The .32 NAA is a cartridge/firearm 'system' designed and developed by the partnership of
North American Arms
North American Arms is a United States company, headquartered in Provo, Utah, that manufactures pocket pistols and mini-revolvers, also called mouse guns. The company was originally named ''Rocky Mountain Arms'' when it was founded in 1972. In 19 ...
and
Corbon Ammunition. The cartridge is a
.380 ACP case necked-down to hold a .32 caliber bullet with the goal of improved ballistic performance over the
.32 ACP.
History and design
Bottleneck handgun cartridge designs experienced early success and have had continuing development since at least the
7.65×25mm Borchardt
The 7.65×25mm Borchardt cartridge was designed by Georg Johann Luger for use in Hugo Borchardt's Borchardt C-93 pistol. It was the first successful rimless pistol cartridge.
History and design
With a rimless, bottlenecked case using smokeles ...
or earlier, which led to the development of the
7.63×25mm Mauser
The 7.63×25mm Mauser (.30 Mauser Automatic) round is a bottleneck, rimless, centerfire cartridge, originally developed for the Mauser C96 service pistol. This cartridge headspaces on the shoulder of the case.Wilson, R. K. ''Textbook of Autom ...
(also known as the .30 Mauser), followed by the
7.62×25mm Tokarev
The 7.62×25mm Tokarev cartridge (designated as the 7.62 × 25 Tokarev by the C.I.P.) is a Soviet rimless bottleneck pistol cartridge widely used in former Soviet states and in China, among other countries. The cartridge was largely superseded ...
. The benefits of bottleneck designs include smooth feeding and chambering and simple, robust headspacing.
The .32 NAA uses the .312" diameter bullet of the
.32 S&W,
.32 S&W Long,
.32 H&R Magnum, and
.327 Federal Magnum
The .327 Federal Magnum is a cartridge introduced by Federal Premium Ammunition and also sold by Sturm, Ruger & Co. It is intended to provide the power of a .357 Magnum in six-shot, compact revolvers, whose cylinders would otherwise only hold f ...
, and
.32 ACP.
The .32 NAA is one of the most recent of a line of commercial bottleneck handgun cartridges. Renewed western interest in bottleneck handgun cartridges began with the
.357 SIG in 1994 (necking a
.40 S&W case down to a .355 bullet); followed by the
.400 Corbon in 1996 (necking a
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol), also known as .45 Auto, .45 Automatic, or 11.43×23mm is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After su ...
case down to hold a .40 cal. bullet); and then the
.25 NAA in 1999 (necking a
.32 ACP case down to hold a .25 caliber bullet). 2015 saw the introduction of the
7.5 FK bottleneck cartridge by the Czech company
FK BRNO.
Performance
The cartridge delivers in excess of velocity to a 60 grain (3.9 gram) proprietary bullet from Hornady. This generates of energy from the 2.5" Guardian barrel (1453 ft/s & from a 4" test barrel).
According to Phil W. Johnston, the 60 gr Corbon cartridge averaged 1204 fps, with an extreme spread of 69 fps and a standard deviation of 19 fps, for 193.09 ft-lbs of energy. When fired at ballistic gelatin, he obtained 6.25" of penetration, with expansion to 0.528" and 72% weight retention.
Extreme Shock Ammunition offers an "Enhanced Penetration Round" that sends a 60 gr. bullet at 1196 fps for 190 ft lbs of energy.
In fall 2012, Hornady released a .32 NAA Critical Defense load that propels a relatively heavy (thus higher
sectional density
Sectional density (often abbreviated SD) is the ratio of an object's mass to its cross sectional area with respect to a given axis. It conveys how well an object's mass is distributed (by its shape) to overcome resistance along that axis.
Secti ...
), 80 grain JHP FTX bullet at 1,000 fps.
Handguns
The
North American Arms
North American Arms is a United States company, headquartered in Provo, Utah, that manufactures pocket pistols and mini-revolvers, also called mouse guns. The company was originally named ''Rocky Mountain Arms'' when it was founded in 1972. In 19 ...
Guardian .32 NAA is designed around this cartridge.
Diamondback Firearms offers .32 NAA conversion barrels (2.8") for their DB380 pistols.
Makarov.com once stocked barrels of two different lengths for converting
Makarov pistol
The Makarov pistol or PM ( rus, Пистолет Макарова, r=Pistolet Makarova, p=pʲɪstɐˈlʲet mɐˈkarəvə, t=Makarov's Pistol) is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it beca ...
s to .32 NAA.
Makarov.com, ''The .32 NAA Conversion for the Makarov Pistol'', retrieved 2012 May 12
/ref>
See also
* .25 NAA
* 7 mm caliber
This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated a ...
* List of handgun cartridges
This is a list of handgun Cartridge (weaponry), cartridges, approximately in order of increasing caliber.
Table of handgun cartridges
Other cartridges used in handguns
Although not originally designed for handguns, several rifle and shotgun ...
* Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
This is a table of selected pistol/submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load (e.g. the highest muzzle energy might not be in the same ...
References
External links
32 NAA by North American Arms
{{DEFAULTSORT:32 NAA
Pistol and rifle cartridges
Cor-Bon cartridges