Identify My Guns - AMT Automag .22 Magnum Rimfire Pistol

I really liked the long slide style of pistols from AMT. I bought the 45 ACP long-slide, or the Terminator gun w/o the laser sight. My neighbor bought the 22 Mag, and he still owns it. He uses it for nuisance animals in the back yard. It works really good, and has very low recoil. The problem with the 45 was that the stainless steel that was used was not up to standards for that cartridge, and would actually wear out. On this pistol, my friend has had it over 25 years, and has no problems except FTF on one magazine when he gets down to 3 rounds. Wished I had bought this one.

MSgt Cayle Harris What a sweet looking Rim fire. Would love to find one of these!

Indeed, I do.

I bought one way back when it first came out, when Arcadia Machine and Tool made them, about 1990. (It first hit the market about 1987). I had been reading reviews of it for a while and finally made the leap to buy one as my first pistol purchase. I bought the 6 inch barrel version. If memory serves me correctly, I paid about $275 for it, brand new.

To this day it remains my favorite. The pistol is slim, feels good in my hand in its own way, and ACCURATE. Shooting from a bench, I could hit a soda can at 100 yards with it. It might have taken me the full 9 rounds in the magazine to do it, but that wasn't the pistol's fault.

It's function was (and still is) flawless. Winchester .22 WMR is the round it was designed around, and it was advertised as such. This had to do with the type of powder the ammunition used. Other brands, according to AMT, had the potential to cause problems due to the differences in pressures generated...they may not cycle the slide adequately, for example, which could cause jams.

Federal ammunition back then, however, was another brand that was advertised as functional with no problems in the pistol. I did shoot a few hundred rounds of Federal with no problems. But though I had a .22 Magnum rifle which I had long since sighted in using CCI MaxiMags, I never shot any CCI.

Supposedly, this isn't much of a problem with newer .22 Magnum ammunition of other brands...but honestly, I've never bothered trying. No need, either, since I pretty much shifted the bulk of my .22 Magnum ammunition over to Winchester anyway. (For your information, a .50 cal ammo can will hold 70 boxes of Winchester .22 WMR, neatly packed, without ANY extra room. Just in case you're wondering...)

To say that I put hundreds of rounds through it in short order would be an understatement.

What's it like to shoot? Well, it is a slim .22 Magnum, so there is some recoil. VERY manageable, and my oldest daughter has no problem shooting it. (In fact, I have to watch her carefully to make sure she doesn't actually lay claim to it as her own...) She was about 12 or 13 when she first shot it, and she's an itty-bitty thing.

Muzzle flash is impressive. About 18 inches long, in fact. Sound? Well, they don't call it a magnum for nothing. If you're not wearing hearing protection, it's gonna hurt. It does NOT sound like a .22 LR.

The trigger pull is like the 1911. No pivoting trigger...it pulls straight back, just like the 1911. Smooth pull with a crisp break. Don't know how many pounds...I'd guess 5 to 6 pounds. It is not a double action semi-automatic.

The safety rolls a block up between the firing pin and the hammer. The safety does NOT de-cock the pistol, nor does it prevent the trigger from being pulled and dropping the hammer.

Break down for cleaning is pretty much the same as for a 1911, if you have one. Depress the slide spring cap, rotate the barrel lug to release the slide spring plug, move the slide back slightly to pull out the slide lock, then the slide/barrel will slip right off.

The sights are adjustable millet sights. A breeze to adjust, easy to see. Not a problem carrying in a holster at all.

Overall length is 9 1/4 inches, and weight is 32 ounces.

Power? The .22 Magnum round is a very underrated round in many circles, in my opinion. The .22 Magnum is NOT a Long Rifle round. Even coming out of a 6" barrel. While there's no arguing that a larger caliber, like 9mm or .45 ACP, would definitely be more suitable for personal protection (especially since they're centerfire), I wouldn't have a problem carrying it for personal protection if I didn't already have a larger caliber. Just know the limitations. Like I said...there are better choices, but one could definitely do worse. Winchester .22 WMR clocks out at about 1,300 fps from the 6 inch barrel, if I recall correctly.

It's an awesome sidearm to carry when you're out fishing, hunting, etc. Light weight, slim, 9 round magazine, plenty of power for varmints of just about any size.

The original AMT Automag was in production until 1999. It has since been produced by High Standard, starting around 2006 or so. I haven't heard anything bad about the High Standard ones, but I've never shot one and don't know anybody personally who has one.

Overall, I can't see where one could go wrong with one of these.

If you have any specific questions, please ask.