anyone own an Auto Mag?

[The Lone Haranguer]

This series of pulp novels from the early 1970s are where I first heard of the Auto Mag.



Of course, he also used a .444 Marlin (?), later a .460 Weatherby Magnum (!!!), as long range sniping rifles, too. Even then I took them with a grain of salt. How far would you have to hold over at 800 yards with a .444 Marlin?

 

[HankB]

People realized that the AutoMags were, in today's parlance, "reliability challenged."

Enter Lee Jurras, the founder of Super Vel.

IIRC, for a while he was producing "custom" Auto Mags, which he slicked up and fitted so they'd (mostly) work right. This was back when 1911s were being customized by any number of 'smiths, with a "reliability tune" being one of the most needed upgrades - I suppose Jurras saw a similar opportunity with Auto Mags. It turned out that some folks who'd paid big bucks to own the most powerful handgun at the time were willing to fork over a lot more greenbacks in order to make it work.

I'm not certain, but I think Jurras may have gotten some parts from the manufacturer and took to assembling & fitting them himself . . .

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Reliability challenged...

Great term.

I'm gonna use it in speaking about Triumph (vintage) motorcycles and cars in the future.

Diggin' the thread. I never realized that the Automags had three separate units exiting the rear of the receiver each time they're fired.

I've always had the hots for the Automag II,III and IV as well. Practicality be damned. They can take up places of pride between my AMT Hardballer Longslide and .45 Backup. Stainless oddities unite!

 

[Bobson]

Anybody know whether or not the Automag (firearm this thread is about) had anything at all to do with the Automag (paintball marker) designed by Tom Kaye of Airgun Designs, Inc, in the late '80s / early '90s? Or is the name purely coincidental?

 

[TRX]

Lee had an "exclusive distributorship" for the Auto Mag for a while, and did some work for AMT later, I think. He wound up with a bunch of guns people praised to the heavens and then wouldn't buy, which didn't help his bank account any. I get the impression he'd just as soon not have ever gotten involved, but he was the go-to guy for getting one running for so long he'll never live it down.


The paintball guy said he called his airgun "Automag" in tribute to the AMT guns. Which was nice, and the originals were long defunct, but it sure makes it annoying to search for parts...

 

[TRX]

> three separate units

Bolt, cocking piece, and two recoil rods...

The barreled "upper" also slides back about 5/16 of an inch. It's a short-recoil action, like a Luger, except with a rotating bolt instead of a toggle.

I don't know if Max Gera knew about the 1898 Schwarzlose pistol when he designed the Auto Mag, but once you look at pictures, it's easy to see how they went down similar decision trees.


For trivia buffs, we're talking about the "Auto Mag", designed by Max Gera. Later corporate iterations added the "Automag II" through "Automag V" (note the difference in spelling) designed by Larry Grossman. Larry's guns didn't look that great in my humble opinion, but Larry is a freakin' genius. The II isn't just a blowback .22 Magnum; it also has a nifty gas system that floats the case out of the chamber instead of just blowing the head off. The III, IV, and V look like 1911 variants, but internally they're nothing at all like a 1911, and very nice they were... Larry never got the acclaim he deserved; he worked for AMT/IMI/whatever it was called that year, and their quality control was... iffy. Nothing he could do about that.

 

[epoletna]

East Pasadena Firearms was my LGS when I was in high school and college, and Harry Sanford showed off the Automag prominently in his store. He was proud of the design but I was never particularly tempted. I did, however, buy several other guns from him and had some smithing done by his guy in the little building out back. Nice place. I miss that kind of LGS. Hard to believe what California was like 45 years ago.

 

[1SOW]

In the early 70's, a military buddy was travelling back from being on leave after recieving his reenlistment bonus. Travelling through New Mexico he stopped at a LGS where he found a .44 and a .357 Auto-Mag. He bought both at a (then) high price.
One was serial number "1". I can't even remember for sure, but I think it was the .357. He mounted that in a glass topped velvet lined wooden box unfired.

I shot the other one, and only remember it as being big, skeleton-like framework, awkward and having heavy recoil. I was shooting .22 Bullseye at that time, so a 44 was impressive for the uninitiated.

He had some good quality 35mm night shots firing the A.M. It really put on a light show in those pics.

After that assignment, never heard from him again.
This is a true story.