any length of time. Get the grip extensions. They make controlling the pistol somewhat easier. I've never fired the .380 Guardian, but, knowing what the .32 is like, I can imagine what the .380 is like. My Makarov has a more mild recoil than the Guardian!

NAA's customer service is outstanding. I've never sent my Guardian in, but I have sent in my .22 for service. It came back, fixed AND refinished. It looked new. Cost? No charge! And, NAA paid the return shipping.

I carry my Guardian when I'm unable to carry anything else. It rides in an RJ Hedley front pocket holster. If you want a small, concealable, high quality an.d reliable, you could do far worse.
 
I have a Guardian .32 and a Keltec P32. The Guardian is the superior piece in every respect except weight. If a few ounces are that critical to you, then take your chances and get a Keltec. You might luck out and get one of the good ones. If a few ounces don't matter, you will find the Guardian to be a very satisfactory pocket pistol. Mine works with everyting including that crappy FN flat point .32 that was all over the gunshows a few months back.
 
After I unconsciously let my left thumb silde up during two handed practice...

..and watched as my left thumbnail sailed over my shoulder, I then purchased the smooth Hogue "Pau Ferro" wood grips. They are not only beautful, but keep my hand in the right place. (You only have to have the slide rip ONE thumbnail off to realize the importance of this.)
In any case, I love this little pistol. It's built like a tank and if you ever have any trouble with it, the president of the company has his e-mail posted right on the web page.
How's THAT for product confidence!
By the way. RJ Hedley makes a great back pocket holster that makes the little Guardian seem much lighter. I know because I have two. One for the Guardian and one for my Seecamp.

KR
 
Ditto what Ky Rifle said...got a Kel tec P11 but there are still times I can carry my guardian that I can't carry anything else, and with Cor Bon it's accurate enuff to get the job done very easily.
 
The Kel-tec P32 isn't bad.

Mine has digested hundreds of rounds with only one failure to feed (one of the first few fired).
POI is a bit low with all but the heavy 71gr-73gr FMJs.

Overall, I trust this tiny gun enough to carry it.

Will it piss somebody off if I ever have to use it?
I'd say they'd be plenty pissed off when the next thing the see after the muzzle flash is that flaming red horned fellow giving them a tour of their new home at pitchfork-point.
The .32 60gr Cor-bon is nothing to laugh at, let alone 8 of them.
 
Some of you guys absolutely slay me with rants about how a gun hurts your hand a tad when you shoot it. I have a Guardian .380. The kick is managable. My hand was sore after around 200 rounds. No big deal. Why trade a superior caliber for less weight? If it were my choice I would rather have a Titanium .357 snubbie if I need something very powerful and light, to hell with the pain of the recoil. My life is on the line, I want to put a major hurt on the offender. I find it beyond ridiculous that alot of the very same people who call the 9mm "marginal" are more than happy to walk around armed only with a keltec p32. Yes, it is better than nothing, but a guardian .380 is a hell of alot better than a p32. It is all stainless, engineered by kahr. It is heavier by a large margin, but packs 6+1 of .380 in a tiny little package. All the latest ones have no feed problem. The earlier ones, mine included, did. Any gun is better than no gun when you need it, but some are better than others while being similar sized.
 
Will it piss somebody off if I ever have to use it?
I'd say they'd be plenty pissed off when the next thing the see after the muzzle flash is that flaming red horned fellow giving them a tour of their new home at pitchfork-point.
The .32 60gr Cor-bon is nothing to laugh at, let alone 8 of them
Click to expand...

Snowdog, if you ever shoot me with that thing and I find out about it, I'll kill 'ya.:D
 
I have a NAA Guardian 380 that I had Novak night sights put on. My P32 KelTec is now for sale. The Guardian is certainly heavier than the KelTec even in 32, but they are very solid guns. Recoil is not a problem for me with any of these mouse guns. If you need it, I would rather have as much punch as possible even at the expense of some carry weight. I would prefer the Guardian 32 to a KelTec P32, but the Guardian 380 is better still. Watch-Six
 
I have a guardian .380 and the Kel tec .32. The guardian certainly is higher quality and with more of a punch. It is considerabley thicker though. In the rare occasion I can't carry my main gun I carry the guardian. Otherwise it is the kel tec as secondary. I also had stippling done on the guardian, novak sites and beveling. A1 service from NAA. Aaron
 
I was thinking of having the ashley express sights put on mine, since it is a shorter range gun anyway, I figured I could pick up on the big dot faster than your average night sight.
 
slewis,


I had a NAA .32, and "kind of" got used to carrying it, but a piece of steel that weighs over 1 pound is getting into the uncomfort zone for me, for pocket carry.
My .32 had continual feed problems, grips would come loose after shooting about 50 rounds, and the extractor fell off.
(Gun didn't work any worse without it!)

I felt the .32 Guardian was uncomfortable to shoot.
That may not be a "manly" answer, but any gun that I may have to answer to a judge and jury for using, I am going to shoot a lot!

Maybe I am getting old, but a lifetime warranty doesn't mean as much when it costs $25 to ship your gun, and you have to be without it for 3 weeks at best.
Why can't guns just work right out of the box?!
I currently have a Keltec P32. I love it because it is light, accurate, and fun to shoot.
It has been to the shop 3 times.
My P11 had been the shop 2 times.
They sent parts for my wife's P32, worked on it myself.
Sold my Guardian after 3 trips to the factory.

Maybe modern guns are meant to be "carried a lot, shot a little."

The best advice from all of this, in my opinion, is try before you buy.

JP
><>
 
mini14jac,

I agree with you in a lot of respects. It is very expensive to ship weapons and they should work out of the box. Myself, other than my guardian I have glocks, and they have both been 100% reliable. FWIW I had my gun shop pay shipping for the return.
If my guardian is not 100% when it returns, I will trade it in for something else.
 
Hydrashok,
I think my Glocks are the guns that are spoiling me for other guns also. I suspect I would find similar quality with a H&K, or Sig.
I have also found that Ruger and S&W are generally in that "top shelf" category.
It appears that guns like Kahr, NAA, Taurus, KelTec and a few others are high quality guns, but not in the same category as the above mentioned "military tough" guns.

I hope your Guradian comes back in A-1 shape.
I would rather have a lifetime warranty on a gun that never needs it, than no warranty on one that breaks.:D

slewis:
I wonder if you have considered a small lightweight revolver?
A S&W Centennial weighs about 14oz empty, can be fired from inside your pocked, and shoots a better round than .380 or .32.
About the same price range as a Guardian, probably close in size.
With a revolver, you don't have to worry about what kind of ammo it feeds, mag problems, etc.

Then, if you move up cost, the Titanium revolvers would be tops.
With either of these choices, you won't want to shoot them a whole lot in my opinion.
My wife's Centennial is uncomfortable to shoot more than 20 or 30 rounds of practice ammo.

Remember, searching is usually more fun than owning.:cool:

JP
><>
 
mini14jac,

my main consideration for a scondary weapon to my preferred glock 30 is the fact that I can't always conceal the 30. I would prefer to be able to carry IWB, and I have debated a Taurus Ti .357 with a Barami Hip grip. Don't know how small that package would be, but the power in such a light package makes it very desirable to me. I would definitely like something more powerful than a .380 should I need it. I'll withhold judgement until I get it back (it better be 100%, I am short on patience).
 
Slewis,

I own both a Guardian 32 and a Kel Tec P32. My Guardian is in my safe, loaded, and already in my pocket holster ready to go (when I’m not carrying a larger handgun.) My P32 is unloaded and in the box it came in waiting to be shipped back to the factory.

I have already received and installed a new extractor, ejector, and springs that Kel Tec sent me, but it still suffers from failures once every other magazine-full. I have fluffed and buffed (polished and deburred) the heck out of it, but it still refuses to function. I’ve learned that buying P32s is just a crap shoot, sometimes you get a great one that needs little to no work, other times you get one that just needs to get put down. The good side is that Kel Tec has a really good policy of taking care of returned products, I just HATE shipping guns and PAYING for it. (They did agree to reimburse up to half of the shipping charges.) So, even though they cost less than the Guardian, expect to pay the difference in shipping charges.

One other thing, the guardian is blowback and the P32 is delayed action. This means the P32 has less felt recoil. The P32 has a slide lock, but the guardian does not. The guardian also doesn’t have an ejector, it uses the next cartridge in the magazine to push the spent casing up and out. So, when you get to the last round in a mag, it typically stove-pipes. The company (and I tend to agree) does not consider it a failure, but rather a crude slide stop to indicate the magazine is empty.

Have I mentioned I like both and see them as compliments rather than substitutes? I just wish the P32 would work without having to ship it back!
 
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