| .32 NAA | |
| Origin: | United States |
| Type: | Pistol |
| Designer: | North American Arms / Ed Sanow |
| Design Date: | 1996 |
| Manufacturer: | North American Arms |
| Production Date: | 2002–present |
| Parent: | .380 ACP |
| Case Type: | Rimless, bottlenecked |
| Bullet: | .3129 |
| Neck: | .3365 |
| Shoulder: | .3729 |
| Base: | .3740 |
| Rim Dia: | .3740 |
| Rim Thick: | .045 |
| Case Length: | .680 |
| Length: | .984 |
| Case Capacity: | 10.5 |
| Rifling: | 1 in 16inches |
| Primer: | small pistol |
| Max Pressure: | 25700 |
| Bw1: | 60 |
| Btype1: | JHP |
| Vel1: | 1222 |
| En1: | 199 |
| Bw2: | 71 |
| Btype2: | FMJ |
| Vel2: | 1000 |
| En2: | 158 |
| Test Barrel Length: | 2.5 |
| Balsrc: | Cartridges of the World [1] |
The .32 NAA is a cartridge/firearm 'system' designed and developed by the partnership of North American Arms 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.
Bottleneck handgun cartridge designs experienced early success and have had continuing development since at least the 7.65×25mm Borchardt or earlier, which led to the development of the 7.63×25mm Mauser (also known as the .30 Mauser), followed by the 7.62×25mm Tokarev. 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, 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 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.
The cartridge delivers in excess of 1222ft/s velocity to a 60 grain (3.9 gram) proprietary bullet from Hornady. This generates 199ft.lbf of energy from the 2.5" Guardian barrel (1453 ft/s & 287ft.lbf from a 4" test barrel).[2]
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.[3]
Extreme Shock Ammunition offers an "Enhanced Penetration Round" that sends a 60 gr. bullet at 1196 fps for 190 ft lbs of energy.[4]
In fall 2012, Hornady released a .32 NAA Critical Defense load that propels a relatively heavy (thus higher sectional density), 80 grain JHP FTX bullet at 1,000 fps.[5]
The North American Arms Guardian .32 NAA is designed around this cartridge.
Diamondback Firearms offers .32 NAA conversion barrels (2.8") for their DB380 pistols.[6]
Makarov.com once stocked barrels of two different lengths for converting Makarov pistols to .32 NAA.[7]