Second Guardian on the way

bearcatter

At a great deal. $ 65 below list, no shipping, no transfer fee. Plus, NAA has a contest where if you buy any NAA gun, you get a $ 25 credit toward accessories and a chance to win a NAA Ranger break-top mini revolver. That will probably buy an extra magazine, which just happens to be $ 25.

A local LGS has a website, and a second store 100 miles west. His Guardians are at the other store, naturally, but it should be here in a couple of days. Whenever he needs to go from there to here.

The Occasionally Better Half actually doesn't want me to sell any guns to cover it, to keep them as an investment. She doesn't catch how long that takes. I couldn't beat break even on my oldest gun, a 2009 10/22 DSP. It was $ 280, lists for $ 419 now. My Bearcats are from 2011. Paid $ 450, list is $ 689.

Terry_P

You're in tall cotton now. Post up some pics when you get it. Going to start calling you two gun bearcatter.

bearcatter

Two Bearcats because I like 'em so much. Two Guardians for practical reasons. Better than my photos, the Shooting Store has a neat 360 degree view.

https://www.theshootingstore.com/sin...81506&ref=shop

Click below their photo where it says '360 view'. then drag the cursor over it to rotate.

bearcatter

Just got a call that it's in. Taking tomorrow off for a long Labor Day weekend, so I'll pick it up in the AM.

44s Rock

Don't forget to lock down the shutters!

bearcatter

Well, I got it about noon, and it's exactly like the first one. Great fit and finish, and the trigger pulls feel identical. Not much else to say until I go shoot it, which may be a while.

One interesting point, I bought the first one in April 2018. This one's serial is only 350 higher.The test fire casing envelopes are dated the month and year I bought them. So, 350 guns produced in 16 months?

Terry_P

I wonder if they have separate serial numbers for different calibers and they make a lot more .380's?

bearcatter

Well, the .32 was the first Guardian and all the serials start with "A". The .380 serials start with "B". The next letter denotes changes to the design; on both of mine it's "F", six changes since original model in 1997.

I know two of the changes were a larger takedown button, and a minor change to the internal shape of the mag release. Those are easy upgrades to earlier models. NAA does those free. I'm not sure, but I believe they counted it as a change when they redid the style of the writing on the slide. The other changes, I have no idea.

Someone on the NAA Forum posted ATF data on production for 2000-2017. NAA made just under 8000 .32 Guardians in those ten years. Actually just a few hundred more .380s. They made 46,000 of the mini revolvers in 2017 alone, ONE year. Obvious that Guardians aren't hot sellers, huh?

From what I read online, among other things, people think the all stainless Guardians are too heavy at 15 and 21 ounces. Should they turn in their man card? They buy the clunky Kel-Tec .32 and .380s to save a few ounces and money. The Kel-Tecs are too much plastic; even the trigger bar and pivot pins are plastic. What is actually metal seems to rust real easily. I'm not trusting my butt to that.

Terry_P

My Sig P938 weighs in at 15 oz and is easy to carry. I pocket carry in a DeSantis holster and forget it's there.

bearcatter

That's a light 9mm, even having an alloy frame. I guess I'm a little paranoid, I shy away from those after the very few guns with crack issues.

I missed that the Guardian serial are two letters and five digits. Not sure about the mini revolvers. NAA does offer custom serial numbers on all their guns for $ 75 extra. In doing that, you pay list for the gun from the factory, so it's actually around $ 125 extra cost.