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These ain't your Grandpa's pocket pistols: nope, these mouse guns can handle big, fat rats
Guns Magazine, Feb, 2005 by John Taffin
Who knows where my Grandpa picked up that little .32 S&W Lemon Squeezer pocket pistol, or if he ever shot or even carried it. Practically everyone had one of these little top-break pistols around the turn-of-the-century--the 20th that is--and they were not only made by Smith & Wesson, but such companies as Iver Johnson, Harrington & Richardson, Hopkins & Allen and a whole bunch of other names long forgotten. I can remember as a kid little pocket revolvers were often offered as prizes on punchboards. It seemed like every neighborhood mom and pop store had a little cardboard punchboard with 100 punches one of which was a winner of a cheaply made pistol.
Probably hundreds of thousands of folks owned these 19th-century-style pocket pistols, and the hammerless versions especially were very easy to carry in coat or pants pocket. As towns became more civilized in the late 1890s, sixguns were seen less often carried openly, however they were still there, only smaller and out of sight. In those days no one bothered with a concealed weapons permit if such a thing even existed. Today more than 70 percent of the states have provisions for a carrying concealed weapons (CCW) permit, and more states are falling into line every year. Yes, I know we should not need one, and should be able to carry concealed any place and any time, but it is not reality in today's society.
Today's Pocket Pistols
Today we have all sorts of choices, both revolvers and semi-automatics. Some of the slickest ones are offered by North American Arms. NAA at one time offered a full-sized, five-shot .450 revolver and even produced a few .454 Casulls in the 1970s. They currently offer five-shot mini revolvers chambered in .22 Rimfire as well as a percussion model. However, their serious pocket pistols are offered under the Guardian label. I like all kinds of handguns with, of course, certain favorites rising to the top. I especially prefer big-bore six guns and even more especially single-action big-bore sixguns. However, at the other end of spectrum, I also really like the mini-guns, the pocket pistols, or as they used to be called before the world was so colored by PC, belly guns.
The Chiefs Special from Smith & Wesson and the newer scandium .357s are easy to conceal and carry, however nothing beats a flat-sided semiautomatic when it comes to ease of concealment and North American Arms is offering some dandies in two old longtime favorite pocket-pistol calibers as well as two relatively new offerings. They all have several things in common, number one being how compact and easy they fit into pocket or purse. They are very light in weight, 12 to 17 ounces depending upon chambering, hold 6+1 and are double action only. For me, even though they have sights, they are much better suited to point shooting. At any distance I would need one of these little guns, point shooting would work just fine.
The Old Standbys
The .32 and .380 go all the way back to 1899 and 1908 in John Browning designed semi-automatics for FN and Colt. That means the argument as to how effective they are is over 100 years old now. The .32 especially cannot be even remotely considered a powerhouse, however a hit with the .32 will beat a miss with the .357 anytime. The basic .32 Guardian from NAA has a 2" barrel, weighs 12 ounces, and is just over 4/10" thick at the widest point. Can you all say Ultra Concealability? Finish is stainlesssteel, grips are ultra-thin Hogue's pebble grained nylon, and the double action pull, powered by Wolff springs, is relatively smooth and much lighter than the single action pulls found on many derringers.
The .380 Guardian is a little larger, weighing in at 17 ounces with a 21/2" barrel. The test gun was fitted with the Guttersnipe Sighting System, consisting of a one-inch channel on the back top of the frame with a tritium dot at the end. There is no front sight per se. This particular gun also had the bevel Carry Package with all sharp edges removed, and checkered Hogue Kingwood grips. They look very good however they add to the thickness, which may not be desirable in a pocket pistol. The widest part of the slide is 9/10" and the grips increase this by nearly 1/2", so I prefer the standard Hogue grip for concealability.
The New Mini-Powerhouses
Now it gets really interesting. The .32 and .380 have been around for a long, long time, even longer than I have, and it was time for improvement. That improvement consisted of necking the two cartridges to smaller calibers. The .32 ACP was necked to .25 caliber to become the .25NAA, and is chambered in the same basic gun as the .32 with very soft recoil. As far as I know, the only load offered is Cor-Bon's 35grain JHP at 1,258 fps. Thousands upon thousands of people over the past century have depended upon the .25 ACP with a 45- or 50-grain bullet at 750 to 800 fps. The .25 NAA is a vast improvement and yet still easy shooting with no excessive recoil. Anyone strong enough to pull the trigger should have no problem whatsoever with the recoil.
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