amt

There is an Auto Mag Ltd. purporting to resume production of the Automag gun but I don't think there is much connection with the long defunct AMT.

Arcadia Machine Tool had a fascinating history. But not one that necessarily piled great credit upon the name.

Other than the AutoMag line, there was not much that was unique to them, either.

Which did not leave a lot to be "bought up" afterwards.

Companies that fail, do so in a number of ways, and often with perverse legal entanglements. All of which is the "probably why" no one has bought up the rights to, say, Hudson, just yet.

I don't think either the new gun or the company have anything to do with the Sanfords any more. Harry passed and I'm pretty sure his son sold off the rights and everything else connected.

There is a short article at Wikipedia on Arcadia Machine & Tool at Wikipedia with chronology of owners and links to short articles on most of AMT's production models. AMT has had a few owners since Ruger sued them for trademark violation over the Lightning pistol and 25/22 rifle.
Arcadia Machine & Tool - Wikipedia

I have owned several AMT products over the years. Most were crap. Hardballer and the Longslide were jam-o-matics. The ruger pistol copy had the ejector slot cut into the chamber and would send pieces of brass out the side. The 22 magnum pistol was reliable with Winchester ammunition only
I never owned an Auto Mag but they looked well made.
If the guns are made I bet they will just be 1911’s made by another manufacturer with AMT stamped on the slide. Kind of like Iver Johnson 1911’s

deputy bruce said:

I heard AMT is again going to produce pistols has any one heard this?

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I wonder if that wasn't actually the recent re-introduction of the Automag .44?

https://automag.com

Todd.

Last year an AMT (American Medical Technologies) was bought by another medical group; could be confused with AMT (Arcadia Machine & Tool).

Auto Mag Ltd., Co. is currently advertising the .44 Auto Mag as a made-to-order item with a lead time of three to four months. "The Auto Mag is not an off the shelf item...." The Auto Mag Ltd. website does not mention other models in the AMT line.

When High Standard Mfg Co bought AMT, they produced the AMT Hardballer 1911 Pistol, AMT Automag II .22 WMR, and AMT Backup.

I’d love to own the one,but four grand is over my budget,according to my bride. I bought a Hardballer some years back,when they,and the very expensive Randall’s were the only stainless 1911s available. I had a gunsmith friend work it over,but the ejectors are welded in place,so a complete action job was more trouble than it was worth. Still,with some polishing and changing a few small parts,it shot great,and I used it for bowling pin shooting.Gun would cycle empty brass from the magazine! Unfortunately,it was stolen from me,and while I did get it back a few years later,it came back as a Long Slide,and only cycles hardball ammo.

osprey176 said:

Unfortunately,it was stolen from me,and while I did get it back a few years later,it came back as a Long Slide,

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I bet there is a good story behind that.

It was thrown out a car window in a police chase,when it was recovered. Fortunately,it evidently landed on grass,as there were no serious scratches or damage to it.My thought is it was used in a shooting and the “owner” had someone change out the barrel afterwards.

The only AMT that I have ever had was a Hardballer. It would shoot right with my Gold Cup. I bought it used and it had belonged to a gun smith. Being stainless, you couldn't really tell if anything had been done to it or not. It is reliable and accurate.

A couple of friends bought Hardballers. Good news and bad news.
The bad news was that they did not work very well.
The good news was that one was a toolroom machinist and the other was a good hand tool gunsmith.
They MADE them work.

I hope the rumor is true. I've had three or four (I think) AMT pistols and want MORE!
These two are never-sells and run stupendously on everything - both return exceptional accuracy (most surprisingly the .45 BU) and have been a joy to own - regardless the endless ridicule.


I only wish that I had bought-in a couple of Automags - among others - when they were dirt cheap.
Most particularly in .30 Carbine!!!!!!!


Todd.

Jim Watson said:

A couple of friends bought Hardballers. Good news and bad news.
The bad news was that they did not work very well.
The good news was that one was a toolroom machinist and the other was a good hand tool gunsmith.
They MADE them work.

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Very common experience but it doesn't take a great deal of expertise to correct the manufacturing/assembly flaws on the vast majority of the guns. I've never spent more than a couple-few hours on one and never added metal.

Todd.

A friend had an Automag V in .50AE, what a POS! He was shooting it, jammed, handed it to me to see if I could get the slide back...

As I'm yanking on the slide, he said wait, pointed to the ports on the slide that were blown out, which were also blown out on the barrel! Once we figured out how to get the slide back, clearing the gun, we also found that the frame was cracked!

They ended up replacing the gun and he sold it. Didn't want a repeat or anything to do with AMT.

ApacheCoTodd said:

I hope the rumor is true. I've had three or four (I think) AMT pistols and want MORE!
These two are never-sells and run stupendously on everything - both return exceptional accuracy (most surprisingly the .45 BU) and have been a joy to own - regardless the endless ridicule.

I only wish that I had bought-in a couple of Automags - among others - when they were dirt cheap.
Most particularly in .30 Carbine!!!!!!!
View attachment 1000431

Todd.

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Those are indeed nice guns - mine is anyway. IIRC I got mine for around $800 in 2011.

I’ve got a 1911 Government Model and a Lightning. Bought them at an auction where a collector was liquidating his collection at least 25 years ago. I’ve not shot either of them a lot bu haven’t had a penny’s worth of trouble with either of them. My son cut dovetails in the 1911 to install better sights and the slide is definitely tough machining. I have a Ciner 22 LR conversion that I fit to it. The AMTs are not an exact copy of a 1911 Colt, there are a few differences. Most parts fit, but...... as such I had to do a bit of fitting to get the 22 conversion to fit. It works just fine, though accuracy isn’t the greatest with the conversion installed. As a 45 it has been flawless, I’ve tweaked it a bit, different bushing, main spring, etc. Only thing I wish was different is the hammer.
An ex-brother-in-law has a long slide and it is a great shooter too.
Granted my experience is limited, but very positive, 3 for 3!

Way back when I purchased a 44 AMP after watching the movie. Shot it for a bit and lost intrest. Sold it at a good loss. I know I am STUPID, needed money for a better engine in my souped up Jeep Commando I dragged with at the time. Was thinking about getting one again just for S&G but at that price I can buy many different things I might want more.
Years later I purchased an Automag II in .22 MAG and it runs well and I like it.

I somehow wound up with three Back-ups - a .380 and two .45s.
They work consistently with full-power ball ammo, but I've never particularly enjoyed shooting them,
Too small and all sharp corners, with crappy triggers.
If I was someone that sold guns then these would be the the first to go.

I bought a Backup in 9mm 20+ years ago. It never failed to function with almost any ammo. The finish wasn't great and as stated before, crappy trigger. A "friend" talked me into letting him try it out one weekend and it ended up "stolen".

Bought my AMT Hardballer in 1978 when it first came on the market, shot too low, sent the slide back, received it-or a replacement, worked fine ever since, won several IPSC matches with it. It seems Harry Sanford was a gifted designer but not that good a businessman.

When I moved to Florida my ex stayed in Ohio till our house sold. I only brought 2 guns with me, my little AMT 380 BU and my Winchester 1200.

When I was taking the shooting part of getting my FL. carry permit, I was really wishing I'd brought ANY other handgun with me. Even with the 15+lb trigger pull I still passed thou.

I carried this little thing a long time.

Interesting the problems people seem to have had.

I have an AMT Hardballer, 2 AMT Backup 380s, and 1 AMT Backup 22lr. All bought used.

All have run flawlessly.