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The AMT 45 Backup was the first ultra-compact 45acp pistol. AMT, Arcadia Machine and Tool, purchased the right to manufacture a compact "backup" type pistol from a once well-known, but now forgotten gun designer named John Wilkinson.
AMT guns (including the well-known Automag line of pistols) have a reputation for poor reliability. They deserve the reputation they have, because their quality control was nonexistent, and they shipped many guns with very poor finishing of critical parts.
Where the Automag line gets a least a "pass", since Dirty Harry owned one, the Backup line tends to get tossed in with the barrel of poor quality belly guns manufactured in California in the 80's. The AMT 380 Backup figures prominently in the records of criminal shootings investigated by the DOJ. The 45 Backup saw some use as a hideout gun for detectives working undercover throughout the 80's and 90's, usually after getting a "fluff n' buff" by a gunsmith to improve reliability.
The AMT 45 backup is a MUCH better gun than most folks think it is. Built like a tank, accurate, and with a little judicious filing and buffing, eminently reliable.
Lots of armchair experts who have never even seen one will tell you otherwise.
I put 100 rounds of 200gr RN over 5.5gr BE through the AMT yesterday. A totally 100% great gun! Well, almost... It was 100% reliable, and was incredibly accurate, but the trigger pull is INSANE. Picture a pickup truck with a ton (100 20lb bags) of dog food in the bed. Now picture yourself unloading the truck using nothing but your trigger finger... I feel like my finger went to boot camp.
That said, I had no trouble hitting gongs at 50 yards, and even hit the man-sized gong "Dirty Harry" at 125 yards. Overall, the gun feels like a 1911 with most of the parts left out and most of the barrel, slide, and frame cut away. And it's heavy enough so that once you blow your 5+1 you can use the gun as a bludgeon with good effect, and certainly without fear of damaging it. Heck, you could probably drop it out of a plane without damaging it. And certainly no fear of an accidental discharge.
Here's mine:
AMT guns (including the well-known Automag line of pistols) have a reputation for poor reliability. They deserve the reputation they have, because their quality control was nonexistent, and they shipped many guns with very poor finishing of critical parts.
Where the Automag line gets a least a "pass", since Dirty Harry owned one, the Backup line tends to get tossed in with the barrel of poor quality belly guns manufactured in California in the 80's. The AMT 380 Backup figures prominently in the records of criminal shootings investigated by the DOJ. The 45 Backup saw some use as a hideout gun for detectives working undercover throughout the 80's and 90's, usually after getting a "fluff n' buff" by a gunsmith to improve reliability.
The AMT 45 backup is a MUCH better gun than most folks think it is. Built like a tank, accurate, and with a little judicious filing and buffing, eminently reliable.
Lots of armchair experts who have never even seen one will tell you otherwise.
I put 100 rounds of 200gr RN over 5.5gr BE through the AMT yesterday. A totally 100% great gun! Well, almost... It was 100% reliable, and was incredibly accurate, but the trigger pull is INSANE. Picture a pickup truck with a ton (100 20lb bags) of dog food in the bed. Now picture yourself unloading the truck using nothing but your trigger finger... I feel like my finger went to boot camp.
That said, I had no trouble hitting gongs at 50 yards, and even hit the man-sized gong "Dirty Harry" at 125 yards. Overall, the gun feels like a 1911 with most of the parts left out and most of the barrel, slide, and frame cut away. And it's heavy enough so that once you blow your 5+1 you can use the gun as a bludgeon with good effect, and certainly without fear of damaging it. Heck, you could probably drop it out of a plane without damaging it. And certainly no fear of an accidental discharge.
Here's mine:
