FAQ - Mini-Revolver Safety Cylinder

North American Arms Mini-Revolvers are equipped with a unique safety cylinder, giving you maximum protection against accidental discharge.

The North American Arms Safety Cylinder feature allows the gun to be carried fully loaded. There are halfway notches located between the chambers. The hammer is lowered into one of these notches after the gun is loaded. When the hammer is pulled back to the firing position the cylinder rotates to the next chamber.

NOTE: The traditional half-cock position is to be used for loading and unloading only. THE HAMMER SHOULD NEVER REST IN THE HALF-COCK POSITION OVER A LIVE CARTRIDGE, OR ON THE RIM OF A LIVE CARTRIDGE.

If you have an older model NAA Mini-Revolver, or know someone who does, please check to see if it is equipped with the NAA Safety Cylinder - if not please call at 800-821-5783 to find out how to update the gun to the new cylinder.

NAA Mini-Revolvers come with a Lifetime Warranty. If anything should ever go wrong with your Mini-Revolver, please call Customer Support to find out how to send the gun to us for repair.


Note: The following instructions are from our FAQ - 22 Caliber Mini-Revolvers.

The Safety Cylinder is a critical part of the gun. We recommend that you practice the following steps to become proficient at using the Safety Cylinder before loading the gun.
  • First: Make sure the gun is unloaded.
  • Second: Make sure the gun is unloaded!
  • Third: Retract the hammer to the point that the cylinder spins freely (about half-way) and keep it retracted.
  • Fourth: Looking through the top/rear of the frame, locate any of the five milled safety slots (those notches on the cylinder between the chambers), and position any slot directly beneath the blade of the hammer (which is still retracted).
  • Fifth: While still retracting the hammer, depress the trigger (and keep it depressed)
    now allow the hammer to settle into the slot.
You can (should) confirm engagement of the hammer in the slot by attempting to rotate the cylinder; if it does rotate, the hammer was not engaged in the slot (repeat the process).  Visually confirm, also, by examining the alignment of any chamber with the bore; if a bullet could physically pass from the chamber through the bore, the gun is not 'safe'.  In other words, if a chamber is located at 12 o'clock, the gun is not 'safe'; in the 'safe' condition, the upper two chambers are at one and eleven o'clock.  99.9% of the failures are because the trigger was not kept fully depressed while the hammer was being lowered (Step 5).  Once you get the hang of it, however, you'll find the process becomes surprisingly easy, quick and natural.