anyone own an Auto Mag?

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Cee Zee

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Clicked on a Dirty Harry movie and saw one. I haven't seen that movie in a long time and I had forgotten those pistols. They never made in production because they didn't make money producing them and selling them so cheap. But it sure was a wicked looking piece of hardware. Way too big for CCW though or any kind of carry for matter IMO. I might use one as a cane if I kept a rubber tip on the barrel. :) I just wonder how they shot and how the ballistics were compared to the .44 magnum that the big round for them was designed around. Same bullet but bigger case but I don't know how much bigger.
 
I remember seeing a pair of Automags (44 and 357) for sale in at a hardware store in Fargo ND in 74 or 75. The price for the pair was $750.
 
If I remember right, there is a some kind of new company with Grizzly in the name that is making brand new Automags. From what I remember, they are VERY expensive.

I'm converting a blued steel Kimber Raptor to 460 Rowland which gives me the power of the .44 automag. There is also XDM and Glock conversion kits for the 460 Rowland.
 
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Did I hear someone ask about Automags? Mine is an unfired Pasadena A version. All original with the original box.

Great gun, lots of fun to hold. I have no idea how it shoots.
 
Did I hear someone ask about Automags? Mine is an unfired Pasadena A version. All original with the original box.

Great gun, lots of fun to hold. I have no idea how it shoots.

Having an unfired automag is like having a a certain male only appendage and not using it. Cars are made to be driven, firearms are made to be discharged. When you become an old man, you are going to look back and think you were off your rocker to let such a beautiful piece of equipment, go unused.

I don't understand it. I look at examples such as this as someone keeping something brand new so I can shoot it when I buy it.
 
I doubt that Peter has anything to prove.

After you've been here a while, you will be thankful that Peter is a great firearms resource.
 
I doubt that Peter has anything to prove.

After you've been here a while, you will be thankful that Peter is a great firearms resource.

Sorry if I missed my intent and after re-reading what I posted, it does seem a bit harsh. It's an incredible find. My point is, that life is too short and we can't take it with us. All the firearms I buy I will use and keep until the day I die (at least, that is my intention). But I don't want to get to the end of my life and have something so amazing and not use it. I can understand if Peter has two of them or has access to another one.

Watching my Grandfather on his deathbed and some of the things he mentioned, that he should have done that, or taken out more time to do this, changed my view of the world and the things that are in it. Some things are meant to be used and others are meant to be looked at. But we should enjoy the gifts that God has provided to us.
 
Here is a video you might be interested in.....

The video maker made some jumps in his conclusions IMO. He hit the "block" with the Automag 3 times in the same spot which is why it broke in half. But I'd like to see the real difference in the power of these guns. For one thing he never used a Ruger or a Taurus which can fire a much heavier round than the 29 can. I suppose a person might get by with shooting a 320 gr. bullet in a 29 but they risk jarring the gun so much it gets out of timing. There is a substantial difference in the power of those loads over what the Smith can fire.

I was glad to see the gun in action but I just think they film maker jumped to conclusions that weren't born out by the video. I'd like to see something easier to gauge than concrete blocks breaking apart especially when the guy was lucky just to hit them. The one thing that did impress me was that he was able to hit the same spot 3 times with the Automag but I wonder if that's just more a matter of his experience with that gun. After all he does use Automag as part of his user name.

Thanks for the link though. I got to see an Automag in action and that's rare enough.
 
Having an unfired automag is like having a a certain male only appendage and not using it. Cars are made to be driven, firearms are made to be discharged. When you become an old man, you are going to look back and think you were off your rocker to let such a beautiful piece of equipment, go unused.

I don't understand it. I look at examples such as this as someone keeping something brand new so I can shoot it when I buy it.

Eh, it doesn't bother me. I've got quite a few collectible handguns that have never been fired.

You can only shoot so many...
 
Why don't I shoot mine?

Simple

Parts availability.


Price a bolt or a cocking block today if you can find one. The last cocking block I saw was $900 and a bolt was $1200.

Automags are high performance guns. This means that parts can and will be necessary over time and will need to be replaced. Availability is neigh right now so why take the risk. I have looked for another shooter but the price has never been where I wanted it to be for just a shooter.

When I originally bought it from the original owner, he had two new and shot one and kept mine unfired. I bought it from him in 87 and have had it ever since. At the time I could not find any ammo so I bought the dies to make some but finances were not there. Now that I can afford it and can get brass for ammo, the risk of destruction is too high for me to risk damaging it by shooting it.

So my Automag is unfired and sits in a case. It will stay that way for the rest of my lifetime and I will continue to hunt another shooter version.

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One of the local IHMSA shooters had one back in the 1970s.
I thought it was large, awkward, and hard kicking.
It is an impressive piece of machinery, but I'd rather have a S&W or Ruger to shoot.
 
Why don't I shoot mine?
Simple
Parts availability.
Price a bolt or a cocking block today if you can find one. The last cocking block I saw was $900 and a bolt was $1200.
Automags are high performance guns. This means that parts can and will be necessary over time and will need to be replaced. Availability is neigh right now so why take the risk. I have looked for another shooter but the price has never been where I wanted it to be for just a shooter.
Valid point.

I also remember a local IMHSA shooter using one, though this was in the '80s. It simply BROKE on him a couple of times.

On another occasion, a different shooter had one on the range . . . his BROKE, too.

Neither one claimed to be "hot loading" his pistol.
 
Back in the '70s, when I was in the Navy, a shipmate I worked with had one. I formed some brass for it and then loaded a box of 50. I shot a mag or two in it. I was not impressed at the time. It was big and awkward, as previously mentioned. I might feel differently about it today if I shot it again....hard to say. At least I can say I shot one. :D
 
I wonder if the current owners of AMT would want to make an updated version of it??

But then, they're too scared to reproduce the Automag III, IV, & V...
so I guess it will remain something from the past...
 
I wanted one bad back in the day. Never could afford one so gave up the search. Besides quite a few Colts got in the way. I have never had any qualms about making my own brass. Kind of look at as a challenge.
 
I don't own one, but it was the first handgun I ever shot, circa 1976. One shot is all I would take since I didn't have any hearing protection on (dumb me). Well, what was I to think, Dirty Harry didn't wear any! :D

Lou
 
I can definitely see not shooting one now that has never been shot. It's an investment that has paid off in spades. The going rate for them was so low it drove them out of production from what I've read. Now they are worth a fortune. If you bought one back in the early 70's and sold it today you would effectively earn a 7.5% annual return. Not bad but not great. But you would get to look at that piece of beauty for a long time and you'd get to call it yours. Not a bad investment IMO. I'm not so sure that it will keep appreciating at that rate though.
 
AMT is long gone, buried with a stake through its corporate heart. There were a few attempts to resurrect the gun using bits of inventory and reject parts, that ended about like you'd expect.

I was never able to come up with enough money in one chunk to buy one, so I built mine out of pieces-parts, like Johnny Cash's Cadillac. Fortunately I've been able to pick the brains of some of the people who were involved in making the guns 30-odd years ago.

Harry Sanford's son was selling off the remains of a few storage units, and I bought enough parts to start building a second gun.

The Auto Mag's design makes it very sensitive to ammunition power, and the factory's quality control was... iffy. They can be cantankerous firearms to deal with. Sort of like an old Ferrari with a six-pack of Weber carburetors, that loads up and gets cranky in traffic. But so beautiful when it's running right...
 
To think those beauties were made in Californistan. The caliphate would never allow such a thing now.
 
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Did I hear someone ask about Automags? Mine is an unfired Pasadena A version. All original with the original box.

Great gun, lots of fun to hold. I have no idea how it shoots.
That's the very best AutoMag - no stoppages or failures of any kind!

They were beautiful guns in their own way, but I've never seen one that could be called reliable. The gunsmith I worked for in college used me as a range stooge, testing all the repairs at the range. I got to fire several AutoMags. Lots of heft there to absorb recoil.
 
Auto Mags are pure junk, don't shoot it if you don't have to. Research what Clint Eastwood thought of the Auto Mag he used in the movie. He got so pissed off at that gun he chucked it off the dock into the ocean. It never, ever worked properly and that sucked when they were filming a scene.

Pure junk, but will be highly collectable in a few years IMHO.

Now, if you want a real good large caliber semi auto pistol that is realiable and works, get the Desert Eagle.
 
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