[Denmark116]

What is this .380??? Never heard of it... Looks interesting with the grip safety ala 1911...

Let me know, what you know....

Denmark:confused:

[aguyindallas]

This looks very close to the AMT Backup that was chambered in .380. Seems like they are out of business, but perhaps somebody bought the rights to the manufacture of the gun?

I have no idea!

[kokapelli]

Interesting looking.
Wonder how thick it is?

[russlate]

Something similar happened when the Automag went under. A corporation continued making the product under the name of TDE ( Trust Deed Estates ) IIRC. The initials should ring a bell for me - they do, but like using a rubber boot heel for a clapper.

AMT was located in El Monte and made the "Back Up" before coming up with a horrible little DA or DAO ( at least that was it's reputation ) that needed an 800 pound gorilla to pull the trigger. Don't remember the name of the thing. Colt had the Mustang and Pony in production about this time, which was before they lost their reputation for quality control, and I suspect that the Colts and other good guns left them laying unbought in gunstore window displays.

[Roadkill]

I did a google search, the magazines for it are listed under the same heading as AMT. there are a couple for sale in gunsamerica

rk

[Myself]

OMC is one of the several transitions that the automag corp went thru.
TDE, IAI and I beleive AMC were several others.

The company is gone now to the best of my knowledge.

That gun goes back 25 + years is is bulky for a .380 by todays standards

[wally]

It is the first model AMT Backup .380. I have one. Like all things AMT, people who got a good one generally like them, those that didn't call 'em all trash.

A bit heavy, but very small for a .380 in its day.

I also have the second model Backup DAO in .380 and .45 Trigger pull is pretty heavy. Only one of my three needed work -- weak springs in the .45, I think the previous owner tried a "trigger job" by cutting the mainspring and made it unreliable, was easy for me to fix.

Is this current production or was OMC one of the resurection attempts with AMT's assets?

--wally.

[Marshall]

That's not a pistol, it's an Outboard Evinrude that thinks it's a pistol. Dang Mad Cow disease!


:evil:

[horge]

So the manual safety is where a M1911's mag release would be?
...and the mag release is placed Euro-style, at the butt of the grip?


:scrutiny:

[wally]

So the manual safety is where a M1911's mag release would be?
...and the mag release is placed Euro-style, at the butt of the grip?


Yup, and its got a hammer, not a striker, fully enclosed by the slide. Interesting design, but spotty quality did them in.

--wally.

[Walt Sherrill]

AMT was located in El Monte and made the "Back Up" before coming up with a horrible little DA or DAO ( at least that was it's reputation ) that needed an 800 pound gorilla to pull the trigger. Don't remember the name of the thing. Colt had the Mustang and Pony in production about this time, which was before they lost their reputation for quality control, and I suspect that the Colts and other good guns left them laying unbought in gunstore window displays. I shot one of those, in .45! A LEVER would be appropriate -- about 10' long. And a triage nurse to assess the damage to your hand, afterwards.

[wally]

I shot one of those, in .45! A LEVER would be appropriate -- about 10' long. And a triage nurse to assess the damage to your hand, afterwards.

I assume you are exaggerating a bit. Mine has a trigger that's no worse than say a Kel-Tec P11. Long and heavy but certainly not unusable.

Recoil with 230 gr Hydrashok JHP is negligble compared to 158gr .357 Hydrashoks in my SC360 Scandium snubbie :-)

--wally.

[Johnny Guest]

I THINK AMT came first - - They made the Backup .380. the Automag and the Hardballer .45, a stainless knock off of the 1911 pistol. Both had spotty reputations - - If you got a good one, it was fine. Others had functioning problems. I believe the TDE came next, and finally OMC.

I really wanted to like this little pistol. It was introduced at a time when there was no U.S. produced pocket pistol. It was strong, safe, and seemed well-built.

Both of the Backup .380s that I handled and shot worked well. Fine accuracy was impossible with the little groove-down-the-top-of-the-slide sight system, but for an arm's length defensive piece, it was okay. The safety was really quite well located, but very stiff. The pinky finger extension on the magazine floorplate, a la the Beretta 1934 model made for a comfortable hold, but made proper concealment without a holster problematical. It was FAR too heavy for it's size and power, anyway.

Another characteristic it shared with the '34 Beretta: It KICKED like a mule! Something about the blowback action, grip angle, and backstrap design combined to increase felt recoil to a really painful level. Far worse than some lighter 9x19 pistols.

And, yes, I realize that all factory .380 ammo is jacketed, and such a pistol is seldom shot much, but I like the idea of being able to at least field strip an autoloader for cleaning. ANY disassembly of this pistol requires at least an empty cartridge case, a pin punch, a hammer, and a third hand.

There were so many factors mitigating against this pistol, it is a wonder it stayed in production as long as it did. :(

Best,
Johnny

[Walt Sherrill]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I shot one of those, in .45! A LEVER would be appropriate -- about 10' long. And a triage nurse to assess the damage to your hand, afterwards.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I assume you are exaggerating a bit. Mine has a trigger that's no worse than say a Kel-Tec P11. Long and heavy but certainly not unusable.

Recoil with 230 gr Hydrashok JHP is negligble compared to 158gr .357 Hydrashoks in my SC360 Scandium snubbie :-)

Are we talking about the same gun? The AMT "Back-up" in .45? Altogether different gun than the Hardballer. Much smaller.

The one I shot was a relatively small, had a HORRIBLE trigger, and was truly painful to shoot. (I had a P-11, and that trigger was a piece of cake, by comparison, and the .40 version of the P-11 (P-40?) I shot was a lot more pleasant to shoot.)

Think Seecamp in .45...

It had belonged to a cop who had bought it as a "backup" gun. he "backed it up" to the dealer where he bought it, and took a big loss on it.

[wally]

Yup, AMT 45 Back-Up is what I was talking about. What can I say, the trigger on mine is long and heavy roughly the same as what I see on Kel-Tec P11 that I've looked at. We all know AMT quality was spotty, but I was three for three in getting good guns from them, although one needed a little work out of the box, but nothing major.

--wally.

[Kingknives]

I had an AMT .45 back up, and though it was reliable, it was fairly uncomfortable to shoot. Not so much from recoil, but from the extremely heavy trigger pull (nothing like a P-11) . :uhoh:

IIRC, the heavy hamer spring was used to slow the slide down, thus it was part of the recoil system and couldn't be lightened.

[SouthpawShootr]

It's certainly an AMT design. The original backup .380. The biggest problem with AMT was they couldn't get their QC right. They had wild quality swings from batch to batch. My own AMT .45 Backup has done very well and, horrendous trigger aside, serves me faithfully. At the same time, enough people have had problems so as to convince me that these problems are genuine.

This isn't a new gun, I take it? I'd love to see somebody pickup the AMT designs. A little more R&D might be all they need. Especially the DAO backups.

[ColoradoPacker]

My AMT Hardballer was very accurate despite being loose. I put a para hicap frame on it, and ruined it.

My Automag II 22 Mag was my favorite - the one pistol I still regret selling. It was fun to shoot 2 foot flames with each shot, very accurate and no recoil.