I’ve got a thing for mouse guns. I know they’ve got their limitations and are best suited as backups, or backups to backups, but I still like them. I’ve always had a few in my inventory, but the .22 Magnum North American Arms Sentinel is one I’ve been waiting on for a long time.
Decades of Mini Revolvers
When I first turned 21, over 30 years ago, one of the first guns I bought was a North American Arms (NAA) .22 Magnum mini-revolver. It was a well-made little gun, and I carried it in a pocket holster quite a bit.
I eventually replaced it with another NAA, this time a Black Widow with both .22 Magnum and .22 Long Rifle cylinders. The black serrated front post and notch rear were a big improvement over my first NAA. It also had a bigger rubber grip, which actually made it pretty comfortable to shoot.
Over the years, I watched as NAA came out with the Pug, which reminded me of a chopped Black Widow with its full lug barrel and big, Fast Dot tritium front sight and V rear. I always wanted one, but it wasn’t different enough from my Black Widow to really justify it.
Then they introduced both top-break and swing-out cylinder models. I liked those too, but they had the rudimentary front sights like my first NAA. I’d gotten accustomed to the sights on my Black Widow and the fact I could shoot it half way decently for such a little gun, and I didn’t want to go backwards.
What I wanted was a Pug with a swing-out cylinder or top-break action. It took a bit, but last year NAA dropped the Sentinel, and it was exactly what I was looking for.
The Sentinel
It took me a while to get a Sentinel since NAA has been selling them as fast as they can make them, but I finally managed to pick one up right before SHOT Show this year. So what exactly is the Sentinel?
The Sentinel is a 1.425-inch barrel 5 5-shot mini revolver with a swing-out cylinder and the Fast Dot sights of the Pug. It’s a single-action revolver. Meaning that you need to cock it each time to fire it. The safety consists of a notch between the cylinder chambers that you rest the hammer in when carrying the gun. It uses a small spur trigger, with about a 5 pound pull weight.
NAA’s Sentinel is built on NAA’s larger frame, meaning that it is available in either .22 Magnum or .22 LR, with or without a spare .22 LR cylinder. Like all of the NAA minis, it’s made from all 17-4 stainless steel construction. It comes with pebble-textured rubber grips that fit the round butt grip frame. All NAA’s are made in the US in NAA’s Provo, Utah facility, and are backed by a lifetime warranty.
I ended up getting a .22 Magnum model without the spare .22 LR cylinder. I have both for my Black Widow, and while it’s nice, I don’t really plink a lot with a mini revolver so I can deal with the cost of shooting .22 Magnum for practice. MSRP on the Sentinel with one cylinder is $399.00. The gun ships with a manual and a pretty nice locking metal storage box.
Add-Ons and Accessories
Since I’ve been carrying an NAA mini of one sort or another for over 30 years, I knew my preferences for the gun. While the factory rubber grips are fine, I knew from my previous gun that I wanted more grip. I still had my longer, square butt wood boot grips from my first NAA so I pulled those out and put them on the Sentinel. Despite being 30 years old they fit perfectly, a good testimony to NAA”s consistency and quality control.
The next thing I knew, I’d need a holster. When I started looking, I found that there weren’t many options available for the Sentinel. It was closest to the Pug, but the crane assembly for the swing-out cylinder changed the profile just enough that you couldn’t use a Pug holster unless it was a pretty generic pattern, and not molded to the gun.
I ended up coming across a good fit on Etsy, of all places, though. Through my web search, I stumbled upon the Southern Charm Holsters shop and found a fellow NAA enthusiast behind the sewing machine, stitching up their leather pocket holsters.
I ended up with a tan leather model that holds the gun upright in your pocket. It has an extended flange that breaks up the lines of the holster and keeps the gun oriented in the correct position in the pocket. It also includes a pouch that holds an extra 5 rounds of ammo.
Something Special
After ordering my holster, I ended up chatting back and forth with Daniel Franklin, one of the owners of Southern Charm, through messaging. At some point, I mentioned I’d be doing a write-up on the Sentinel for TTAG, and he offered to do a custom holster for me as well. In addition to the basic pocket holster I ordered, I also ended up getting a pretty nifty custom one.
This one featured a floral border tooling, reminiscent of some Old West gun leather, as well as the TTAG logo and my name on it. Pretty slick, and a neat touch to go along with a revolver I waited decades to get.
Operation and Loading
If you aren’t familiar with the NAA minis, they are all single-action revolvers with a spur trigger. When you load them there’s an indexing notch between the cylinders that you rest the hammer on, ensuring it’s never sitting on the rim of a live round. Capacity is 5 rounds in all of the models available.
On the older models you had to put the gun on half cock, remove the cylinder pin, and pull the cylinder out to load or reload. If it were a reload, you could tip the cylinder up, and sometimes the spent cases would drop out. Often you’d end up using the cylinder pin to pop the empties out though. To load or reload you drop 5 rounds in, replace the cylinder then cylinder pin. Then line up the index notch and cock the hammer, keeping your thumb on it. Finally, lower it into the index notch for carry. It works fine, but it takes a bit of time to do. You also end up with multiple pieces to potentially drop or lose.
The Sentinel and its swing-out cylinder work like most DA revolvers, with a couple of minor exceptions. Rather than a cylinder release latch like on most DA wheel guns, you put the NAA on half cock, and pull forward on the cylinder pin. On the Sentinel, the cylinder pin is captive and part of the cylinder crane assembly. Once that’s released, you push the cylinder out, and it swings open on the crane. Everything stays attached to the gun, so no loose parts.
Whereas most DA revolver cylinders swing out to the left, the Sentinels swing out to the right. If you’re reloading when you swing the cylinder out you push on the spring loaded cylinder pin and it ejects the empty cases by means of the star assembly in the cylinder. Just like every DA revolver you’ve ever used. No need to push the shells out with any kind of too. If they do stick the star still pushes them out far enough that they are easy to pluck out with your fingers.
For loading, just drop 5 rounds in and close the cylinder. Then line the hammer up with the index notch, like with the other NAA Minis. It’s a faster, simpler process than the traditional NAA guns, and keeps all of the parts together. It can be a little sticky popping the cylinder open. Lining up the cylinder pin when you close the cylinder can be fidgety too. It’s not quite as smooth as say a Smith or Ruger revolver. Still, it’s much simpler than reinstalling the removable cylinder.
Range Time
On the range, the Sentinels handled a lot like my Black Widow. The boot grip is a little different than what my Widow wears, but gives enough room for a good purchase. I could always get the same rubber grips I have on the Widow. The boot grips are trimmer in the pocket, though, and still let me get a good two-finger grip. I kinda like the looks too.
The Fast Dot sights are easy to pick up. They aren’t as precise as the Widow sights but they’re quicker to pick up. They’re better suited to fast and close defense work. They’re a big improvement over the basic half-circle front sight and no rear sight of the traditional models.
Recoil with the .22 Magnum in the little sub-7-ounce gun is brisk, but by no means painful. The Sentinel jumps more than it kicks. It does have quite a bit of bark too.
I used mainly CCI 40gr Maxi Mag JHP’s, Hornady 45gr XTP Critical Defense, and Speer 40gr Gold Dot .22 Magnum loads for my testing, keeping in mind the defense nature of the Sentinel’s design. Most shooting was done with a mix of one and two hand shooting at 5 and 7 yards. The Sentinel is a get off me gun. I didn’t see the need to do much shooting past those ranges.
At the 5 and 7 yard marks I could keep all of my rounds in a group easily covered by the palm of my hand. That may not sound great if you’re looking at shooting tight groups, but it’s plenty to tell someone that you’d rather hang on to your wallet today, thank you. Out at 15 yards I could keep my round inside the 8 ring on a B-27 silhouette. Sometimes a little tighter. I didn’t shoot past that distance. The small grip and tiny spur trigger are meant for concealment, not target shooting.
A Trip Back to Utah
When I first went to the range, all was not peaches and roses. At 5 yards, I was getting pretty consistent keyholing, indicating that the rounds weren’t stabilizing. This is a short 1.4 inch barrel sending fast .22 Magnum rounds downrange. A delicate balance needs to be achieved there. I’ve heard the argument that at those ranges, keyholing doesn’t matter. I can’t imagine your penetration is going to be very good with a round hitting sideways. The FBI penetration tests would not approve.
I mentioned North American Arm’s warranty earlier, and I did take advantage of it in this case. It also goes to show you that gun writers do not necessarily get cherry picked guns for review! After a couple of weeks at NAA I got my Sentinel back and headed back out to the range.
After the rework, things were much better. I mentioned stabilizing that fast .22 Mag out of so short a barrel is tough, right? Well, even after the return I’d still get an occasional keyholed round, but it was dramatically better. Whereas before I would have on average 3 of 5 rounds keyhole, now I might get one every couple of cylinders. With proper ammo choice it pretty much went away. For me, that ended up being the Speer Gold Dot load.
A Pocket Pistol Like No Other
Stuffing a .22 Magnum round inside a swing-out cylinder revolver the size of the NAA Sentinel is no mean feat.
There’s really nothing else like it on the market. If you’re looking for the smallest Magnum possible for pocket carry, then check it out.
Like with any defensive pistol, ensure you train with it and verify that it functions as expected with the load you plan to carry.
Where To Buy
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