I was given as a birthday gift a North American Arms .22 Mini pistol. This tiny device weighs only 4 oz and fits in my closed hand. Which brand of ammo? Hollow points? Stingers? Yellow-jackets? With a barrel of 1 or so does it really matter?

Quoted: I was given as a birthday gift a North American Arms .22 Mini pistol. This tiny device weighs only 4 oz and fits in my closed hand. Which brand of ammo? Hollow points? Stingers? Yellow-jackets? With a barrel of 1 or so does it really matter?

One of the things I love about rimfire is that the majority of ammo is inexpensive. Buy a few boxes at your local mom and pop gun dealer, be sure and try some Aguilla Sniper SubSonic and some hyper velocity ammo and begin testing. Old phone books are a medium I have heard used for penetration testing with rimfire.

I have not shot any of the minis nor do I know anyone that has but I think you might be able to find an ammo that it shows a preference to over others. Testing might serve you well along with getting a bit of range time in which is always a good thing.

If you mean for self-defense purposes I use stingers. For anything else I use Remington Golden Bullets.

First I'd email NAA to see if they have any suggestions.  Then I'd get a few boxes of everything from the Quikshok, Aguila SS, Stingers and some standard velocity stuff.  Use a good target at very short range and find out not only what velocity, weight works well, but which ones don't keyhole from the short barrel.

Let us know what you find out, as I've always wanted one of these.

Look for rounds intended to produce maximum velocity in pistol barrels.  Meaningful expansion is unlikely and possibly undesirable at low velocities - best you can hope for is to get the round on target at higher subsonic speeds.

Canadians have another option: remove the 1" barrel and replace it with a 115mm barrel.  I know, it wrecks the lines - but it makes the gun restricted instead of prohibited, as well as adding a bit more velocity and sight radius.  Silly regulations.