AMT Hardballer Longslide - Any info on this pistol?

[ThusEver2Tyrants]

Hello all,

I have been reading THR for years and just never really posted much of anything, or atleast not for a long time...but you guys have a been a huge source of knowledge for me over the years!!!! So thanks!!!

To the issue at hand, I have acquired an AMT Hardballer Longslide through a trade of an AR that I was planning on selling anyway and couldn't wait to get rid of. The guy I got it from says he bought it from a gentlemen selling private items at a gunshow years back...and bought (what he was told) was a new in-box pistol. He claims he has never fired it since he bought it. He is the father-in-law of a buddy at work and seemed like a genuine guy, although i can't say for sure what the 1st owner did with it.

To me, it looks as new as a pistol from the 80's can look. It DOES look like a new gun. But I have always heard about problems with these AMTs and wanted to consult you guys. I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet but have inspected and everything seems to be in order. I have always wanted one of these since seeing "The Terminator" as I am a huge movie buff (I also have a 92fs built to look like Leon's gun from "The Professional") and I am just a huge fan of long slide pistols in general.

I know the company itself went in and out of business quite a few times, just wondering if anyone here can tell me based on serial number and city stamp if I got an early or late one or what???

It came with the original box, manual, papers, ect

Serial number: A355xx
It is stamped with the AMT symbolt and "Irwindale, CA"

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!!

ps. if this needs to be moved to autos i apologize in advance

 

[gunlaw]

My recollection of these pistols is the reliability was spotty, but most of the problems could be fixed by a smith who was familiar with the 1911. Alot of those guys around in the 80's not sure about now.

 

[Panzerschwein]

This was the gun used in the Hitman game.

 

[Dog Soldier]

The AMT Long Slide is a fine handgun. They are some what rare with prices starting at $1,000 dollars. They were also chambered the LS in .30 M1 carbine. Any way, a nice 1911 by any standard.

 

[Jim Watson]

I can't find anything on manufacturing dates but an Irwindale AMT is an earlier gun than an IMI trademark or Covina made Hardballer.

I get the idea that the Long Slide might be a better built gun than the standard length.

Lube well, RIG has a stainless grease, some recommend lithium grease, but keep SOMETHING on it.

 

[Ramone]

I owned one, way back when, and I recall the reliability to be decent, though a bit spotty with light loads. IIRC, the biggest issue was their early pistols galling at the rails, due to using the same SS for slide and frame ( not a metallurgist, but that's my recollection of the issue). Later models did not have this problem, though I can't say when the change happened.

posting here:

http://forum.m1911.org/forumdisplay.php?39-Other-commercially-available-M1911s

might yield better results

 

[BobWright]

It's a long slide version of the Colt Government Model. So far as I have seen these were great guns. Even if not, problems are easily worked out. Never owned one, but had some experience with several AMT pistols and not a problem was encountered.

Bob Wright

 

[stoky]

IIRC, the metallurgy of the stainless wasn't quite ready for prime time. The oldscool way to keep them running was to use Lubriplate on the slide rails.

 

[rbernie]

My recollection of these pistols is the reliability was spotty

That was the common experience of the time. I never owned one, but for that reason - they simply were too much of a crapshoot.

Lube well, RIG has a stainless grease, some recommend lithium grease, but keep SOMETHING on it.

This is important, because...

IIRC, the biggest issue was their early pistols galling at the rails, due to using the same SS for slide and frame ( not a metallurgist, but that's my recollection of the issue).

This.

AMT was an early adopter of stainless steel for semi-autos, and they carried a lot of the burden of figuring out what worked and what didn't. Frame rail galling was a consistent issue with them, with lube as the primary (albeit temporary) solution.

 

[ThusEver2Tyrants]

Thanks for the info guys! I guess I will just shoot it and see what happens, with plenty of grease on the rails of course!!

 

[Dog Soldier]

The galling of the stainless gun parts was not curious to AMT. The S&W Mdl. 66 and others had like problems. Just normal cleaning and a molybdenum lube applied sparingly will keep the Long Slide running
AMT produced some very nice guns.. They were ahead of the game. It is to bad they failed financially.

http://modernfirearms.net/handguns/hg/usa/amt-automag-ii-v-e.html

 

[Sunray]

"...the metallurgy of the stainless wasn't quite ready..." Recall that myself. Supposedly too soft.
What you see in movies, computer games and on TV is not real. Mind you, "Combat" is why I have an M1 Rifle, Carbine and a .45. Missed BAR due to economics. The Chopper due to our idiot government.

 

[1KPerDay]

Good grease on the rails and you'll be fine.

 

[bannockburn]

ThusEver2Tyrant

A friend of mine had a regular Government length Hardballer and it was very problematic to keep it up and running. I worked on it for him, eventually replacing nearly all of the internal parts with ones made by Colt and Wilson. Workmanship on the gun itself was very poor with most of the parts looking like they had been picked out of a parts bin with little or no hand fitting. Reliability was spotty at best; the only ammo it would work with was it's namesake, 230 grain Hardball, and even then it was (forgive the pun), hit or miss. And when you did get it to work, accuracy was Minute of Barn. Hope you have better results with the Longslide version.

 

[Jim Watson]

Two friends had regular Hardballers bought new. Neither worked. One guy was a toolroom machinist, the other a pretty good handtool gunsmith. Both of them fixed their guns and got them to run reliably although the first guy did some welding and a lot of cutting, the other a lot of Colt part fitting.
I shot with the second fellow and he pounded that Hardballer with a documented 6000 rounds of what came to be called +P, maybe +P+. It showed some burnishing of the rails but no galling or wear to make it any looser than it ever was.

 

[Dog Soldier]

The last guns in the end days were poorly constructed. It was the result of a dying American company.

 

[ThusEver2Tyrants]

*****Update guys

I field stripped the longslide yesterday and gave it a good cleaning and oiled it up. Everything looks great inside. Barrel looks brand new or at least VERY lightly used new as do the rest of the internals... except for two things that i noticed that confirm that, although the guy i bought it from may have never fired it, the previous owner has certainly fired it and possibly had a gunsmith work on it.

1) There is a small, maybe 3/4 inch perfect rectangular area (opposite side of the picture i posted) where the frame meets the bottom area of the slide that looks as if it has been filed/milled slightly for some reason. It is obvious this was done by human hands, at least it looks that way. At first I thought it was possible steel on steel rubbing that cause this but upon closer inspection of the INSIDE of the frame I noticed someone had marked a line as if to measure the aforementioned filed area. Maybe it was rubbing on that side and was filed just a smidge to prevent the rubbing???

2) While I was inspecting the breech face...looking straight at the breech/firing pin area...there is a small area on the right, almost tear drop shaped (opposite of extractor side) that looks like it has either been shaved down?? or milled out slightly?? I cant decide if this was intentionally done from the factory, by a gunsmith for some reason, or if it is actual damage to the breech face. With the condition of the rest of the gun being what it is...it's hard for me to figure out how this would have been damaged, but it kinda worried me. It looks a bit too perfect of a cut/mill/file for it to be damage but I really am not sure, as the recessed area is flush with the ride side of the breech face...my other 2 1911s do not have this. Other than that the breech is clean and flat.

I should have taken some pics of these areas last night and will upload them when I get home from work today.

 

[ThusEver2Tyrants]

 

[Stony]

I went to the Shot Show one time when AMT was trying to resurrect their business. I picked up one of their 1911's off the table and was checking it out, when the rep came over to regale their products. I told him that honestly I quit selling their products in my store because of the high rate of problems. He assured me that they had recently hired a whole new crew of quality control folks and their products were much better at that point. I handed them the one I had been checking out and told him "the thumb safety doesn't work on this one". He didn't have any further to say on the matter.

 

[bannockburn]

Stony

He assured me that they had recently hired a whole new crew of quality control folks and their products were much better at that point. I handed them the one I had been checking out and told him "the thumb safety doesn't work on this one". He didn't have any further to say on the matter.

Priceless!

I don't know when my friend's Hardballer was built but I can tell you that it really appeared that when they assembled these guns they just took parts out of a bin, stuck them in the gun, and then went onto the next one. No evidence of any hand fitting of anything on the gun.

 

[Tony k]

Let us know how it shoots

 

[Dr.Rob]

Needs a laser sight.

 

[CapnMac]

I had an early Hardballer (bought in the late 80s) that I picked up for a good price (no one wanted them because of the later ones' problems). Was entirely satisfactory shooter. 100% parts swappable with a Colt (two-way as well).
It got warmer than a Colt over an afternoon's shooting. Fit of the bushing seemed slightly less tight--but, at the time I was comparing it to a finger collet bushing, which is totally unfair.
Foolishly thought I did not need two 1911-sized guns, so, I swapped it got my Smith-Corona 03A3 (so, a really good trade). So, a good thing.

Because I had the Hardballer, I met other AMT owners at ranges. Shot a longslide. Felt a little odd for being so muzzle-heavy, but was actually not bad on target at all.

 

[hemiram]

I hope yours works a lot better than mine did. Accuracy was fine, but not much else was. The slide galled the frame and the only way it wouldn't jam would be if you ran it dripping wet with lube. I gave up on it and sold it on consignment at the place I bought it from and I was surprised it went so quickly. I bought a Beretta 92 afterwards and it was perfect in every way.

 

[kBob]

Writer/ holster maker Jerry Ahern seemed to like them. He did a column for one of the gun rags for a while, I do not remember which. You might do a search for reviews on google......google is always good for a giggle.

-kBob