"Dirty Harry" also came to mind, with this artifact. Somebody had a thing for Dirty Harry, but didn't like revolvers. Personally, I think this weapon should be forgotten.
@@fresatx He's a St Michael archetype for sure. He didn't do it for Social Justice( Equity, Freedom, Equality) He did it for Justice( Natural Order, Law, the True, Good and the Beautiful) Just like the Punisher is Frank Castiglione. Both are Saint Michael archetypes. One Irish and the other Italian. Very Catholic.
"So, you want an AutoMag that runs real smooth eh? do ya think you'll get lucky punk!? well do ya?" or "Will it fire 6 shots or jam on the first?" Hopefully they do have it sorted, always been an exciting looking pistol, though I've always preferred the AMT AutoMag III Longslide, just a flat slab of a thing.
@@robertpatter5509 The Full-power 10mm was just fine; they underestimated the build quality required on those early Bren Tens, and the original Colt Delta... A little better metallurgy and tighter tolerances and they would have kept it a winner. Would like to have seen .45 Win Mag become more successful, and L.A.R. Grizzly had a good thing going... .451 Detonics magnum was pretty spicy, too.
The cool feature of the Automag, if some bad guy sneaks up behind you on your right side while you are shooting, the empty brass case ejecting from the pistol will knock them out cold, if not outright kill them.
I'm fairly confident they've gotten the gun to the level of mechanical reliability demanded in the modern market, what concerns me is the size of the market. The AutoMag seems to me to be a very niche product, and that any company the relies solely on it is going to fizzle out once they've sold an AutoMag to all of the very limited number of people who both want and can afford one, and I believe that to be the real killer of the weapon over the years. If at any point the TDP had been bought by an established manufacturer wanting to add to their existing product line the AutoMag probably never would've went away, small batches being produced every once in a while to cater to new consumers entering the semi auto magnum market as a nice bonus to the steadier income of their more practical products.
My uncle Jimmy worked as a contracting machinst for Automag Pasadena/El Monte and AMT. Part of the problem was they never paid properly a lot of workers and so their was a huge turnover of workers and sometimes sub contractors barely got paid. Machinist usually bring their own tools and many had their tools grow 4 legs and disappeared ( stolen by other workers BTW as my uncle usually found his expensive machinist tools at pawn shops in the LA area). There was several times my uncle said his paychecks bounced so much that he asked for cash only. Other workers were not pushy about it and just left and most likely because of their immigration status. Also, there wasn't any paperwork on what was done to various parts. It was all based on assumptions that maybe the heat treating was done, maybe the anodizing was done, maybe the correct metal was used for casting, maybe the tolerances were correct on final maching in the CNC machine. It was all based on assumption from the engineering staff. IOWs, there wasn't a smooth like production for parts. My uncle left in the 80s when he finally had enough of the bounced checks and poor work environment. He worked for barsto on the side when it was at 29 Palms and also Weatherby for a brief time. He knew Dickie Stembridge who gave him project guns to fix and machine new parts for various rental guns. In the end, he accumulated the most parts and accessories from his machining days from Automag , AMT, High Standard, etc, because his checks kept bouncing and they would give him parts to make up the difference. He would fix and assemble some parts that were in specification and sell them at the Great Western Gun show in Pomona and also to B and B guns in north Hollywood( the gun shop being infamous for loaning ARs to LAPD during the North Hollywood Bank heist fiasco). In the end, it was a fly by wire, edge of the seat operation made up of promises never kept and checks that kept bouncing. They could have saved so much time and money if they would have just kept better paperwork on everything. Reinventing the wheel every time does start to add up when you can't find the TDP and other stuff and it keeps getting tossed around like a cheap rag. I have one AMT hard baller long slide from my uncle when he passed away and it works correctly with no issues. I fired that pistol back in the early 90s like a crazed monkey at Angeles Shooting range while he was watching and loading magazines full of 45acp and it worked perfectly. Gun manufacturing was really a circus act back in the 70s and 80s in Southern California.. Different times..different era. Thanks for doing this video, I will likely buy one in honor of my uncle Jimmy. RIP.
Anyone willing to take an absolute albatross of a firearm like the AutoMag, take 7 YEARS to basically re-engineer it into a working gun, I think, deserves a measure of success, and while it may not be my cup of tea personally, I certainly wish them well.
One thing that occurs to me is that in the 21st century, we have a lot of tech that either did not exist, or was immature, 40 years ago. Like CNC routers and CAD/CAM software. It seems like the improvements necessary to make this gun work (improved tolerances, tweaked shapes, machined parts rather than cast) would have benefited a lot from that tech. Not to take away from the 7 years of effort -- just saying that impossible tasks have now become "difficult but possible." It makes one wonder what other "forgotten weapon" designs that have been dropped due to engineering problems might be resuscitated with improved manufacturing techniques? Perhaps some legendary "bad guns" were not bad, just too far ahead of their time to be built properly?
@@DGARedRaven yes. It's a reference to a poem called "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem tells the story of a doomed sailor who is followed by an albatross (a large sea bird) and finally out of frustration, shoots it. It is used as a metaphor to refer to an unwanted or inconvenient thing.
Later in the poem, the doomed sailor hangs the albatross around his neck, which is why sometimes you will see the phrase "albatross around your neck" as well. It too refers to something impractical and heavy that you can't seem to get rid of.
I'm sitting here giggling at the thought of Ian at the back up gun match with this hand cannon. Then further giggling at the possible thoughts and the expressions of every other competitor when he brings this monster out.
I took delivery of my new automag this past December, just before Christmas. I have wanted one ever since I first saw one of the original guns in a gun store, when I was about 15 years old. As I remember, the price at that time was marked as $350.00, which may sound reasonable, but back in the early 70s, that was a lot of cash. The gun is big, but very comfortable in the hand. Recoil is not harsh, as the ergonomics of the pistol are exceptional. Factory ammo is scarce, but SBR ammunition is producing quality cartridges. For handloaders ,starline is producing brass, and RCBS and Hornady are both producing dies. I have found that my pistol functions flawlessly with several different loadings, and is just a dream to shoot. On my last outing, I fired a total of 125 rounds, with no malfunctions. The price may be high, but in my opinion, it was worth every penny, to finally own what for me is one of my bucket list toys. I would not hesitate to use the pistol for hunting deer, hogs, or most any north american game.
I must ask, why do Americans hunt with pistols? You've got a much higher risk of injuring the animal with a bad shot, you've got less force to kill with, and so on.
@@levergatRapha Yes you can cut down and ream out o6, or 308 brass. RCBS even made forming dies to do just that. But it is a lot of work to go through, when Star Line offers high quality brass already.
New marketing slogan "Automag 180-D: It Actually Works Now!!!!" Always loved the Automag just looks so cool :) Great that they have got it working right as it was a really cool idea let down by lack of funds and development hopefully things now are different. I would guess also with all the advancements in CNC and CAD stuff has made it easier to produce correctly as well.
The real purpose of the accelerator is to start extracting the case from the chamber when the barrel is still moving, so that, when the barrel stops, the case doesn't suddenly pass, in respect to it, from "0" to maximum speed, since the too abrupt extraction can damage the case and even cause case head separation. It also reduces felt recoil, since part of the energy of the recoiling barrel is transfered to the frame before the end of it's travel.
@@antoninolatorre8355 The shooter feels the recoil first when the recoiling barrel impacts the frame and stops (so transfering it's energy to the frame, and the hand of the shooter) and then when the recoiling bolt impacts the frame and stops (same as above). The more sudden is the transfer of the energy (a hit instead of a push), the more the felt recoil. The accelerator makes so that part of the energy of the recoiling barrel (that so slows down before impacting the frame) is transfered to the bolt and part to the frame, so it reduces the felt recoil, because the transfer of the energy is less sudden.
I remember hearing a story that Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact actually hated how the unreliable the original gun is. Your comparison makes me feel like the 180-D seems to be a labour of love. I guess we can all appreciate even just that.
I had one of the originals and bought it out of sheer luck. There was a small gun shop in my old neighborhood. I stopped in one day and he had just bought one from someone who was having trouble with it. It was near mint condition, beautiful. I bought it on the spot and was offered a thousand over the buying price the same day. Nope. After working out the right hand load, it ran perfect. The only problem I ever had with it was the magazine floor plate weld failed one day. I took the magazine to Briley in Houston, and they fixed it. It looked and worked perfectly. I ran into Harry Sanford one day at the SHOT Show. We ended up having a long and very enjoyable conversation about the gun and things that go bang in general. I really liked Harry, very nice guy. He certainly made a big entry in firearms history. I eventually sold it for over four times what I paid for it.
What impresses me with the Desert Eagle, is that while Auto Mag and Wildey did the smart thing and went rimless, Desert Eagle actually got the rimmed magnums to work. (Not that I have a dog in the fight; if I want a handheld thumper I stick to my Ruger Bisley.)
Big bore revolvers are a lot easier to engineer than big bore autoloaders. Even black powder .45lc is not a wimpy cartridge yet Colt could make a reliable and rugged handgun to shoot it in 1873.
Then the Desert Eagle did the brutal thing, and made the .44 Mag. rimless, not by trimming the rim, but by making the rest of the case larger than the rim (the .50 Action Express).
@@neutronalchemist3241 They also got 429DE now too! 50AE necked down to .429. Don't know why they needed a new round in that configuration though. 440 Corbon was the same exact thing! Probably more of a marketing gimmick. I would still pick either 44Mag or 50AE in a Desert Eagle though. If I wanted a semi-auto 357Mag, I would get a Coonan.
@Prep n Rep lucky he didn't actually lose a finger or maim his hand. The energy coming out of the cylinder gap on magnum revolvers is no joke! That 454 Casull you shot was more likely more powerful than a 50AE. Even if they were dead equal, the Desert Eagle would be easier to shoot recoil wise. That semi-auto system soaks up a decent amount of recoil. Although the Raging Bull is factory ported, so I can't say for sure.
@Prep n Rep 50AE is like getting punched into your palm and the wrist taking the impact. At least that was my experience with it. Not really painful but not pleasant either.
Ian showcasing a new production gun. Ian: " Is this the end of the Automag curse?" Narrator:" It may have been the end of the Automag curse, but unfortunately it will fall to the Forgotten Weapons curse." If Ian thinks its neat, its probably not market viable.
@@BillMcGirr See that kind of money, I'm getting a Lugerman Luger. Which avoided the Ian curse because that guy was already established for several years before Ian found him.
@@internetbodhi1009 Hey, handguns are a "commonly used weapon" according to the supreme dorks. Just say it's a handgun, and hope they don't notice the veteran having a flashback and calling for a fire mission danger close when you whip it out.
You may wish to remove "pocket" from that description... Unless your pants are a whole lot bigger than most. But "portable handheld howitzer" probably sells just as well :P
I like hearing a story about a company taking over a failing gun manufacturer, figuring out what's wrong and then fixing it. It's kind of the reverse of what happens to the rest of the firearms industry these days.
I shot the new AutoMag at SHOT Show this year. I was excited to shoot an Automag since reading about it in Mack Bolan books as a kid. The coolnest factor was off the hook! As a shooter, it's a huge gun with a lot of recoil but not painful recoil. I only fired a magazine and I would love to run more rounds through one on a range day.
I’m a bit jealous. Used to collect the Bolan and the spin-off series books, even had a Gold Eagle subscription at one point. Really happy for you, i’d jump at the chance to fire one as well!
they really nailed the aesthetics with this one. the old automag 180 looked cool, but the 180d really kicks it up a notch with that finish and the grips
@@robertpatter5509 Indeed, I like to refer to it as looking like a "Magnum Space Luger" lol but I can see the similarity in aesthetics to the original Whitney Wolverine now that ive read your comment. Thats another gun that needs brought back and done right, would love to buy a new one that looks just like an original.
There's something very positive in this story. Ian showed his integrity again by saying "Nuh-uh, I'm not gonna shill stuff that doesn't exist" and the manufacturer said "Sure" and sent him a serial production gun with confidence that it's going to work as advertised. Also there's something very American here- many slackers have failed, but finally someone went in, took the risk, did honest, hard work, finally got it right and might actually benefit from it. It feels good.
This is where the Germans excel, they are good at engineering and getting it right, no matter what they produce. Credit to these guys in improving the Automag I sincerely hopes it succeeds
After seeing the original design used in several old movies I wanted one. After reading some reviews of the actual original design by a few people that desire went away. I hope this new company has really laid to rest all the issues of the original design. I’ll wait a bit to see how well this improved design works in the hands of new owners. I hope for all involved the new design performs and sells well.
Excellent video, Ian - it's nice to see someone explain the functioning of this pistol so clearly. As for this new version of the AutoMag, I have one of the first 77 models (called the Founders Edition) and I'm delighted with it - so much more reliable than the original models (one of which I also own) and the staff at Automag in South Carolina are very responsive.
I'm glad to know the manufacturing issues have apparently been ironed out. It's such a cool design. Now the question is can I really spend almost four grand on a completely impractical pistol?
Every time I see one of these taken apart and see how it functions mechanically I can’t help but be reminded of early auto pistols from the 1900s when there were still a bunch of different ideas floating around and the basic form and functions of semi auto handguns were still undecided.
@@dd11111 I was just about to say the same but I see you beat me to it. I think it and this both share the alarming trait of looking abit like it is exploding when fired.... Still cool though and I want one
Ordered mine last July. Should hopefully be ready by the end of this month. Mine's something like number 177. Can't wait. I've wanted one my whole life.
I of course ordered mine with the 8" barrel. polished finish, and the Hogue G10 grips. I do hope the new Auto Mag is successful enough for them to introduce guns/uppers in .45 WinMag.
@@dangerousfreedom4965 With tax and everything I'm in it right around $4400, which is kinda fitting given the round it shoots. It's the most I've paid for a single gun, not factoring in things like magazines, optics, or other accessories. The Mk14 Mod 0 I built is a close second.
@@dangerousfreedom4965 At least when I ordered mine last year they started at something like $3850 for one with a 6" barrel and bushed finish. The longer barrel and high polish finish were both additional costs. The prices may have gone up in the past 12 months.
My Dad had a very nice Pasadena model when I was a young man. It was an amazing pistol. His was very reliable as long as the ammo was loaded to factory spec, and it was loaded with a total of 6 rounds or less in the mag. The gun needed a relatively hot load of a 240 gr bullet at around 1400 fps +. The gun was very accurate. It was nearly as accurate as my S&W mod 29. The recoil was very heavy due to the high bore axis and the method of short recoil vs a gas operated gun such as the Desert Eagle. The gun operating system is basically made like a small rifle. If I loaded my S&W mod 29 8 3/8'' barrel with the same velocity and bullet weight as the AutoMag the AutoMag perceived recoil to me (I was a young adult of around 21) was about 30-40% higher with the AutoMag. Even though the guns were very expensive, the manufacturers costs were actually as high or higher than the retail price. The thought was that if they sell some of them at or below cost, the demand will increase and then they could sell them for a profit. This never panned out. Also, the quality of the parts was never consistent, so the end product was inconsistent. I seem to recall the price was around $800.00 in 1978 which in today's money would be around $3600.00. Dad got his as a gift from my Uncle (who had owned it for a while) back in mid 80's so I don't know what the cost of that pistol was when new. He sold it in 2000 for $1500.00 and thought he'd made a good deal. That pistol today would be worth a whole lot more
@@vladcrow4225 yeah because looking at it, or desiring to purchase it due to its engineering or the joy of shooting it is indicative of some sort of lack.
What's the target market? Like the first generation of Suzuki 'Busas I know a number of people who walked onto a dealer's showroom floor, laid down cash, rode off into the sunset only to soon realize that the bike demanded more skill and talent than then the riders possessed. Auto Mag 180-Ds are not going to sell 20 K units per year anytime in the foreseeable future.
Looks like a beautifully made gun. Unfortunately, I don't see anyone buying one of these when they can spend 1/3 the amount on a 44 desert eagle, which is even more iconic and in a caliber they'll actually be able to find. Not as nice but in the gun industry people do have a tendency of going with the cheapest possible option.
this is like one of the few gun channels that isnt shilling garbage sponsors or e-bikes on their channel. Will Ian hold out and remain legit? I think so.
@@AshleyPomeroy thankfully when you say “electronic gun” people have a hissy fit and the person trying to produce said industry killing weapons is promptly taken behind the toolshed
So many youtubers have sold their soul to Raid Shadow Legends. But atleast theres a culture of warning it's a sponsor. Joe Rogan used to have whole conversations about how good an item/product is without mentioning hes being paid by them.
@@danyael777 Well I am a Swede and we used both Lugers, few though they were, and Lahtis as well as some others across the years :-) Seems to have settled on the Glock for our military and the Sig P226/9 family for the Police...
ok so since i may or may not have an m1 carbine, i may also have a lot of .30 carbine ammo and I've always wanted another piece that shoots it. Does anyone know where i could get one of these mythical pistols or if there are any other, more modern, pistols chambered in .30 carbine? If someone knows and could tell me, that'd be fantastic because I've never before seen or heard of this "pistol" (which must be huge to be shooting .30 carbine) or any other gun besides the m1 that shoots this ammo.
I would LOVE to see a video on an AT-4 training "launchers." Those ones that fire those special 9mm tracer rounds. I wonder if any are even on the civilian market. They'd probably be fully California legal tbh, lol. Use one as a truck gun in LA.
The M287 9mm tracer trainers were kind of hokey and "difficult" to work with, but they did work. And it would be a cool gun to own, for sure. A video would be great if he ever lays hands on one.
You dont buy a Lamborghini because it's a practical grocery getter. You buy it because it's a Lambor‐freakin-ghini. Impractical, expensive, unreliable, and gorgeous. Kinda like me.
@@aaronlopez492 850 to 1200 is the bigger difference. I have 250 grain 44 specials that are doing 850 fps. I also have 44 special Keith’s using the same bullet that are doing 1100. My Keith loads recoil harder.
Usually it's the refrigerator door that they hide behind in movies and that didn't even stop a .22 Long Rifle. Another one that Hollywood has been selling us since they have been making movies is the wood table. Our hero flips a saloon or kitchen table on it's side, takes cover behind it, and it soak up bullets like a Kevlar vest. Another one of my favorites is the couch. Which seems to be in every hotel room they go into in moves. How many times have you seem a couch in the middle of a room in a hotel? That's beside the point. Our hero always dives behind the couch where bullets come through but never seem to hit him.
Not that I really know what I am talking about but I've always felt the Automag was a gun that failed in part because it tried to more affordable than it should have been. One of those things that was probably best marketed, at an eye-watering price, to people who really wanted an epically awesome toy and had the means to pay an eye-watering price for it.
@@Full_Otto_Bismarck If I owned the rights I'd be thinking along the lines of built-to-order at a five figure price. But then, as I say, I don't really know what I'm talking about.
Manufacturing is a different game these days. CNC machines are often semi-automated and turn out controlled tolerances that were not possible on a mass scale even 20 years ago. The pursuit of powerful and efficient automobiles has brought the big money and desire to develop these advanced techniques. Most any gun can be made with very few machines... machines that can turn out accuracy in volume. It is common for one machine to mill and drill using several different tool bits that are automatically swapped as the machine runs it's cycle. The real key is the work does not move once clamped in place so true positions are maintained across several machine operations. Another advantage is one machine can make several parts... some of them at the same time. Changing from one part to another is usually just resetting some clamps, a program change, and a touch off. Common for "tool changers" to hold 50 different tools... they go in a common style holder so mills and drills go in the same spindle to run. Some machines even have a "back door" to the tool changer that is designed to let you change worn tools while the machine is in cycle... zero down time. If the machine needs the tool you are changing it simply waits for you. 5 axis machines start around $350k last I knew... which is cheap. Better machines of course cost more but spread that over a couple decades and suddenly they become inexpensive. I won't even get into tool technology... diamond or ceramic bits just do amazing thing... flaming silly string! Local motorcycle dealer has a 5 axis machine in his back room... these are no longer giant auto factory items. I could go on all day... "cmm" measuring!... put a part on a table and push a button to make the computer check a hundred different locations in a couple minutes.. probes, lasers, optics... this ain't your father's calipers.
Some 15 years ago I owned an AMT manufactured Automag 5 in .50AE... What should i say, it certainly was very unreliable with a full mag, once it did throw the rear sight at my face (still have the scar on my forehead), the threads and the screws that hold the grips on the frame didn't hold up to the task and at long last, the safety lever / piece holding the firing pin in the slide broke in two pieces, then i finally got rid of it. But it was great on the range, good fun and always had a fanclub around me after emptying the first mag. This new 180-D just looks so much better, fit & finish-wise compared to my rough cast looking and poorly finished Automag 5.
If I lived in the USA and not the UK (where hand guns are banned unless you comply with some ridiculous bits added to it) I would buy an AutoMag. I don't care about the price and I don't care about reliability because its an AutoMag!!!
@@lucky43113the UK doesn't have the same constitution as the USA regarding the rights to gun ownership. It is extremely hard to own a firearm (you have to have a doctors medical report, a lengthy police interview, written permission to shoot on land that has been vetted by the police, a gun safe that meets a criteria and home security) because most people in the UK are against gun ownership. When you do receive your license you can only buy what is specified and what the police have agreed too. For example when I applied for a rifle for rabbit control i was granted a 22lr and 17hmr, you couldn't apply for a center fire as this is deemed too powerful. Then when you come to buy bullets your licence has the amount you can legally hold ( for example my licence stated 500 bullets in 22lr and 500 in 17hmr) the date brought, the gun dealers number and your licence must be produced. Oh and finally your gun licence lasts for only 5 years then you have to apply to renew it. If the police judge you haven't used the gun enough (because they can see how many bullets you have brought) they will not renew your license because its deemed its not necessary for you to own a firearm. Oh the joys of gun ownership in the UK!
There's something about how the guts of that thing looking like a rifle that makes me incredibly giddy. Would love to have one of those if only for the novelty of it.
now all we need is a 12-16inch barreled, stocked version as a primary carbine for a two gun match. but it has to keep that smooth curved space age like silhouette for the stock as well. which will be challenging to pull off.
Did I misunderstand or does this pistol rely on a spring to lock the bolt into the barrel? If so, I’m not sure how I feel about that. If the spring were to break, could it fire unlocked or is there an out of battery safety?
My personal impression is that the spring is more to take away some slack in the action, rather than a necessity. Without it, the bolt would still follow the required motion simply due to the cam path design, but it would "wiggle" as the cam point of contact varies between up and down. It reminds me of the double gears used in fine tuners for good radios - one gear is fixed to the shaft, the other is floating but is connected to the first gear by a charged torsion spring. In this way, the fixed gear grips the pinion teeth on one side, the floating one on the other and the mechanical slack is removed without needing superhuman precision in the machining. If the torsion spring breaks, or a repairer forgot to pre-charge it, everything still works but as one turns the knob back and forth they will feel the slack due to the original clearances and the accumulated wear in the gears' coupling. I think the same is for the spring here - it removes the inevitable slack due to clearances and wear, making the gun more consistent, precise as well as making it feel more "solid" but if it breaks the gun will still be usable, although feeling a bit rattlish.
After hearing this gun went through multiple companies and bankrupted 7 I have to wonder what they saw in this gun. The desart eagle seems to do the job with half the fuss.
@@chrisperrien7055 I guess. I am glad to see all that timeoney finally did buff out the kinks but for it to essentially cost more then a gun that out perform it still seems odd.
I think most of your buyers for this will be an older or mid aged crowd. People where nostalgia is going to play a big role in their decision. Yearning for the days of Dirty Harry and Death Wish. (Although I believe Death Wish used a Wildey. But it's very close in design to the Automag)
"Insanity is, doing the exact, same fucking thing, over and over again, expecting shit to change." Hopefully the design changes and a price increase will finally make this pistol profitable. It's a good sign that the new Automag Ltd. isn't just buying the old tooling and kicking it with the same parts, materials, and specs. After all, this is damned close to being a boutique pistol, sales will be limited as long as they're being made, and a boutique pistol that hasn't properly functioned until its current iteration is going to make distribution and marketing an uphill battle. That said, that's a very big pistol, and I'm very turned on right now.
My biggest allure to the Automag is the shape and action. Its like any .22 target pistol you might start out with as a first time shooter, followed by the shock value of its size. Like I can imagine a lineup of fellows at the plinking range. One shows up with a Browning Buckmark, one shows up with a Ruger MkIV, and then _that one guy_ shows up with an automag.
THANK YOU FOR THE VIDEO. MY BROTHER AND I BOUGHT MATCHING AUTO MAGS IN THE 70S ON THE WAY TO ALASKA AS WE HAD HEARD GOOD THINGS. VERY VERY SURPRISED AT THE RELIABILITY. AS I RECALL NEITHER OF US COULD RUN A FULL MAGAZINE WITHOUT A JAM. HE IS MORE PATIENT THAN I AM AND TRIED DIFFERENT LOADS, DIFFERENT BULLETS, DIFFERENT SEATING DEPTH, ETC ETC. HE EVEN FLATTENED PRIMERS WITH ONE LOADING, TRYING TO GET HIS TO FUNCTION. AT BEST HE REDUCED IT TO A TWO JAM MAGAZINE(SEVEN ROUNDS) AND CALLED IT READY. I SOLD MINE AND DRAGGED OUT MY MOD 29 FROM THE SAFE. DIDN'T CATCH THAT MANY FISH AND NEVER EVEN SAW A BEAR SO IT ALL WORKED OUT. AFTER YOUR REVIEW I MIGHT TRY ANOTHER AUTO MAG, BUT DOUBT IT AS THE THING IS JUST TOO BIG AND HEAVY. A LOT OF MONEY FOR A MAYBE!
Great to see they may have finally gotten the automag to work as well as it always should have. And ya gotta love Ian's approach, "of course I'm taking an 8.5" barreled .44 AMP to a back-up gun match." 😅 My kinda guy!
When I was a kid, I helped my father turn 7.62x51 blank cases into 44 AMP cases. There was a barrel of brass, and I'd cut the cases off with a hacksaw then file it with a trim die, size, and chamfer. Then they'd be run through a case tumbler and boxed up. Lots of work, but they sold well for a few years. Especially after the Dirty Harry movie. I'm 90% sure I still have the case forming dues in storage from my dad's estate.
Someone has to contact the Battle Gnome to make a holster for it. The Desert Eagle one on the polenar shop is crazy. I wonder if it'd mess with reliability to magna port the barrel.
I ordered one a couple of months ago and hope to have it by Christmas. I’d been debating for some time about it, then came across some ammo for it and I did what any gun nut would do…I had thee ammo so now I had to buy a gun to go with it. It makes sense on some level, somewhere. 😁
That's just great. NOW they have a reliable gun. I'm recently retired on going fixed income so can't really afford one anymore. But I still think they're cool as hell.
I want One, but can't Justify it in the current Economy... But I have made several Hundred rounds(cases) for a Client out of .308 Which is the Parent case, Not Easy But can be done...
@@ForgottenWeapons I've made a couple thousand rounds of it. Lake City 308 brass, cut down and reamed out to spec. A real pain in the butt to do. You can bet I policed up every single case, every time.
From my recollection that is supposedly how an owner would form the brass to use in reloading ammo for this pistol. This means that once you buy the gun you have to plan on reloading the ammo to go with it and work up a suitable load for your new pistol.
The only person I've ever known to actually own AND shoot/hunt with an Auto Mag (a 1980s version) received it as a Christmas gift from his wife in 1989. The gent in this case is an upper atmosphere thoracic surgeon who over his career has made more money than some third world countries have ever accumulated. After numerous failures to work the way it was supposed to, the good doctor engaged a machine shop, at no small expense, to reproduce basically all the guts for his pistol from high quality bar stock along with several magazines. Very high-quality, custom, reloading dies were procured as well as a large number of cartridge cases. As of the early 2000s I know the doctor has taken white and black tail deer, numerous feral hogs, an elk or two, and several black bear with his particular pistol. If I was a wealthy person, and I am far, far from it, I would love to own an Auto Mag assuming it worked the way it was supposed to, and I could afford the initial asking price.
I have original Automags 44/357, I love both of them... The old guns really needed the Ammunition tuned to the gun, Once you had a working load. Stick with it... I would love a 25 Automag barrel.... One can only dream.....
Had an Automag III for a year or so. An AMT made .22 Mag pistol. That was a sweet pistol, I took a Coyote with it while out deer hunting in North Dakota at over 80 yards on the run. Traded it and a fish finder off for a Colt AR 15 Carbine at a gun show. The Fish finder was my brother-in-laws, so he always claimed part ownership in the rifle. I let him shoot a couple magazines through it once and he was satisfied, he never liked the fish finder anyhow. Also had an AMT Hardballer for a few months but although it was pretty it didn't shoot well, so it went down the road. After I became retired my Doctor bought the AR from me. Don't mind me, I am an old fart and I do talk to much some times.
I have an original Pasadena AutoMag with a serial # in the 500 range. I will not say in never had malfunctions but they are pretty rare. I shot metallic Silo with mine and it did very well. Accuracy is superb. Feeding was never an issue but the occasional stove pipe on ejection was. I found that stove pipes were directly related to limp wristing and more common when single hand shooting. Yes the gun is maintenance heavy, the recoils spring guides have a tendency to back out during sessions so I replaced the helicoils with self locking types and the guide rods never became loose when shooting again. The case is based of the the 308 Winchester and I used cut down 308 cases for most of my loading but I hear that starline now makes brass. Factory ammo was a JHP made in Mexico and is was very dirty and near impossible to find. I think this factory ammo was responsible for most the negative reputation of the AutoMag. Honestly I never understood all the negative talk about his gun. Would I take it on a Bear hunt - not on my life - but is was just as competitive as my Dan Wesson 444 in metallic silo and lots of fun to shoot. I'm glad someone has taken the AutoMag seriously and has made positive refinements. If you enjoy odd and unique designed guns; the AutoMag is for you.
Ah yes, the only gun choice for a man of refinement and culture: a true hand cannon. Glorious. Glad to see they are making decent Automags now. Always thought it was a cool idea of a gun.
Now for the reality check..Someone has to pay for all those years of R&D. The first 1,000 buyers get that pleasure. I'll be back when the Turks start making them.
@@chrisperrien7055 - because he didn't know how to run it; he let the recoil rods loosen and still shot it, contrary to what the manual explicitly says not to do.
@@AndyCinDallas IDK, Have also seen mention that one of" hex screws/bolts?" came loose and fell out causing the issue. Either way , a "new" gun should come from the factory tight and adjusted , and not fail immediately. Yea, many new guns have a breaking in period and can act "funny" during that time, and have to watch them. Which he did not, that would apply to any new gun. SO IDK, I am sure you have a point, on those rods. I don't know much about them myself, outside of shooting 3 rounds back in 1980's , and that day the gun, we were shooting had feed/jam issues when others were using it. I don't think we fired more than 20-30 rounds , before it was put aside for others.
@@chrisperrien7055 - I took this screenshot directly from his video, where it's obvious that the recoil-rods are unscrewing. So, 1) someone had shot this piece already before that segment was recorded and 2) he didn't read the manual enough to know that those should always be checked. This pistol isn't forgiving of the ignorant: i.imgur.com/p007dWh.png
Not having any Clint Eastwood references in the video was both refreshing and disappointing :) Still 10/10 - will see if fingerprints are removed in tomorrows video ;)
