Initial Thoughts
When I first unboxed this gun, it was obvious that it could easily be a pocket-carry gun. Then I picked it up, and the stainless-steel construction made me question my initial assumption. At 20.4 ounces, it’s almost 3 ounces heavier than my SIG P365, which is my current EDC and the gun I’m looking to make lighter. In the hand, it did feel considerably smaller.
With a six-round capacity, it doesn’t pack a lot of punch to its small size, but surely the weight would make it controllable. The sights were crude and minimal, which made me wary of how well I could shoot it at the range. Then I placed my finger on the trigger and did a few dry-fire pulls.
This is a double-action-only (DAO) gun with a long, heavy trigger press and no manual safety. In cases like these, the long and heavy trigger acts as a sort of quasi-safety.
While the trigger pull is long and heavy, it is quite smooth at the same time, with no “false walls” or hiccups along the way during the press. The wall is a bit undefined, but this gun isn’t meant to be a precision shooter, so it didn’t bother me much.
Let’s check out the rest of the specs below.
Specs
- Caliber: .380 ACP
- Capacity: 6+1
- Weight: 20.4 ounces
- Length: 4.81 inches
- Barrel Length: 2.5 inches
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Height: 3.69 inches
Comparisons
I had a few other smaller guns to compare it to at the range. Let's take a look at how it checks out.
We should have tried for a Beretta Tomcat or Bobcat for a closer size comparison but failed to get one in hand.
Range Time
When I finally got the gun out on the range, it proved to be a bit jumpier in the hand than I had hoped. Like the Ruger LCP, this Guardian is small and doesn’t give a lot of room on the grip to get a good purchase. Unlike the LCP, though, the heft of the Guardian helps make recoil manageable and bring follow-up shots on target quicker. Still, it feels like it’s going to jump out of the hand a bit when firing.
Part of that could be because my pinky hangs off the bottom of the grip, even with the magazine that has the extension. That magazine does make it easier to hold, but I still found myself readjusting my grip quite a bit while shooting.
The grip panels also don’t help a lot here with making a good weld to the hand. The grip texture – or lack thereof – is minimal, and the grip panels have an almost slick feel to them. Luckily, there is some aftermarket support offered from NAA or other third-party sites.
The minimal sights and heavy trigger pull did make it tough to score any groups tighter than fist-sized. The trigger pull especially made it tough to do any sort of successful rapid shooting. Then again, look at the intended purpose of this gun: it’s a “get off me gun” meant to be used only in extremely close quarters. So, expecting to rip off a beauty string and have the group be the size of a quarter is unrealistic, at least for me.
Field Notes
The blowback action puts all the recoil right into the crux of my thumb. It wasn’t especially painful, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience, either. What it boils down to is that it didn’t make me want to jump out of bed to go shoot this gun. Nothing about this was begging for a 500-round range day, but that isn’t the purpose of the gun anyway.
This isn’t exactly a gun that I would want to train with every week. The combination of the small size, crude sights, and heavy trigger made range time a challenge. To add to that, the gun only comes with two six-round mags, which slows shooting a bit. Even so, I was able to put roughly 200 rounds of Federal ammo through the gun.
In total, I had four malfunctions – all failures to chamber another round, which required me to strip the mag. All the malfunctions occurred with Federal JHP ammo, either Punch or Hydra-Shok Deep. Perhaps it’s ammo-sensitive, or perhaps it needs a good cleaning. Keep in mind that the gun is used, and I don’t typically clean guns before testing them when I get them.
Carrying the Guardian
Even though I wasn’t crazy about shooting the gun or the results I was getting, I was determined to follow through with my idea of testing the pocket carry method. Scenarios like walking the dog around the block or sitting in a car for five hours on a road trip presented perfect opportunities to try out this new method of carry.
Lucky for me, the fine folks over at Galco were nice enough to send over a pocket holster. While there wasn’t a model exactly for the Guardian, they assured me that a holster for the Beretta Tomcat would stand in. When it arrived, I was happy to see that it did, in fact, work.
Pocket carrying this gun has both its advantages and disadvantages. Let’s start with the good. The Guardian is small, and even with the holster, fits in all the front pockets I’ve tried without any issue. Printing is still happening but it isn’t a concern with pocket carry the same way it is carrying IWB at 4 o'clock or AIWB with a tighter-fitting shirt. It just looks like you have a full pocket, which brings me to a couple of the drawbacks.
Pros & Cons
There are some features I really like about this gun. It’s made in America, has a good look to it, and is small enough to pocket carry. But I have two major cons as well. It’s quite heavy, so pocket carry isn’t as light as I’d personally like it to be. Pocket carrying with gym shorts may cause them to sag a little, which is a bummer because that is how I wanted to carry this gun.
The other major knock I have is that performance has been spotty for me. Maybe I need to try a larger assortment of ammo, but I don’t think I would ever want to train enough to make myself proficient with this gun. Then again, maybe that is just a personal preference. Check out the rest of my pros and cons below.
Pros:
- Made in America
- Small enough to pocket carry
- Snag-free design
- Greater recoil control than other micro carry guns
- Two mags plus locking case included
- Bobbed hammer is great for carry
- Affordable price point for all-metal gun
Cons:
- Heavy for gym shorts and pocket carry
- Minimal and crude sights make it difficult to acquire target
- Long DA trigger pull makes follow-up shots difficult
- No slide stop or release
Final Thoughts
There are certainly things to like about the Guardian, and some things I wish were improved. I don’t think I would ever make this my primary EDC gun, but I could certainly see it becoming a BUG if I could find an ammo it would reliably feed.
In the world of pocket pistols, I think I’m going to have to keep looking for something a little lighter with a better track record. But don’t let my limited run with this gun deter you from trying it if you’re looking for an all-metal pocket pistol. It could very well win you over.
