Guns: NAA Ranger II review - Tiny Top-break .22

Introduction

North American Arms makes a variety of .22 mini-revolvers, but the Ranger II stands out from the pack. Unlike most of NAA's other guns, the Ranger II has a top-break action that allows easy loading and (theoretically) reloading, without the cumbersome manual extraction process I've had to resort to in other NAA revolvers I've owned. As I found out though, there is a difference between theory and practice...

Manual of Arms

If you're familiar with NAA's mini-revolvers, the Ranger II's grip, trigger, and sights won't blow your hair back.  It's the same single-action, five-shot gun you are used to, complete with safety notches between the charging holes that allow the gun to be carried safely while fully loaded.

Things change when you run dry. To extract the spent casings, you pull a hook-like lever located in front of the hammer and break open the action like an old S&W Schofield or Model 2. As you hinge the action open, the extractor rod and star automatically extracts and ejects the shells.  When the design works, it's exponentially faster than the process in other NAA guns, where you manually push the extractor rod through to pop each casing, one hole at a time.

The problem is that my gun rarely worked that way with .22 Magnum loads.  While the short, low-pressure .22 LR rounds extracted fine (and were a hoot to shoot), .22 Mag casings would get stuck in the cylinder, requiring me to remove it entirely and bang the front of the rod against a hard surface to extract. The process becomes just as finicky as NAA's other guns, which would be tolerable were it not for the Ranger II's relatively high price point (usually two to three hundred dollars more than an equivalent non-break-open NAA gun).

Range Report

On the plus side, the Ranger II was accurate at the range, delivering hand- or fist-sized 10-shot groups at 7 yards. One caveat - in my hands, the gun shot at least 4" higher than my point-of-aim.

CCI Maxi Mag TMJ:

Winchester Super X 40 gr. JHP:

Hornady Critical Defense:

Federal Champion (.22 LR):

Speer Short Barrel:

Conclusion

The usefulness of the NAA Ranger II will vary wildly depending on who you are and what you expect. If you just want a fun plinker, the Ranger's ability to quickly eject .22 LR casings makes it a lot more fun at the range than NAA's other offerings, and the action has an appealing Old West flair. If you're in the market for a deep cover pocket gun, the Ranger will serve just as well as anything else NAA makes.  But if you're thinking you're going to speedload this thing with spare .22 Magnum like Jerry Miculek, you're probably going to be disappointed.