AUTOMAG coming back into production ?

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JimDuncan

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Apparently a company in Florence South Carolina intends to put an updated and improved version of the historic Automag .44 magnum self-loading pistol back into production.

Unlike that Alaskan company that tried six years ago, these guys say they have purchased all rights, tooling, and parts from the Sandford family who originally built them. Perhaps they will have better luck.

"We are currently developing new prototypes that will combine new materials and manufacturing techniques that will make the Auto Mag better than ever. We plan to rigorously test and make changes until we have a proven design, and only then we will go into production. Also, we want to engage and support current Auto Mag owners by making parts & accessories available at a reasonable price that will greatly extend the life of their gun. Ultimately, the community will decide what the final design will be and give it their approval, and through word of mouth marketing, the gun, to those that would like to have it."

http://www.thenewautomag.com/

I would be very interested IF/WHEN it becomes a reality, but does any one still sell the ammo?.
 
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There was a .30 carbine Automag too. I wouldn't really buy an Automag, but, I'm excited that I could buy one :).
CARBINE-4.jpg
 
Auto Mags are not the best pistol out there - kinda far from it actually. What they do bring is an almost cult-ish curiosity to the firearms world. The idea was to bring .44 revolver firepower to an autoloader. I read that the AM was conceived and designed for hunting after Harry Sanford had a failure with his .44 revolver...but maybe he just thought it was a cool idea.....I don't know. Today we take magnum autoloaders for granted with the excellent Desert Eagle relatively common, the LAR Grizzly, and the (almost but not quite as cool) Wildey able to be found but in the early '70's this hasn't been done at all so it was groundbreaking.

I think another aspect of the AM is the Nerdability of it. If you WANT to, reloading can be a highly involved machining exercise - at least for those of us who aren't machinists - compared to the normal reloading process. Cutting down .308 cases and reaming them out to accept the .440 bullet just ain't normal and while it isn't REALLY all that difficult, with hand tools it's laborious. The AM is finicky and load data is really all over the place. Some guns take a lot of power to run reliably and others don't it's a handloaders cartridge for sure. If you look around, you'll see Lee Jurras talk about the importance of understanding and addressing headspace because unlike so many mass produced pistols, one of these things just ain't like the other. Auto Mags are massive, so massive that for some the challenge became how hot can you load these things...the answer is pretty damn hot and there were (are?) many of these things out there that have been experimented with and show signs of various failures. http://www.amtguns.net/articles/yoshi-ishiguro/auto-mag-buyers-guide/ is an interesting read.

I've always said that there are a lot better pistols out there but none cooler.

Keep your recoil rods tight..........
 
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