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The Original Mouse gun.

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  • cb51

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    Looking back on the history of the mouse gun, it's a little humbling to real that the rimfire was the first one. That in 1857, when Danial Smith and Horace Wesson invented the self contained metallic cartridge and the S&W model 1. That same year, Christian Sharps came out with the famed 4 barrel derringer chambered fro that first self contained metallic cartridge, the .22 short.

    Now, over a century and a half later, the little guns still have the same use as back then; a small inconspicuous gun that can be dropped in a pocket and nobody knows ti's there. A pocket of deterrent to some low life criminal that has designs on your wallet without your consent.

    When I was 18 years old and living a somewhat risky lifestyle in Washington D.C. I carried a little Italian remake of the Sharps derringer. With 4 rounds of .22 short, it wasn't what you'd want for a gun fight, but it got me out of a very bad spot one night in an alley at 1am. It took two rounds to get the job done and got the guy to stop trying to bash my brains in with a crowbar, but it worked. I think about the time since 1857 that some little derringer or pocket gun saved it's owner from harm. I guess contrary to modern gun guru's preaching, you don't really need a 17 round Glock to step out the door in the morning and go about your life.

    From 1866 to almost WW2, Remington sold their famed over under derringer in good numbers, even after John Browning changed the game in 1905 with the invention of the .25acp round and the first small self loader that would fit in a vest pocket. A true pocket pistol in the best sense of the word. For over 50 years, the little .25 semis ere the popular pocket pistol of the day. When I was a kid in D.C. the little Italian Galisi and other low cost pocket autos where a dime a dozen. The low cost German made RG 22 revolvers were also common and one of them almost killed my friend Eli when he ran into a rival gang member outside a bar and he got shot in the gut at arms length. He decrtibed the .22 round in his bread basket as like a white hot soldiering iron twisting around in his stomach and it dropped hm on the pavement doubled over in agony. So much for a .22 not having an effect. He was the hospital after 4 hours of emergency surgery, for weak. It took him a few months to get back to semi normal. To this day as an old fart, Eli says it was a life altering memory.

    For the past 30 some years, I've carried the small North American Arms mini .22 revolvers for my own self defense and they've done their job. Those few times when it took the point of a gun to get someone to leave me the eff alone, it did well. Criminals don't want to get shot by anyone, it's really bad ju-ju and results in emergency rooms and cops. It's funny to think that the little NAA is a off shoot of the old 1857 S&W model 1. The original mouse gun in .22 rimfire. A full 161 years after it was invented, a little .22 rimfire is still protecting this retired senior citizen.

    It will probably still be in my pocket when I keel over with the 'big one.'
    Capitol Armory ad
     

    bigwheel

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    Great thoughts on the topic. I've been faithfully toting my little NAA five slapper around since 82. I seldom part with it except for the bath on Sat night. Had the grip holster added when I sent it in for repairs a few years back. Makes it nice to be able to see the sights without too much contortion.
     

    cb51

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    Great thoughts on the topic. I've been faithfully toting my little NAA five slapper around since 82. I seldom part with it except for the bath on Sat night. Had the grip holster added when I sent it in for repairs a few years back. Makes it nice to be able to see the sights without too much contortion.

    Sights?

    You use sights at bad breath range????:eek:

    At the range these little poppers are used I can tell if he's chewing Wriggleys Juicy Fruit or Spearment.:laughing:
     

    cb51

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    Always funny how people bash a .22 for personal defense, still haven't found anyone to volunteer to stand in front of a .22

    I guess it's all in what you're used to using. In the 60's running the streets of D.C. the guns that were literally everywhere was the German Rohm revolvers in .22, and the little Italian made Galesi .25 autos. They were a blued little gun with white plastic grips and cost like 30 some dollars. Literally everywhere. If you got a gun on the street, it was odds on it was going to be one of those two. Or the little .22 derringers that were almost everywhere. They were cheap and they went bang when the trigger was pulled. Later in the 1980's the little Raven .25 was the most common gun on the street with he Davis .380 a close runner up. Our friend Al was killed by a ghetto punk at the Silver Spring metro parking garage by a single round from a .25 Raven in a failed mugging.

    Let me know if ya find anyone to stand in front of one. I've known four people that got shot with a .22, and they all reported extremely burning pain, like a sharp soldering iron. Two gut shots, one shoulder shot, and one right bicep shot. All reported it hurt like burning blazes.

    There was this barber we all went to, old man Caruso. He had a real talent for giving a haircut that didn't look like you just got a haircut. All us guys went to him. One day this guy comes in with a gun and holds him up. Tells him to hand over all the money in his cash register. Old man Caruso opens the drawer and hands the money over and then says he can have his tips too. He reaches in his pocket on the white barbers smock and pulls a High Standard derringer and shoots the guy twice in the chest at almost contact range. Robbers hits the floor dead.

    1. Don't mess with an Italian barber in his own shop, and 2. A .22 will kill ya.

    Nobody messed with old man Caruso again. Cops put it self defense in his own shop. This was about 1967 before D.C. went totally nuts with gun laws.
     
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    Mowingmaniac 24/7

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    A medical professional friend said in his experience most people are shot with ..22's and lots die.

    Problem is most often they don't die quickly and have time to put you in a grave too..unless you hit the CNS they most likely will have time to do you evil.

    That said, sure I'd rather have a .22 than no gun at all..
     

    cb51

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    A medical professional friend said in his experience most people are shot with ..22's and lots die.

    Problem is most often they don't die quickly and have time to put you in a grave too..unless you hit the CNS they most likely will have time to do you evil.

    That said, sure I'd rather have a .22 than no gun at all..

    I don't know, maybe, maybe not. I don't go by the gun shop gurus and the self styled experts in the gun magazines. All I really know and trust is what I've personal seen on the street. I've seen people shot in a fight with a .22, and they didn't shake it off and go on fighting. In fact, in all shots that hit the stomach area, they doubled over, and went down and curled up in a fetal position and screamed that their guts were on fire. Then there was some puking up blood in good amounts. They seem to loose all desire to continue the fight. The one guy I saw shot in the right shoulder bent over cursing a blue streak, slumped down on his butt and yelled for someone to call an ambulance. When shot, he immediately dropped the knife he was threatening someone with and just went down on his butt and moaned to beat the band.

    I know theres a lot of internet parroting of the nonsense like 'someone will still kill you' if you shoot them with a "small caliber" but I've never seen it. Until I enlisted in the army to get out of the 'hood, I saw violence close up and personal. I've seen people shot and I've seen people cut and stabbed. It ain't like the gun shop and Youtube guru's say it is. The one single time I actually had to pull the trigger, two .22 shorts worked well in stopping the attack and put the guy down on the ground. He dropped his crowbar immediately. Attack over.

    I wouldn't wish my inner city childhood and adolescence on anyone, but it was educational in a rough way. Yeah, a bigger bullet most the time may be better, but that doesn't mean shooting an attacker with a small one won't work either. And the small gun in pocket beats the 1911 back home.
     

    bigwheel

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    Sights?

    You use sights at bad breath range????:eek:

    At the range these little poppers are used I can tell if he's chewing Wriggleys Juicy Fruit or Spearment.:laughing:
    Yes..they do have sights..and are pretty accurate guns for an across the room shots for them who can see the sights and manage to hang onto the gun after it goes boom so additional rounds might be tossed. Back when I got mine my general theory at the time was to do what damge I could in a less than ideal scenario and hopefully make the bad guys seek cover till I could get the .380 uncorked from the top of the cowboy boots. Small 9mms were not yet birthed in those days.
     

    bgw45

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    Most bad guys don't plan on being shot. Some years ago a citizen outside a bank in Louisville, Ky disrupted the exiting bank robber. Happened on Bardstown Rd. The NAA .22 used to foil the robbery was employed from a distance of 50 feet. Let's call it an attitude adjustment.

    I must admit that I'm not so sure I would have had the courage to take the shot.
     

    seeker_two

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    That place east of Waco....
    Unfortunately......thanks to the great food, exercise, and health care in today's prisons, felons today come out bulletproof and eat .22 pistols for a snack.....

    .....at least, that's what all the Internet gun trainers tell me.

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    BillFairbanks

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    My wife likes to carry our .22 PPK. She shoots it well and is comfortable with it.

    I pocket carry the S&W .380 Bodyguard. It conceals easily but I wouldn’t say it’s fun to shoot.


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    skfullgun

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    This thread has deja-vu written all over it. Have I read all this before?

    I have a 950bs Beretta that I can unload in less than two seconds. That's 7 rounds of .25 acp headed toward a nar-do-well at close range. I carry it to take out the garbage and when I'm dressed in a way it is all I can hide.
     

    SloppyShooter

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    Well slightly different, but same same in a way. I have a fuzzy recollection of a derringer ( or was it revolver?), that hid behind a belt buckle and was advertised for sale in magazines.

    Maybe someone will have a better memory of these little guns. My recollection is they were small caliber (possibly. 22), but no FFL was required because they were blackpowder guns. IIRC, they were called Freedom Arms.

    They just seemed to disappear overnight .
     

    cb51

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    This thread has deja-vu written all over it. Have I read all this before?

    I have a 950bs Beretta that I can unload in less than two seconds. That's 7 rounds of .25 acp headed toward a nar-do-well at close range. I carry it to take out the garbage and when I'm dressed in a way it is all I can hide.

    I hate you.
    ;)


    You just reminded me of why I fall down a lot. It's from trying to kick myself in the rear end every time I remember that I had one of those wonderful little Beretta's. One of my few real regrets of all the gun trading I've done. Very reliable, and surprisingly accurate for such a small gun with minuscule sights. But if you really use the sights, that little .25 was good for much more than arms reach.

    God, I was a dumb shite when I was young!!!!!:facepalm:
     

    skfullgun

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    God, I was a dumb shite when I was young!!!!!:facepalm:

    Weren't we all!

    I have so many regrets about firearms I have sold, or traded? Among them:

    The Husqvarna Swedish Mauser carbine that was unissued and packed in cosmoline.

    The trapper saddle ring Md. 94 Winchester in .357.

    The .357 Service Six my police officer uncle gave me when I was in college.

    The Savage Mdl. 24 Camper in .22 over 20 guage.

    But I guess that's a topic for another thread!
     

    popper

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    Short barrel NAA 22 popped onto the cowboy belt buckle. 2 makers, NAA & a less quali maker.
     

    Lost Spurs

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    NAA .22lr. The buckle was a gift from an old man from another era named Lenny. Sterling base with turquoise from New Mexico.

    Digging it out for this pic brings back fond memories. The old man that gave it to me was from a time when the unruly boys grew up in boys homes. He got started in the car business in the 60's at a time when you could still clean the shop floor with gas from the pump..... when I was a young man getting started he was not afraid to box your ears if you were not listening and would grab my 6 chest hairs to reel me in if needed. Now days it is a kinder gentler approach where I have to ask the kids how they are feeling before asking them wtf they are doing. If i boxed someone's ears today I would probably end up in jail. Ironically that would probably actually get the point across.
    24ed9146d724f263c03f9d75eee17c0c.jpg


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