AMT Arcadia Machine and Tool - pistols

[Bullwolf]

I was asking some questions in another thread regarding hand loading for an older AMT Automag V in 50AE.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=117958

I also happen to have an Automag III in 30 carbine. It's not a Ruger Black hawk, but its a fun gun to shoot, and reload for.

I never did get my hands on a 44 Auto Mag, but I have seen a few of them (and a few in pieces) and I know folks love to collect the things.

I remember some of the other early "miracle" AMT all stainless guns that galled really bad. (stainless on stainless)

AMT was also one of the first manufacturers of long slide 1911 style 45acp guns I that I had ever seen, the AMT Hardballer Longslide, and the ATM Javelina in 10mm.

I heard a lot of mixed things about the pistols. The general consensus was you either got a good one, or you got a junk one.

While I can not confirm or deny the quality of the pistols that AMT produced, I have had many hours of fun with both my Automag III and Automag V.

I have had some mixed experiences with the loved and hated .380 backup, and 45 backup pistols myself. I recall working on a friends abused beat up .380 backup. I also ended up selling a 45acp backup that wouldn't even feed hardball despite spring changes, mag changes, barrel changes, and ramp and throat polishing efforts.

Anyhow, while looking around for information on the Automag pistols, I managed to find a picture of the advertisement for the Automag III, and for the Automag V.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=539&pictureid=3955


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=539&pictureid=3954


Now all I want to know is where do I need to go, so I can get me a set of dinosaur tags?

Seriously though, what a cool picture, and a neat advertisement. It makes me sad that Arcadia Machine and Tool is no longer around. The firearms manufactured by AMT were innovative at the time, in a lot of ways.



- Bullwolf

[Lloyd Smale]

I had a 45 backup that was a total ***! But my buddy has a 22 mag auto mag that id love to pry away from him. Its totaly reliable, accurate and just cool.

[big dale]

I had one of the 45 Longslides for a couple of very frustrating years during the late 80's. We tried everything and finaly got it to be very accurate, but it seldom would shoot an entire clip of ammo without screwing up. Between my roommate and I we put about 5k very frustrating rounds thru it. I finaly gave up and built up another Norinco that worked great for me. At the time I was living in a very humid area, so I would up using browning for a finish like I had done with a couple of blacks powder rifles.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[Doc Highwall]

I have one of their 10-22 clones and it shoots good.

[Trey45]

I had a 45 backup, it would feed anything I fed it, the only issue I had with it was the 35 pound trigger pull ( slight exaggeration there) I sold it to a friend, anytime he needs money he sells it back to me, when he gets his money right he buys it back, that pistol has changed hands a dozen times in 12 years, he currently owns it and as far as I'm concerned he can continue owning it.

[EMC45]

My Uncle has an AMT longslide 22 MAG that is super accurate. And loud.

[Poygan]

I temporarily owned the .380 backup. It was heavy, fired an anemic cartridge, must have been designed by a government committee regarding the take down procedure and failed to feed reliably even with factory hardball. The only good thing I can say about it was that I was delighted when it was gone.

[Larry Gibson]

I've had an AMT Backup .380 for years. Mine is one of the early ones and is very well made. Yes the "take down" is some what difficult but I've only taken it down twice in 35 or so years(?) for a complete cleaning/inspection. The slide can easily be blocked back for routine after shooting cleaning. My AMT has remained cocked and loaded for most of those years and remains 100% reliable. Both magazines I have also have remained loaded all those years and have never failed to function. Other than intitial starting loads that were to weak to function the action I've never had a single malfunction of any sort with my AMT. The AMT Back up never let me down. I guess others have had bad luck with there's but most all of them I've seen and dealt with (several over the years) have functioned just as well. Some are finished a lot better than others though. I've not had a single problem with mine and have shot practice loads through it quite a bit over the years. While on an SO we had to "qualify" with our back up and concealed weapons over the years so I have shot mine quite a bit and it has always functioned fine.

The AMT Backup is much smaller than most any other .380 and as small as many .22, .25 or .32s. I never noticed it was "heavy" and I carry it a lot in a fanny pack, back pocket, jacket pocket and an inside the pants belt holster when carrying the Colt Combat Commander is impractical. The AMT Backup works for me as well as any other small pistol and better than most for "backup".

Larry Gibson

[casterofboolits]

My first go around with AMT was thier Commander size 45 ACP. What a ***! :groner: I could have bought two Colts and had money left over for what I had in that ***. It was traded off to a gunshop.

The second go around was with one of the 7" longslides. My gunsmith worked on that *** on and off for two months. It started out not even feeding hard ball. And the slide would bind on the way to the rear and I had to hit the rear of the slide with my hand for it to go forward! :( My smith and I shot every wednesday for IPSC practice and I would try out the latest fix, then hand it back to him to take home and try something else.

Finally, one evening it almost worked. Just shaking it would make the sllide go forward. A buddy, with comedic aspirations, handed me a 1/4" wide rubber band and said "maybe this will help". I doubled the rubber band, hooked it under he rear sight and front of the trigger guard and ripped off two seven rounds mags. Wish I had a pic of his face. My smith took it home with him for some more touch ups on the rails.

The next Wednesday, I loaded it up and fired seven rounds rapid fire at ten yards. Hardly any recoil, and a half dollar size hole. Big grins from everyone as I slapped in another mag. BAM, BAM, PHOOMPH!!!!!! The barrel split for five inches!

The smith fitted a cheap 7" after market barrel and I traded it for AR15 parts.

[jmsj]

I had one of their copies of a Ruger MKII. It was really accurate until the barrel moved foward and got loose. The barrel would not come out and I could not tighten it. I ended up TIG welding the barrel to the receiver and it shot great again. A guy from town wanted to buy it and I sold it to him as a parts gun and used it as down money on a real Ruger MKII.
jmsj

[bhn22]

A friend had one, a 1911 copy that was plagued with reliability problems. We finally dismounted the slide, held the frame over the garbage can & pulled the pins. All the internals went into the garbage, and we spent the next couple of hours fitting a miscellany of Colt & aftermarket action parts. It did work properly after that, but after less than a year my friend noticed the frame was peening, and it got sold off. It's kind of funny, really. AMT got the pants sued off it for vatious reasons, filed bankruptcy more than once, was dispersed (not really) and re-emerged as Irwindale Arms Inc. Harry operated it this way for a few years, then changed the name back to AMT, after the heat was off.

[Bullshop]

I am quite certain that using the 22 auto mag and a 40gn hollow point 22 mag through the ribs will make quick work of a WT dear.
I confess to nothing, I just know it.

[dubber123]

I had 2 of the early .380 Backups, both were very reliable, and surprisingly accurate. A friend bought a .45 Longslide that shot very well, another bought a 10mm Longslide that was a *** to look at and handle, but shot really well for some reason. I currently have a .45 Win Mag AMT that isn't too high on my list. Time will tell on that one. Unless you can test fire one first, or it is REALLY cheap, it might be best to look elsewhere.

[Rick Hodges]

I still have a .380 Backup from AMT's predecessor.."OMC". Accurate (considering the sights)and feeds FMJ and 88 gr. Sierra HP's flawlessly. I have 4 mags for it and all feed well. The take down is awful but day to day cleaning is easy enough. I have always been concerned about galling and keep the slide lubed with a silicon grease. 35 yrs., a lot of miles, and a few thousand rounds later it is still going strong.

[bobthenailer]

I also have a orgional OMC 380 back up bought new in the 70s . the extractor broke in a few hundred rounds and was replaced ! its been running fine since . I carried this gun for many decades and it has several thousands of rounds fired through it with no further problems , i still have this gun and shoot it once in awhile but i dont carry it as i bought a Kel Tec 380 about 4 years ago and a Kahr pm9 about 2 years ago. i carry the pm9 most of the time and leave the K T 380 in the overhead consol of my suv . the OMC is now mostley retired but not forgotten

[NoZombies]

I had one of the .380 DA backups that was dead reliable. it would literally feed an empty case. But I didn't need it, and it got traded off on another gun.

I friend has one of the "IAI" period version of the 1911 in 10mm that's new in the box. I've been trying to talk him out of it for some time.

[LUBEDUDE]

The galling problems, which every SS manufacturer had in the eary 70's and 80's were due to lubes. The petroleum based ones would just burn off or run off. And the good synthetics just were not invented yet. Once they found the good synthetic lube, all was rainbows and unicorns.

[leadman]

I have an OMC 380 Backup that I carry concealed. Just bought 2 aftermarket mags as one of my originals cracked the plastic follower. New mags don't have near as much spring tension but seem to work fine.

Tried some Hornady XTPs last week and they hung up on the top of the barrel on the way in. I'm going to play with seating depth.

Also been trying the Lee 120gr TC cast boolit in it. Accurate and feeds well, but hits about 6" low at 10 yards.

[shooterg]

The Ruger .22 pistol copy was stainless before Ruger had stainless and had grooves for scope too. Still have a stainless .45 Hardball, very tight chamber, feeds factory hardball 100%, problematic with reloads that feed in all my other 1911's.

[BruceB]

Back in prehistoric times (maybe the mid-'80s) my wife gave me an AMT Government Model 1911 for Christmas. A friend recently asked me WHY I had such a pistola, and my answer was that, at the time, it was the ONLY stainless-steel 1911 available, and hence its appearance on my Christmas "wants" list.

On arrival it was pretty rough, but all the basics were there. With considerable smoothing-up of the internals, it now runs nicely and has a decent trigger. I added an ambi safety and Millet adjustable sights, plus a pretty set of walnut grip panels. A pal in our shop bead-blasted it one evening, and it now has a soft silvery finish which is a great improvement.

It's still no Colt, but as a decent carry gun it's actually rather nice.

[30calflash]

I had an AMT Hardballer, basically a copy of a Gold Cup. Lots of feeding issues plus one very bad problem. When made the cut for the firing pin retaining plate was milled right through the top of the slide. The rear sight covered it. BUT on chambering a round one time the slide stayed about 1/8" open. ??? I pulled it back and let it fly. Still wouldn't chamber the round. ????
I dropped the mag, pulled the slide back and retrieved the round. There was a dent in the primer twice as deep as any hit I've ever seen on a primer, fired or not! The firing pin plate had moved up during the slide cycling and had been pushed up to the bottom of the rear sight!!! The firing pin must have been about 3/16" protruding from the face of the breech!! No kidding. The dent in the primer was off center, probably preventing the round going off with the slide unlocked. I thank the Lord for looking over my shoulder more than usual that day!
Went with Colts and others since. If you see one just check if the back of the slide has been milled through to the top. The adjustable sight buries it very well.

[Chapped Lips]

I owned one of the 30 Carbine AMT's......looking at that ad makes me laff.....
"max velocity, LIGHT recoil"......what painful pistol in my hand!.....it was a match made in hell!
The ad said nothing about losing your hearing either.
It was not a firearm to be fired under a covered firing line at a public range......the noise was unbelievable. Not a way to be kindly remembered by fellow members!

A buddy had one in 45 Win Mag. Shot well and very controllable. But he got rid of it when we broke it down and compared it to my LAR Grizzly......it was scary thin-looking in several places.

Another friend has an early Hardballer and loves it. He had heard about the galling issue so he sat in his recliner and worked the slide with JB paste and slicked it up. Never has had a problem.

[Combat Diver]

I got a AMT Longslide Hardballer around 86' and that longslide immediately went on a ODI Viking DA (Seecamp) frame. Added a blued Colt series 70 slide on top with Smith K frame sights. Later had a MagnaPorted Michagian Armament Slide that was also Metalified. Still have that gun and while I haven't carried it much lately due to deployments its 100% and still my CCW when home. Only thing still stock on it is the frame, trigger, slide stop, safety, mainspring housing and mag release.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/1911_CTC_with_knife_right_side.jpeg

CD